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NFC: Creek Restoration Update......


Dear Konrad,
	Peggy forwarded your letter to J.R. and to me for a reply... To
brieflybring
you up to date:
	In May this year we stocked an additional 3500 spotfin chubs, 60
yellowfin
madtoms, 80 smoky madtoms, and 150 duskytail darters at five sites in
Abrams
Creek. In later monitoring surveys, we saw good numbers/unit effort of
all
four species (indicating good survivorship), and both nests and
young-of-the-
year (wild reproduction) of smoky madtoms and duskytail darters at more
than
one locality spanning several kilometers of the creek. We have not seen
evidence of reproduction of spotfin chubs (and only once or twice with
yellowfins), but this is the first year that we have seen adult chubs,
with
some males near breeding coloration, late in the season following
stocking
earlier in the year. We fully expect to see breeding males next year and
hope
to observe recruitment as well!
	As far as stocking other species goes, these are the only ones that have
federal status and, therefore, funding for reintroductions at this point.
It
is the stated policy of the Park Service to try to restore all natives,
and we
at CFI would very much like to eventually see the entire native
ichthyofauna
of Abrams Creek restored someday, but it has to be considered a lower
priority
than recovering more imperiled species at this time.
	One other tidbit of very good news is that we observed for the first
time (in
15+ years) that yellowfin madtoms are expanding their range downstream
into an
extirpated reach of Citico Creek. We feel at least partially responsible
for
this as a result of augmentation stockings we have carried out just
upstream
in years when the population had declined in the past.
	Hope this answers your questions. Feel free to ask for any additional
info.
After looking at NFC's gallery, I bet we could supply pics of additional
species (J.R.?) like boulder darters, etc.

										Regards,

										Patrick Rakes



Robert Rice
Help Preserve our Aquatic Heritage join the NFC
email us at NFC at actwin_com or  Sunfishtalk at listbot_com
website  http://nativefish.interspeed.net/

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