Twelfth Annual
Coal Creek Health Day
2012
Making Memories
Lots of photos below!
Holding a fish found in Coal Creek
These photos by J. Miles Cary
Knoxville News Sentinel writer Bob Fowler
conducts an important interview!
Read Bob's story here
TVA and TU volunteers gather fish & critters in a seine
On Friday, 26 October 2012, students from Kindergarten to 5th grade continued that tradition. After 12 years, they know what to expect.
The creek that gives the area its name, Coal Creek, runs right beside Briceville School. It's a living laboratory!! Tables were set up adjacent to the creek to display fish and critters collected by the students. Also, fly tying stations were equipped and rods and reels were provided for casting instructions.
"Oh, I wish we could jump into Coal Creek!"
Bioassays conducted in the past show that Coal Creek rates as good in its diversity of aquatic insects, but only fair in its diversity of native fish species. Insects can fly to repopulate Coal Creek as water quality has improved, but not fish. The cold water of the Clinch River tailwater below Norris Dam appears to impede the natural recruitment of some missing warm-water species.
In 2007, UT, TVA, and TDEC began reintroducing some of
the native species, including rainbow darters, which should be present based
on current water quality conditions as described at
http://www.coalcreekaml.com/CoalCreekRestoration.htm. Young
rainbow darters were collected again this year, documenting that natural
reproduction is occurring. Fifteen other species of fish were also
collected.
Thank you to volunteers
and friends from the
Clinch River Chapter of Trout Unlimited, TVA, and UT.
These photos by J. Miles Cary
Thanks so much to Briceville School Principal Sandra Patton and all the teachers for allowing us the pleasure of spending the day with their well mannered students. And, don't forget the cafeteria ladies who fed us lunch and Bobby McCoy whose famous shiny floors we got wet and muddy.
