• Approximately 1,500 black bears live in the national park.

    Great Smoky Mountains

    National Park NC,TN

Where are they now?

Issue 4 > NPS Profile page 1 > page 2 > page 3 > page 4 

 
Brook trout in a bucket.

NPS photo.

These Brook trout were sedated for study.

Status of brook trout reintroductions
As of mid-2009, fisheries biologists are beginning to bring the brook trout back from the streams where they spent the winter. Some of the brown and rainbow trout survived the original treatment with Antimycin, so crews had to re-treat whole sections. However, these second treatments have been successful, and come fall, several thousand brook trout will once again swim along the stretches of Lynn Camp Prong and its tributaries.

The process of bringing the brook trout back is similar to moving them in the first place: biologists—and a lot of helpers—electroshock the fish, load them into holding tanks, and truck them back to the trailheads. From there, fisheries crews haul the trout in batches up the trail, releasing them back into the cool rushing water. Through fall 2009, native brook trout will be returning to the waters they call home, and hopefully settling in to reproduce and thrive.

The reintroduction project on Lynn Camp Prong will bring the total miles of restored stream to about 30, or three-quarters of the roughly 40 miles of streams they originally identified as one-time brook trout habitat. Restoring streams is a long-term project, but with dedicated Smokies biologists and research by Park partners, these native fish should be around for hundreds of years.

Return to Dispatches from the Field: Issue 4.

Did You Know?

The park is named for the misty clouds that hang over the mountains.

The wispy, smoke-like fog that hangs over the Smoky Mountains comes from rain and evaporation from trees. On the high peaks of the Smokies, an average of 85 inches of rain falls each year, qualifying these upper elevation areas as temperate rain forests.