Large-scale private timber harvest (click to enlarge)
Once private logging operations had depleted most of the marketable timber in the Southern Appalachians by the early 1900’s, hundreds of thousands of acres of lands that few wanted were eventually placed into public domain as a result of congressional passage of the Weeks Act of 1911. Passage of this bill by Congress provided for the creation of public lands throughout the Southern Appalachians soon after.
Formally timbered lands begin to recover (click to enlarge)
As both public and private lands began to recover, more and more of the public began to utilize these natural resources for a variety of activities including camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, sightseeing, etc. Although aquatic ecosystems would begin to recover as well, sedimentation and siltation would still be a problem while forest vegetation regenerated. Due to the lack of forest canopy many larger streams would still be too warm for brook trout to survive. As forests regenerated and recreational interests like fishing grew, pressure from sportsmen to provide opportunities for angling increased. Most resource managers during that time believed that as Southern Appalachian Forests recovered so too would the Southern Appalachian brook trout.
Rainbow trout stocked from the 1880's to present (click to enlarge)
To try to meet the demands of sportsmen who were anxious to once again enjoy a trout fishery in the Southern Appalachians, rainbow trout – native to the Sierra Nevada mountains – were introduced into habitat that was formally occupied by Southern Appalachian brook trout. Again, the introduction of rainbow trout was never intended to be a permanent solution, it was only a temporary measure until watersheds recovered and Southern Appalachian brook trout would reclaim these environments. Unfortunately, by the mid-1900’s Southern Appalachian brook trout would not reclaim previous stream reaches of historical distribution as hoped. As the Southern Appalachian Mountains were recovering, naturally self-sustaining wild populations of rainbow trout were becoming established throughout much of the brook trout’s former range as well.
Northern strain brook trout (click to enlarge)
In stream reaches where migration barriers such as waterfalls and cascades existed prohibiting rainbow trout from migrating above them, efforts were made to re-establish brook trout upstream of these barriers. Sources of Southern Appalachian brook trout would not have been easily accessible during the early to mid-1900’s and getting appreciable numbers of them from one stream to another to establish a new population would have been equally difficult. Minor attempts had been made to propagate Southern Appalachian brook trout for stocking and restoration during this time but none were successful. The Southern Appalachian brook trout proved to be extremely difficult to culture in hatcheries and further attempts were abandoned. Instead, brook trout from the Northeast and Great Lakes regions which had successfully been adapted to hatchery culture protocols proved to be an accessible source of brook trout. Brook trout from northern stocks were introduced in an effort to provide a recreational brook trout fishery and re-introduce brook trout back into streams above barriers whose Southern Appalachian populations had been extirpated by private logging practices.
Southern Appalachian Brook Trout Distribution in the Nolichucky River Basin by the 1950's (click to enlarge)
By the 1950’s Southern Appalachian Brook Trout in the Nolichucky River Basin would occupy only 33% of their former distribution in this watershed. This drastic reduction in range would be the result of in-stream habitat loss, water quality degradation and the introduction of rainbow trout. This substantial loss in Southern Appalachian Brook trout distribution would likely have occurred at similar levels from the same impacts throughout the historical range for the Southern Appalachian brook trout in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.
Next time, Southern Appalachian Brook Trout experience further distribution losses from the 1950’s through the 1970’s.
Peter_Givens@nps.gov here with the Blue Ridge Parkway. We’re interested in using one of the historic photo above in a wayside exhibit. Please contact me to discuss. Thanks.