Sohini Bandy, left and Alisa Shull remove vegetation from the bank of a small stream which is habitat to the Jollyville Plateau salamander.

The Austin ES field office is helping a local Girl Scout, Sohini Bandy, on her Gold Award project.  The Gold Award is the highest honor a Senior Girl Scout can earn.  Sohini’s project is a riparian restoration project, which involves removing non-native species, along a small stream in Travis County, Texas and planting native species.  The stream is habitat for the  Jollyville salamander.  The Service has been petitioned to list the Jollyville salamander and made a positive 90-day finding.  The site is also immediately downstream of a storm drain pipe.  Sohini plans to include education of residents in the surrounding neighborhood as part of her project.  Sohini is a member of Alisa Shull’s Girl Scout troop.  Alisa is a Supervisory biologist in the Austin field office.