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Little Tennessee River brood stock and reared for one year at the CAC before being released into the Cheoah River in 2011. Others, such as the federally endangered Carolina heelsplitter and Tar River spiny mussel, will stay indefinitely until suitable habitat is found. Staff conducts all aspects of mussel culture— including the “grow-out” of juveniles—at the Center. From the water that constantly fows through the tanks to the substrate at the bottom of the tanks to the temperature of the air in the building, everything is set up to mimic, as closely as possible, the natural environment of freshwater mussels.

In addition to propagating and growing mussels, NCWRC staff uses the CAC to raise spotfin chubs, small fish that once were found in abundance in the tributaries of the Tennessee River but are now listed as federally threatened. In cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Conservation Fish-eries, Inc., which propagate the spotfin chub at its facility in Tennessee, Commission biologists are working to keep the species from being listed as an Endangered Species.

CHEOAH RIvER / pIGEON RIvER (spotf in Chub Restoration)

Biologists with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission continue their efforts to restore fish and mussels in the Cheoah and Pigeon rivers using animals propagated in hatcheries as well as some moved from other streams.

The restoration work, guided by the N.C. Wildlife Action Plan, reintroduces aquatic animals into waters where they were once found in abundance. In 2011, biologists placed several

thousand spotfin chub, a federally threatened fish, in the Cheoah River.

The goal of these restoration efforts is two-fold: to restore native fauna into rivers where they were found historically, and to improve the overall ecological health of the rivers. While most of these reintroductions were accomplished by collecting large numbers of relatively common fishes from places where they were abundant and releasing them into the Pigeon, some species were not plentiful enough to make collecting and releasing feasible. In those cases, the Commission worked with conservation partners, such as Conservation Fisheries, Inc., to hatch and raise species to release in these restoration projects. Annual surveys to monitor the status of reintroduced species in the Cheoah and Pigeon rivers have shown the restorations to be great successes. Biologists have documented that reintroduced spotfin chubs have reproduced in the Cheoah River. Restoration efforts began on the Pigeon River in 2004, where water quality has been recovering following decades of industrial pollution. The Commission partnered with the University of Tennessee, Evergreen Paper, the N.C. Division of Water Quality and others to conduct the restoration work. In the Cheoah River, biologists began work in 2008 after changes in operation at Santeetlah Dam restored water fow in the river sufficient to support the chub and other native species. Restoration efforts were funded through Alcoa Power’s Cheoah Restoration Fund, a mitigation measure brought about through the relicensing process for the Santeetlah hydroproject. As conditions in these rivers and others continue to improve, the Commission will continue to work with corporate, govern-mental, and non-governmental organizations to restore and sustain North Carolina’s natural heritage.

North Carol ina Wi ldl i fe Resources Commi ss ion • 5

USFWS NCWRC

North Carolina bog turtle