Hellbender RV Campground Opens at The Wilds

Muskingum County- You don’t have to go far to see the largest salamanders in North America thanks to a new RV Campground introduced by the Wilds.

The Wilds celebrated the opening of their 75 acre Hellbender RV Campground on Friday, May 30. The RV campground includes 47 RV hookup sites, 26 camping spots, cooking amenities, shower houses, hiking trails and discounts on the Open Air Safari Tours.

“So our RV campground has lots of amenities, we have a playground, we have basketball courts, pickleball courts, tetherball, we have lots of programming that will happen throughout the week in addition to all the tours that The Wilds has to offer and we are excited to be able to invite lots of new guests here at The Wilds to be able to stay overnight in our RV campground,” said Vice President of  The Wilds Joe Smith.

The campground also draws attention to conservation efforts to save Hellbenders. Hellbenders are native to Ohio, but the salamander has disappeared in the past few decades due to changes with their habitats. To conserve Hellbenders, ecologists bring them in as eggs and raise them for 2-3 years before releasing them into the wild.

“They’re super important to the ecosystem. They are indicators of good habitats, good stream systems, they help to keep cray fish populations down because that’s their main food source. They just are a good sign that you know you have a healthy stream and usually when you have a species that can indicate that there’s other species that can survive in that stream as well so just all around they are just a great species,” explained Director of Ecology Genelle Uhrig.

Last year, the Wilds released 341 Hellbenders into local streams with help from the Columbus Zoo and The Ohio State University. To learn more about Hellbender conservation or to book a campsite at the RV Campground, visit the Wilds website at thewilds.org