Protect the Threatened Ellett Valley Millipede
US Fish & Wildlife Service
A local millipede in Blacksburg is in critical danger because of development and the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) – but we have a chance to save it!
The Center for Biological Diversity is fighting in the courts to list our Ellett Valley Millipede under the Endangered Species Act. Now it’s time for us to show our support for the Ellett Valley Millipede and the Appalachian ecosystems we call home.
The Ellett Valley Millipede only lives in eight caves in our valley – the millipede doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world! It lives in the fragile karst ecosystems that define our region.
The natural gas Mountain Valley Pipeline threatens the essential water supply the millipedes rely on. The pipeline was just completed in 2023 and its construction polluted many of our waterways. The millipede's home is threatened by encroaching development that disrupts their fragile cave ecosystems. If there’s one thing Blacksburg area residents know about, it’s the daily impacts of increasing development! Just imagine if you were a tiny millepede and you were facing these threats!
If the Ellett Valley Millipede was designated as an endangered or threatened species, the US Fish & Wildlife Service would be legally required to protect their habitat. Now is our moment to show our love for the mountains we call home, and the critters who live alongside us!
By signing this petition, you are helping the millipede by: showing your support for its protection and against its threats, signaling your interest in future community involvement, if needed. You do not need to live in the Blacksburg area to sign this petition.
Our goal is to get 2,000 signatures by the first day of spring, March 20, 2026. Can you help us by signing this petition and sending it to 10 of your friends?
Photo credit: Sydney Haney
Petition by
To:
US Fish & Wildlife Service
From:
[Your Name]
The Ellett Valley millipede (Pseudotremia cavernarum) is a critically imperiled millipede
presently known from just eight caves in the Ellett Valley, Virginia.
The tiny, white millipede is immediately threatened by expanding urban development from
Blacksburg, Virginia. The millipede only survives in eight caves in an eight-square-mile range
along the eastern edge Blacksburg, Va., in Montgomery County, Va. Blacksburg and Virginia
Tech have grown by more than 35% in the past two decades and are projected to increase even more rapidly by mid-century. Increased development will lead to increases in stormwater runoff, chemical contaminants associated with lawn care and house maintenance, and sewage from septic systems impairing the hydrology and health of the millipede’s cave ecosystems.
Stormwater discharge from the eastern edge of Blacksburg to steep drainages crossing the
millipede’s range have for years caused severe erosion. Networks of new roads also present
barriers to millipede migration and gene flow, and deforestation associated with suburban
residential development will alter nutrient and hydrologic dynamics within the underlying caves and epikarst where the millipede lives.
In addition, the Mountain Valley Pipeline was recently constructed in the area and passes
directly through suitable potential habitat for the Ellett Valley Millipede only two miles
northeast of its documented range in a contiguous exposure of potential habitat. The eight-foot trench of the pipeline likely presents a barrier to gene flow, and the perpetual vegetation
management and other maintenance of the 50’ pipeline right-of-way, including physical
clearing and pesticides, may result in additional impacts to hydrology and cave ecosystems.
The caves where the millipede live provide a direct connection between surface and ground
waters in the hydrologically sensitive and important karst region of Virginia. Hydrologic
changes, nutrient flow disruption, decreased infiltration, increased use of chemicals for lawns
and golf courses including insecticides, and changes in the overlying native plant communities associated with rapid urbanization threaten most of the caves where millipedes occur. None of the documented occurrences currently have any legal protection (e.g., conservation easements or ownership.)
Given encroaching development and infrastructure, the Ellett Valley millipede warrants
immediate listing as a threatened or endangered species under the U.S. Endangered Species
Act.