Salamanders

Orange and green dotted salamanders used to lumber in the clear shallow waters of Ricker Pond, the Vermont State Park where our family camped when I was a child. We delighted in spying them; we would pick them up and let them amble across our wet, wrinkled palms before releasing them back to their hideouts under submerged boulders or invisible against the sandy bottom of the water's edge. There are none in Ricker Pond today -- haven't been for many years. I harbor a guilt-laden fear that our gentle handling was too much for them. After all, how many other children must have been equally fascinated over the years? How many caresses can a soft salamander endure? I hope -- and suspect -- that I am wrong. But there is little comfort in the thought that wider environmental degradation might have taken its toll.