Date: July 8, 2008
Contact: Bob Miller, (865) 436-1207
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| Warren Bielenberg |
| The Trout Unlimited donation will help Fisheries Biologists to restore native brook trout to park streams. |
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Great Smoky Mountains National Park Fisheries Biologists got a big boost last week in their efforts to restore native brook trout to a Park stream in the form of a $14,000 donation from the Little River Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU). The Little River Chapter, based in Blount and Sevier Counties, raised their donation through their fifth annual Troutfest Arts & Crafts Festival. This event is held in May each year and includes a banquet, fly tying, fly casting instruction, rod building, and crafts related to trout.
The Park plans to invest the TU donation to restore native brook trout to an 8-mile long section of Lynn Camp Prong, a tributary of the Little River in the Tremont area of the Park.
Park Fisheries Biologist, Steve Moore explained, "Historically the brook trout is the only species of trout that is native to the Southern Appalachians, but they were nearly wiped out in the early 20th century due to habitat destruction caused by logging. In the years after logging had ended, non-native rainbow trout were stocked into Lynn Camp Prong and many other streams where they breed and grow faster and out-compete the native brookies."
In September Park biologists plan to treat the stream with a fish toxin to remove all the rainbows and then re-stock it with native brookies captured from other Park streams. Once the rainbows are removed, a large cascade downstream from the treatment area will block their return. The donation will help support cost of the chemical as well as the seasonal labor needed to apply it, to relocate the brookies, and to monitor the effectiveness of the treatment.
Little River Chapter President, Jeff Hall said, "Trout Unlimited is committed to native coldwater fishery protection and restoration. We (Trout Unlimited) applaud the similar mandate of the National Park system to protect and restore native species, and want to be part of that process when it comes to the Southern Appalachian brook trout. Given the limited range of that fish, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park simply offers the greatest potential for it to survive as a species."
"The Park could never undertake brook trout restoration without support from TU, from Friends of the Smokies and other angler organizations." Moore said, "Not only have they stepped up financially, but equally as important, their members provide over 500 hours of volunteer labor to carry out our stream restoration and stream population monitoring programs."
