Endangered Alabama fish expands its range after dam removal (al.com)

[eppur_se_muova]

Posted November 16, 2017 at 9:30 AM



By Dennis Pillion

[e-mail]

Populations of the endangered vermilion darter have been found in new areas of Turkey Creek, near Pinson, upstream of where a dam was removed four years ago in an effort to expand the fish's range.

The vermilion darter is a small, brightly colored fish, that is found only in a nine-mile stretch of Turkey Creek and its tributaries in north Jefferson County. The darter needs clear, free-flowing streams to survive and had been blocked from moving upstream by the old dam.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service partnered with the Freshwater Land Trust to remove the nearly 100-year-old Shadow Lake dam in 2013, and this month confirmed the darters have expanded their range upstream of the old dam site.

"This project shows what we do really well," said Libba Vaughan, executive director of Freshwater Land Trust. "Our ability to acquire land gives the fish a safe home, and our expertise in stream restoration makes that home bigger and cleaner.
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more: http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2017/11/endangered_alabama_fish_expand.html

[hunter]

1. K&R for dam removal.

Dams usually turn out to have been a bad idea.