How Many Endangered and/or Endemic Mollusk
and Fish Species
Are Needed to Protect Globally Rare
Populations in the
Clinch and Powell River Drainages????
Powell River Mussels
• Historically, 41 species above Norris Reservoir
• 28 Extant
• Federally listed 13
• Extant federally listed 7
• Extinct 3 (all Epioblasma riffle species)
• Federally listed fish extant (slender chub,
yellowfin madtom)
• Candidates for listing (P. cyphyus, P. subtentum)
• Total Endangered Species 9
Powell River – Mussel Long-term
Trend Monitoring
• Fletcher Ford, VA (table 13) (TNC Mussel
preserve), Species Documented 35
– 1979 (16 species, 11.1 m2)
– 1999 (8 species, 5.1 m2)
– 2004 (7 species, 1.2 m2)
• McDowell Shoal, TN (table 11), Species
Documented 37
– 1979 (16 species, 5.5 m2)
– 1999 (10 species, 2.8 m2)
– 2004 (7 species, 1.4 m2)
Callahan Creek
130 feet of overburden removed to
get the coal
Callahan Creek
Powell at Black Creek
Clinch River Mussels
• Historically, 55 species above Norris Reservoir
• 41 Extant
• Federally listed 19
• Extant federally listed 14
• Extinct 5 (all Epioblasma riffle species)
• Federally listed fish extant (yellowfin and pygmy
madtom, duskytail darter, slender chub)
• Candidates for listing (C. monodonta, L.
dolabelloides, P. cyphyus, P. subtenum)
• Total Endangered Species 18
Clinch River Steam Plant CRM 268
Bull Run Creek CRM 246.2
Pendleton Island, VA
CRM 226.7
Turbidity from mine blow-out in 1985 from
Bull Run Creek CRM 246.2
Pendleton Island, VA
CRM 226.7
Clinch River – Mussel Long-term
Trend Monitoring
• Pendleton Island, VA (table 7) (TNC Mussel
preserve), Species Documented 41
– 1979 (21 species, 24.6 m2)
– 1999 (13 species, 12.4 m2)
– 2004 (10 species, 4.6 m2)
• Kyles Ford, TN (table 11), Species Documented 40
– 1979 (27 species, 30.9 m2)
– 1999 (23 species, 95.8 m2)
– 2004 (23 species, 74.1 m2)
Coal Creek, VA
CRM 312.9
Swords Creek, VA
CRM 304
Kyles Ford, TN
CRM 189.6
Stakeholders in the Clinch-Powell Watershed
• Federal:
• Office of Surface Mining (OSM), Appalachian Region
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Regions 3 and 4
• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
• National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), VA-TN
• Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Regions 4 and 5
• Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE), VA-TN Districts
• Forest Service (USFS), Jefferson Nat. Forest (Guest River)
• National Park Service (NPS), Cumberland Gap (Powell River)
• State:
• VA Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy (DMME)
• Division of Mined Land Reclamation (DMLR)
• VA Department of Water Quality (DWQ)
• VA Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)
• VA State Water Control Board (SWCB)
• VA Soil Water Conservation Districts (SWCD)
• VA Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF)
• VA Department of Transportation (VDOT)
• TN Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC)
• TN Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA)
• TN Department of Transportation (TDOT)
• Non-governmental:
• Upper Tennessee River Roundtable, VA
• The Nature Conservancy (VA-TN)
• Virginia Forest Watch
• World Wildlife Fund
• Conservation Fisheries Incorporated
• Friends of the Clinch
• Powell River Partnership
• Hands Across the Mountain (Powell)
Ultimately, this rich biodiversity is at
a major crossroads and its fate rests
in the hands of state and federal
resource managers responsible for its
protection.