-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- http://www.ashevilletribune.com/fishkill.htm Feds Plan Trout Extermination Program For Smoky Mountains National Park Service bureaucrats consider using toxic chemicals to kill off non-native species By Dana Davis, The Asheville Tribune Using the toxic chemical, antimycin, The Great Smoky Mountain National Park Service is proposing to eliminate all rainbow and brown trout in as many as ten streams so that the indigenous brook trout can reclaim their once native habitat. Tennessee's Sams Creek has been designated as the initial testing area. Should this treatment be approved and deemed successful, the National Park Service tentatively plans to treat other area stream with the antimycin toxin, including Haywood County's Little Cataloochee Creek and Swain County's Bear, Desolation and Indian creeks', and a few others that have yet to be designated. "We are mandated to protect and preserve all native species," said Smoky Mountain National Park Fishery Biologist Steve Moore. "With all of our history (data) we know that the rainbow trout are having a bad effect." But local trout grower and owner of Sweet Water Farms, Mitchell Betty says, "Any time you introduce poison into nature's stream, I got a real problem with that. I would improve the habitat for both species above and below the naturally occurring waterfall. There were some people that tried to do this some time ago who were just trying to get the land back to the way it was a thousand years ago, for no apparent reason. We should continue to work on the habitat." Moore assured, "We've learned about this stuff and complied with law to make sure that we haven't done anything we're not supposed to do. This seems a little radical, but it's been used in National Parks and Forests throughout the U.S. for years." He claims that their proposal has been reviewed by biologists from area universities, the National Park Services commission, and Bruce Rosenlund, "the foremost expert in the nation for the use of antimycin for native restoration work." In order to carry this out, Moore said the National Park Service has performed an environmental assessment, as required by the National Environmental Protection Act, to make sure that no serious environmental impact will occur. "Now that we've recommended it, we put it out for public review and comment, and, if at all possible, it will be signed off by a regional director. Then we can do the project." Moore added, "We're not evaluating whether we should do it or not, we're evaluating how to best preserve the brook trout." The man who will make the ultimate decision, Southeast Regional Director Jerry Belson was unavailable, but according to his spokesman, Paul Winegar, "That's not a decision he would know a whole lot about," speaking in reference to the use of antimycin in the streams. "He would sign off on it after reading a memorandum, sent to him from the Smokies National Park. They're the experts in that area, so we would take their recommendation." Betty explains that in addition to rainbow and brown trout, that the brook trout, and all aquatic species for that matter, are feeling the negative impact from siltation. Siltation clouds the streams, making it hard for aquatic insects, a primary source of nutrients for fish, to thrive. The Smokies National Park Service only mentions the loggers as the culprits, but Betty says most siltation is caused by highway run-off from storms. Even so, most wildlife experts agree that early logging practices, dating to the beginning of the 20th century -- in particular, building wooden dams and dynamiting them in the streams - contributed to the initial depopulation of the brook trout. The Smoky National Park says that to make up for their blunder, in the early 1900's loggers restocked the streams, mistakenly, with the dominant rainbow trout. However, Moore admits that it was the Smoky Park Service that continued to stock the rainbow trout for another forty years until the 1970's. This, in addition to logging practices of long ago, resulted in a 75 percent decline in the brook trout population over the years. As a result, larger, more aggressive rainbow and brown trout have weeded out the smaller brook trout by natural selection at elevations below 3,000 feet in this region. Brook trout still remain in the Smoky Mountain Park at elevations above 3,000 feet where competing sub-species of trout are unable to travel, due to natural barriers like waterfalls and cascades. However, Moore says that increased acidity from rain is harming the brook trout population surviving in the higher elevations, which is the reason why they want to remove the rainbow and brown trout below, so the brook trout can "reclaim" their territory. But Betty says it's the taxpayers and fisherman who purchase their licenses who own the park service lands and that tax paying fisherman don't want brook trout because they're too small to eat and there would not be enough legal catch for a meal at the end of the day. Betty also says that only about 1 in 1,000 rainbow and brown trout eggs survive to maturity, while brook trout have a high survival rate due to their size and current habitat, which he describes as high elevation, shallow streams. "We have people who think that this is the first step to eliminate all rainbow and brown trout, but that's false," says Moore. "We're only doing this to ten streams and that's it. After that, the law says that we can't do anymore. Tax dollars may support the national park, but if you got a law on the book that says we are to protect and preserve naturally functioning ecosystems unaltered for present and future generations, then we must take action." Moore says that the law also instructs the park service to take "management actions, including eradication of a non-native species where its feasible. We are mandated and that's what makes us different from the state and national forest. This is not to eliminate all brown and rainbow, it's a proactive effort to restore streams at mid-level areas that are protected by natural barriers." If the project is approved, Moore says they will relocate as many brook trout as possible to upstream refuges and then perform a 4 to 5 day treatment on the mid-level and lower streams, which will essentially kill most aquatic life - though some species such as salamanders, mussels, and crayfish are said to be resistant to the toxin. However, aquatic insects, the primary food source for brook trout, are not resistant. "No bugs, no fish production," explained Betty. Moore admits, "It's not a silver bullet," in reference to the chemical antimycin. According to Moore, though, some insects could reappear as soon as one to two weeks after the treatment, in the upper streams where the brook refuges are located." Until then, "We're hoping that the terrestrial insects will sustain them until other insects come back. Also, he says the park service plans to perform the treatment in October, when the waters are cooler, so as to have the least impact on aquatic insects. According to additional research, "We know that even if they are hit pretty hard, they come back pretty rapidly. The tributaries and incoming streams will bring new insects back in. It will take 2 to 3 months for many of the insects to return and 2 to 3 years for them to fully restore their population." Still, Betty says "It's ridiculous. It will take 2 to 3 years to effectively (eradicate) the rainbow and brown trout, and these are the fish that the people want. There are plenty of streams that only have brook trout, but for the government to come in at tax payer expense and rid the rainbow and brown trout is a real bad idea because of the expense incurred through man hours, materials, and the monitoring for exclusive brook trout." Moore replied that they would check for rainbow and trout populations a year after treatment, but that he did not anticipate a high recovery rate. "I'm concerned about the objective of these people," says Betty. "They're obviously not sportsman. If they just want to return the land to the way it was 1,000 years ago, then that doesn't make any sense. And where does it stop - they need to make that clear." For more information, contact: Smokies National Park Acting Superintendent - Phillip Francis (423) 436-1200 National Park Regional Director of Southeast Region - Jerry Belson (404) 562-3182 Trout Unlimited has endorsed this project - David Stewart (704) 878-3560) Land of Sky President - Steve Legeay (828) 683-4978 Aquabiotics Corporation, producer of 'Fintrol' or antimycin, - Nick Romeo (206) 842-1708 Rocky Mountain National Park, - Bruce Rosenlund, expert in field of native restoration using antimycin (303) 275-2392. -- ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. 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