Turtles, frogs and snails are common sightings during School of the Wild field trips.

But salamanders are a rare find, according to Chad Swope, who annually leads these field trips in local, natural areas with Iowa City Community School District students. He said he was surprised last week when a Hills Elementary fifth-grader scooped one up from a pond in a restoration area at Lake Macbride State Park.

Brody Hiscock said he and his classmate, Savanna Parker, were catching snails and beetles and exploring the pond when he snagged the newt with his net. He said he thought it was a leech until he noticed its legs.

“It was slimy. Kind of wet," he said.

Swope went on a quest to identify the small salamander and landed on a likely match: The Central newt, a threatened species not native to Johnson County. Herpetologists later weighed in on the find.

"They confirmed it's the Central newt, which is really cool; something that's never been found in Johnson County," Swope said.

Parker said she was also surprised to learn their discovery was so rare.

“We were really lucky that we caught it," she said.

Paul Frese, a research technician for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources' wildlife diversity program, said last week's sighting is the only one he knows of in Johnson County. He said the Central newt, sometimes thought of as a subspecies of the Eastern newt, typically dwells in areas near the Cedar and Wapsipinicon rivers.

He said the organization HerpMapper, which sometimes works with the department, contacted him about the record.

"That’s pretty cool in itself," he said.

Frese said the department likes to hear from community members who uncover unique finds, noting he would be interested to learn of any other Central newt sightings.

Swope, a School of the Wild instructor of 15 years, said the School of the Wild program aims to raise awareness about natural areas, increase students' appreciation of the wilderness and encourage protection of these spaces. He said the find last week falls in line with this teaching.

The week-long field trip, partially funded by donation dollars through the Iowa City Community School District Foundation, annually exposes roughly 1,000 fifth- and sixth-graders from Iowa City area elementary schools to natural history, outdoor recreation and wilderness survival, according to the foundation's website.

Both Parker and Hiscock said they thought the field trip was amazing, and they enjoyed seeing the prairie.

"I think just being out here is something you can't just read in a book," Swope said.

Reach Holly Hines at hhines2@press-citizen.com or at 319-887-5414 and follow her on Twitter: @HollyJHines.