Aquatic conservation gets recognition

After decades of conservation and restoration, the the Little Tennessee River Basin, which includes the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, has been named the country’s first Native Fish Conservation Area.

Recognizing a cooperative approach to stream conservation, the designation reflects the area’s incredible diversity of stream life  — which includes more than 100 species of fish and 41 aquatic animals considered rare at the federal or state level — and the effort that’s gone into conserving and restoring those systems.

Stretching from north Georgia and across North Carolina into Tennessee, the Little Tennessee River Basin includes the Little Tennessee, Tuckasegee, Oconaluftee, Nantahala, Tellico, and Cheoah river systems. A myriad of governmental and nonprofit agencies have worked to accomplish impressive milestones in aquatic conservation, including reintroduction of four endangered fishes into Abrams Creek in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.