Unio story from Virginia

[Caitlin]

Nature Conservancy leads canoe trip down the Clinch River to showcase its beauty and teach about its ecology

CLEVELAND, Va. ? Sycamore limbs bend over to touch the muddy water of the Clinch River, above lush banks lined with cardinal flowers, Jerusalem artichoke and joe-pye-weed.
The songs of goldfinches, green herons and indigo buntings blend with the rattle of cicadas, and the calm surface of the river reflects the scenic beauty of Southwest Virginia?s wooded hills.
Under the Clinch River?s water is another thing of beauty. It?s small, has a two-part shell and comes in 45 different varieties ?18 of them are endangered.
People who live along the river?s banks may not know it, but they?re living by a goldmine of rare species that ecologists are trying desperately to save ? freshwater mussels.
"The Nature Conservancy believes that protecting the land goes hand in hand with working with people who depend on the land for their livelihood and who love the land," said Brad Kreps, director of the conservancy?s Clinch Valley Program.
"Conservation is about more than just protecting natural resources. It?s about people."
That?s why Kreps and Nature Conservancy ecologist Braven Beaty led about 20 people down the Clinch in canoes on Friday as part of the Virginia Highlands Festival. They experienced the river firsthand and learn about the life it contains.
"I didn?t realize there was that many endangered species in this little stretch of water here," said Allyson Dean, who went on the trip.
"I used to use them [mussels] to fish with from time to time," said Shawn Ratliff, who also paddled the river with the group. "I guess I won?t do that anymore."
Now, the river is doing well, according to surveys of fish and aquatic insect larvae, but Beaty said mussels can be more sensitive to pollution ? and in some areas they aren?t doing so well.
But they?re doing better in the Clinch than anywhere else, he said.
"These reaches of the Clinch River are the only reaches of the upper Tennessee that are doing well with mussels," he said. "The Clinch is kind of the stronghold. We?ve got to do what we can to save this one."
A series of pollution events over the years have killed off species in long stretches of river.
The worst was In 1967, when power plant sludge accidentally spilled into the river.
"They had a very large pond full of this fly-ash sludge ? fly ash and water ? and essentially the dam broke on that, and dumped that into the Clinch River and basically killed all the fish down to the Tennessee state line," Beaty said.
The mussels have still not come back in their former quantity and diversity in that 70-mile stretch, he said.
Another spill happened in 1998, when a tanker truck tipped over, dumping chemicals into the river and killing off every mussel in a five-mile stretch of river.
From the river, the constant rumble of coal trains and the mechanical hum of the power plant at Carbo are reminders of the potential for another accident on the river.
Kreps said no one factor is responsible for the mussels? decline.
In recent years, a coordinated effort by private and government agencies has sought to address pollution problems and bring the mussels back through various methods.
The Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy has a program to reclaim abandoned mine lands, which Mike Abbot, a department spokesman, said are the largest contributor to sedimentation problems in the Clinch.
One type of project on the Clinch involves working on old "gob piles" ? piles of coal mining waste ? to minimize the damage they do to the stream.
"It?s usually getting them out of the stream channels, first of all, then reshaping them so we can put topsoil on top of them," Abbot said. "In some cases, some of the shale can become a place where grass can grow."
Another effort provides incentives for re-mining old mine sites, which often improves water quality as companies abide by current mining regulations.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service, a federal agency, works with farmers to prevent sedimentation coming from farmland.
"If they protect their water sources ? springs, creeks and rivers ? they can get an alternate source of water, which is what they?re looking at for the livestock. So it?s a win-win situation for the landowner and for protecting these water resources," said Joe Wentz, district conservationist for the agency in Lebanon.
For the river, it means less sediment, which is its biggest pollutant.
Wentz said the cost-share programs evolved the water-quality-improvement focus in the past two decades or so, as the public became more aware of water quality issues and endangered species.
"When I moved here in ?89, I wouldn?t go to a farm and start talking about fencing cattle out of the creek, but I can do that today," Wentz said. "I guess attitudes have evolved."
He says people tell him streams are cleaner than they used to be.
For ecologists, protecting the mussel species means monitoring their population levels and using a variety of methods to promote growth in their numbers ? for example, breeding and releasing tiny mussels, or transplanting adult mussels from one place to another.
The Nature Conservancy and other organizations also own pieces of land along the river to help protect the mussel species.
In addition to their intrinsic value, Beaty and Kreps said mussels also have other types of value to humans ? for example, removing sediment, improving water quality and decreasing the cost of water treatment.
"They are all things nature provides to us, but we have a hard time putting a dollar figure on it," Kreps said.
In addition to the communities that draw their water from the Clinch, Kreps said recreation ? such as paddling on the river ? is not only of benefit locally but to the local economy in the form of tourism dollars.
"That?s a major reason people are visiting Southwest Virginia," Kreps said. "A healthy Clinch River is tied directly to healthy human communities and strong, vibrant communities."
In some stretches of the river, mussels ? indicator species of its overall stream health ? are doing well; in other areas their numbers are decreasing.
"I would say it?s getting better," Beaty said. "The habitat and water quality have improved ... there are at least now places in the river where it appears the mussel fauna are improving rather than declining."
But, he said, "It?s not turned the corner yet."
dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701