Pigeon River Recovery Project: Bringing Back Aquatic Diversity

Transcription

1 Pigeon River Recovery Project: Bringing Back Aquatic Diversity Joyce Coombs and J. Larry Wilson University of Tennessee Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries Jonathon Burr Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Water Pollution Control Knoxville, Tennessee Steven J. Fraley and T. R. Russ North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Division of Inland Fisheries Pigeon Browns Bridge

2 Pigeon River Recovery Project A consortium of federal and state agencies, private organizations and industry in a collaborative effort to improve an aquatic ecosystem.

3 PRRP Members:

4 Pigeon River

5 Point Source:

6 The Situation The paper mill began operations in Its toxic effluent extirpated all snails & mussels, & most fish species. Paper mill effluents included: Coffee colored tannins and lignins, toxics such as dioxin

7 The Issue Water Quality

8 First Step Modernization of mill processes drastically reduced waste effluent This led to a return of many fish species to the Pigeon; however, 24 non-game species were still missing

9 Pigeon River 2000: Missing Fish Species? bluebreast b darter gilt darter tangerine darter olive darter river darter wounded darter stripetail darter longhead darter blotchside logperch blueside darter warpaint shiner striped shiner mirror shiner saffron shiner stargazing minnow mimic shiner bullhead minnow blotched chub spotfin chub mountain madtom northern studfish mountain brook lamprey American brook lamprey mooneye

10 Missing Species

11 All native mollusks extirpated Pigeon River: Other Species Missing? Approximately 40 mussel species & 10 snail species inhabited the Pigeon River

12 Biomonitoring IBIs for the Pigeon River at Denton & Tannery, (New Criteria) Good Paper Mill Modernization Denton (PRM 16.5) Tannery (PRM 8.2) 48 Index of biotic Integrity I Fair Poor Years

13 Testing the Waters: In 1996, common river snails were re-introduced in the TN segment to assess water quality Their survival and recolonization led to the creation of the PRRP in 2001 in TN Pink mass is snail eggs on discarded milk jug

14 PRRP Goal: To help restore ecosystem health by increasing aquatic biodiversity through the establishment of viable, reproducing populations of native species.

15 Re-establishing Native Fish Criteria for selecting candidate species to be relocated to the Pigeon River included: Historic range Available habitat Source of fish within the watershed Collecting bluebreast darters on the Nolichucky River

16 Candidates Silver Shiner Gilt Darter For Tennessee Shiner Mirror Shiner Leptoxis Blotched Chub Pleurocera Stripetail t il Darter Mountain Madtom Re-introduction

17 Gilt Darter

18 Nolichucky River Treasure Bluebreast Darter TDEC, TDOT, UTK, Americorps

19 Collecting Lampreys Little River, TN University of Tennessee

20 Collecting River Snails Americorps volunteers

21 Methods Collection by seining or electrofishing from streams within the watershed Tagging g with various colors of Visible Implant Fluorescent Elastomer (VIE) Monitoring: Snorkeling/seining surveys; annual Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI)

22 Survival/Reproduction Tagging with various colors of Visible Implant Fluorescent Elastomer (VIE)

23 VIE Tagging g Using a 0.3 cc insulin syringe with an ultra-fine 29-gauge needle

24 Field Tagging

25 Minimize Stress - Handling & Temp Temp differences between air/water, and river to river

26 Flow-Through Live Well To hold collected fish in ambient conditions whenever possible.

27 Transport

28 Acclimation Before Release

29 Acclimation and Release NCWRC photos Gilt darters released into the Pigeon River

30 Monitoring

31 Survival of relocated fish & reproduction in TN led to expansion into NC in 2004 Survival, Reproduction, Propagation Project made possible by support from UTK ( ) and funding from BRPP ( ) In 2004, CFI begins propagation of the tangerine darter Tangerine Darter

32 Pigeon River

33 Fish Barrier Disturbance. Altered Flow

34 Pigeon River, TN: Fish Species Still Missing? i bluebreast darter gilt darter + tangerine darter olive darter river darter wounded darter stripetail darter + longhead darter blotchside logperch (blueside darter) warpaint shiner striped shiner mirror shiner saffron shiner (stargazing minnow) mimic shiner bullhead minnow blotched chub spotfin chub mountain madtom northern studfish mountain brook lamprey + (American brook lamprey) mooneye +Denotes established population 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2009 ( ) Denotes suspended re-intro

35 Pigeon River, NC: Fish Species Still Missing? silver shiner + (saffron shiner) mirror shiner telescope shiner+ Tennessee shiner gilt darter wounded darter Swannanoa darter tangerine darter golden redhorse river redhorse mottled sculpin New candidates: bigeye chub banded darter Highland shiner +Denotes established population 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009 ( ) Denotes suspended re-intro

36 PR Re-introduction Totals : as of April 2010 Year Organism Genera/Sp. Individuals Snail k220k Mussel Darter Madtom Minnow Lamprey 5 spp. 5,861 1 sp. 1,976 8spp spp. 17, spp. 1,697 Over 26,000 individual fish have been released into the Pigeon

37 Native Fish Native Fish Species By Sampling Year Numbe er of Spec cies Paper Mill Modernization Denton Tannery TVA/TDEC Data Sampling Year

38 Project Milestones Five species of fish are re-colonizing the Pigeon River New re-intro for 2009: Evidence of reproduction in 4 more species of fish Northern Studfish And.

39 Multiple species of river snails are re- colonizing over 11 miles of the Pigeon Snail eggs on rock

40 REMAINING CONCERNS Other aquatic life, other pollutants

41 Other Species Salamander Surveys Crayfish Surveys

42 .Other Pollution Sources Pesticides Tomato farm on Pigeon River, Cocke County, TN

43 .Construction Sediment Pollution

44 .Urban Run-off Oil, Chemicals

45 .Introduced Species Common carp problems? Golden shiner Redbreast sunfish Striped bass Rainbow trout

46 Invasive Species What harm can they do?

47 Silver Carp

48 Zebra and Quagga Mussels

49 TWO KEY COMPONENTS: 1) Available Habitat 2) Teamwork

50 Physical restoration is complete, but what quality habitat, will the biota recolonize? And from where?

51 Keys to Success Understand ecology/biology of ecosystem - conduct seasonal inventories - learn life histories of aquatic organisms Maximize cooperative effort - contact federal, state and local entities - the more people involved, the better Monitor for success - a means to identify what works, what doesn t Watershed Awareness - know what s going on in your stream drainage

52 PRRP TEAM (just a few of many)

53 Questions? Dragonfly larvae = 1-2 inches