Archived Outdoors

Dam removal to boost native species

A recent dam removal on Santeetlah Creek in the Nantahala National Forest is allowing native fish to return to high-quality habitat found in the waterway.

Flowing from the Snowbird Mountains and Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, Santeetlah Creek was once home to several important native aquatic species. However, biologists noticed that the fish community had become less diverse than that of other streams in the area — due to poor management techniques in the past. A concrete fish barrier was built in the mid-1960s to prevent native fish from swimming upstream, and the creek was then poisoned upstream of the barrier to remove the native fish before being restocked with non-native rainbow and brown trout. The treatment was intended to help the introduced trout thrive, but monitoring showed no long-term benefits to the trout fishery.

The dam was removed following U.S. Forest Service consultation with the N.C. Wildlife Resource Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Before removal, biologists snorkeled the site to make sure no hellbender salamanders would be harmed during demolition. The removal project was conducted in May.

Smokey Mountain News Logo
SUPPORT THE SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS AND
INDEPENDENT, AWARD-WINNING JOURNALISM
Go to top
Payment Information

/

At our inception 20 years ago, we chose to be different. Unlike other news organizations, we made the decision to provide in-depth, regional reporting free to anyone who wanted access to it. We don’t plan to change that model. Support from our readers will help us maintain and strengthen the editorial independence that is crucial to our mission to help make Western North Carolina a better place to call home. If you are able, please support The Smoky Mountain News.

The Smoky Mountain News is a wholly private corporation. Reader contributions support the journalistic mission of SMN to remain independent. Your support of SMN does not constitute a charitable donation. If you have a question about contributing to SMN, please contact us.