A number of projects are also underway in North Carolina. Protection and research of the hellbender salamander, which is globally recognized as near threatened but is classified as endangered in a number of US states including North Carolina, is the target of a project in the Appalachian Mountains. Due to the steep decline in population in the past 30 years, the zoo conducted a thorough survey, with the help of the AZA, into the hellbender populations of western North Carolina.