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Restoration and habitat enhancement for Southern Appalachian Brook Trout in Wright, Abner, Dogwood, and Emory Creeks, Jocassee Gorges, South Carolina

Brook Trout Resoration in Jocassee Gorges, South Carolina

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Restoration and habitat enhancement for Southern Appalachian Brook Trout in Wright, Abner, Dogwood, and Emory Creeks, Jocassee Gorges, South Carolina

South Carolina DNR proposes to restore native Eastern Brook Trout populations in four streams in three patches totaling 14.6 km (9.1 miles) of habitat.

SC DNR proposes to restore native Eastern Brook Trout populations in four streams in three patches totaling 14.6 km (9.1 miles) of habitat. This includes comprehensive restoration, including non-native removals (eradication) above barriers in 8.7 km (5.4 miles) of stream, physical in-stream habitat enhancement/restoration in all 14.6 km, followed by reintroduction of native Brook Trout in 14.6 km.

This proposal is consistent with many EBTJV Conservation Actions. For example, EBTJV Conservation Action “Increase recreational fishing opportunities for wild Brook Trout.” This project proposal focuses on this action as SCDNR’s mission statement to “protect and manage fish for the sport of fishing for public enjoyment.” This project will restore fishing opportunities for the state’s only native Salmonid in both Oconee and Pickens Counties for public recreation. All streams proposed for restoration are entirely on SCDNR’s Jocassee Gorges area and available for public fishing. The Emory Creek project will extend Brook Trout downstream in a larger, more fishable stream.

This project is also consistent with the following Conservation Strategy Action “Conserve and/or increase habitats that support robust wild Brook Trout populations and Conserve genetic diversity of wild Brook Trout populations.” This project will increase habitat in four streams in three high priority Brook Trout patches, two of which are believed to currently be devoid of this species. We will also conserve genetic diversity for Southern Appalachian Brook Trout populations by fortifying two of the four unique genotypes of Brook Trout in SC. This project proposal also follows EBTJV’s last Conservation Action of “Minimize threats to wild Brook Trout populations (e.g., degraded water quality, invasive species, altered hydrologic regimes), ” in that we are removing invasive Rainbow Trout from Emory and Wright Creeks down to a barrier to secure Brook Trout in their native habitat.

During the 20th century the virgin forests within the Jocassee Gorges were highly sought after by corporate lumber companies, which led to large tracts being heavily harvested for timber (Waldrop 2001). Intensive logging, which included streambank clearing resulted in both sedimentation and thermal pollution in many streams in the Jocassee Gorges. Streambank clearing also decreases the amount of large woody debris (LWD) which in turn causes reduced cover, loss of pool habitat, and increased vulnerability to predation for Brook Trout (Hicks et al. 1991). In stream habitat surveys were completed on Wright Creek, Abner Creek, and Emory Creek in 2010 using the Basinwide Visual Estimation Technique (BVET). These habitat surveys quantified critical habitat in terms of pools/riffles and large wood abundance. Wright Creek and Abner Creek both presented habitat deficiencies based off their individual BVET surveys. Wright Creek BVET survey from 2010 showed very low pool habitat, with in the 2.9 km surveyed. We propose to update BVET surveys which will aid in updating current pool habitat and determine the extent to which habitat enhancement efforts (large wood additions) are needed. Abner Creek BVET surveys conducted in 2010 showed 7% total pool habitat and 78 total pieces of LWD per km. The desired range for percent pool habitat for Brook Trout should be between 30 to 50 percent and total LWD should range between 100 to 200 pieces per km, based on reference conditions in undisturbed streams. Since Abner Creek lacked both LWD and pool habitat in 2010, we expect the addition of LWD to be necessary. Adding large wood would also add to the size 4 LWD, longer than 5 meters and greater than 55 cm in diameter, that is lacking in Abner Creek (3 total pieces). Through the addition of felling 60-120 trees per mile in 2006, King Creek, SC, documented pool habitat increasing from 10% in 2001 to 36% in 2009 (Rankin and Houck 2009). SCDNR will use the same approach on Abner Creek and other Jocassee Gorges streams.
Invasives, Disease and Pathogens
Rivers and Streams
Aquatics
Conservation Delivery
Aquatic Resources
Fish

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Barriers

Name of barrier Latitude Longitude FONS ID FIS Project ID FWS Acc. #

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