Washingtonian first met nine-year-old Max Girshick in June, when he talked about a movement among his Powell Elementary School classmates to designate the eastern red-backed salamander as DC’s official amphibian. This week, the idea finally made it to a public hearing before the DC Council.  Girshick and his peers testified before the Council in support of the Red-backed Salamander Official State Amphibian Designation Act of 2024. Council member Janeese Lewis George introduced the bill, but the kids researched and wrote it last school year when their teacher, Erica Pence, integrated their passion project into her third grade government curriculum.  About 30 people spoke in favor of the legislation at the hearing, most of them Powell students, teachers, administrators, and parents. Girshick—who lost a tooth about an hour into the affair—offered the opening testimony. “Let me tell you a story,” he said before the Council. “In the pandemic, it was boring. So we went ‘herping’ in Rock Creek Park.”   Students pose outside the Wilson Building before the hearing. Photograph courtesy of Zach Teutsch. Among the students’ arguments in support of the act: Red-backed salamanders are easy to find at local parks, they help the District maintain a balanced ecosystem, and they eat pests like mosquitoes—perhaps the most compelling point for the average Washingtonian. Also, the kids argue the red stripes on the salamander’s back resemble the DC flag.  As things stand, Virginia is the only part of the DMV officially repped by an amphibian—the red salamander (which is a different kind of salamander from the red-backed salamander). “Wouldn’t it be nice to beat our friendly neighbor Maryland in the race to getting one?” said nine-year-old Shula Teutsch before the Council. Teutsch raised an additional point about statehood: “Having a state amphibian is a thing that states do. And it might help us, in the tiniest way, in our fight to be recognized as a state.” Twenty-eight states and Puerto Rico already have official amphibians.  If the bill passes, the red-backed salamander will join the likes of the wood thrush, the American shad, and the big brown bat as an official DC symbol. But for educators at Powell, the legislation will have other benefits, inspiring students to be civically engaged, speak up about the issues most important to them, and develop trust in the democratic process. “Soon they will vote, make decisions, and lead in our communities and in our world,” Pence said of the students during her testimony. “The lessons they learn now about fairness, participation, and respect for others will shape the kind of leaders that they become.” Students practice their testimonies at Powell before their field trip to the Wilson Building. Photograph courtesy of Matthew Dull. In his testimony, Girshick’s dad, Matthew Dull, stressed the importance of citywide funding for outdoor learning, a movement that has been embraced by DC nonprofits like Urban Adventure Squad. “Without public support from the DC Council—this council—and DCPS, these opportunities will only happen with well-resourced parents like those gathered here today.” The students also secured testimony from local environmentalists, including Catherine Plume of DC’s Sierra Club chapter, and Marco Carvello, a fish and wildlife biologist at the city’s Department of Energy & Environment. The experts agreed: The red-backed salamander would make an excellent ambassador for environmental concerns in the District’s urban forests. These little creatures face some major threats—including habitat loss, water pollution, and the deadly chytrid fungus, which has led to the extinction of some amphibian species. Powell students with DC Council members, teachers, and administrators after the public hearing. Photograph courtesy of Zach Teutsch. With their community behind them, the students and fellow stakeholders are feeling confident about the future of the bill. The goal is to get the act passed before the end of the year. So will Girshick, who seemed unfazed by the loss of his tooth, someday pursue a career in politics? “Uh, no,” he said. “But I’m moving onto the next big thing: Making the ring-necked snake the official snake of DC.”The post Fourth Graders Give the DC Council a Lesson in “Herping” first appeared on Washingtonian.