Salisbury Police Detective Rita Rule was honored at a recent gathering of the Pheasant Conservation Society. The group gathered in Hallsboro for a meeting to discuss N.C. wildlife and conservation efforts, a pheasant tower shoot and dog trial.

Retired Maj. Gen. Nat Robb is president of the Pheasant Conservation Society and he presented the first place shooter’s award to Rule.

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The Wildlife Coalition hosted a field trip at Dupont State Forest to find the rare green salamander.

It was part of a continuing initiative to educate the public about priority species identified by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission in its Wildlife Action Plan.

The State Wildlife Grants Program has worked since the 1990s to secure funding for state fish and wildlife agencies to take preventative actions that help keep rare species from becoming endangered and keep common species common.

More than 5,000 organizations work together to prevent wildlife from becoming endangered by supporting increased state and federal funding for conservation. The North Carolina Teaming with Wildlife Coalition’s Web site is www.ncwildlifefederation.org.

The southeastern United States has the largest diversity of salamander species in the world. North Carolina is home to approximately 60 species of salamanders. The green salamander, Aneides aeneus, lives in the Hickory Nut Gorge in Henderson, Rutherford and Polk counties and in the southern Blue Ridge in Transylvania, Henderson, Jackson and Macon counties.

The green salamander reaches about 5 inches in length and can live up to 10 years. They are usually active at night and live in small inaccessible rock crevices or high in trees. With more intense monitoring, biologists from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission hope to locate more of these secretive salamanders. The green salamander is listed as a federal species of concern and as endangered in North Carolina.

More details are available at www.ncwildlife.org.