Issue link: https://alabamapower.uberflip.com/i/1061366
While many property owners used this fall's Coosa River drawdown to make repairs to boathouses, piers and other structures along the water's edge, Alabama Power biologists were on another mission. APC Environmental Affairs employees worked with members of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) to protect rare snails on Lay and Mitchell lakes. e first step involved surveying threatened species — literally by counting the number of snails in a given area. Two species of freshwater aquatic snails listed under the Endangered Species Act, the rough hornsnail and Tulotoma snail, call the Coosa River home. Both are native to Alabama and aren't found anywhere else in the world. "We do a manual count, which gives you an estimate of the number of that species within a certain area," said Jason Carlee, APC Environmental Affairs supervisor. "You can then multiply that number by the area of the lake bottom affected by the drawdown to estimate how much of the population is affected." e work wasn't limited to just surveying. e biologists were also charged with saving snails affected by the drawdown. Snails that might have had trouble navigating to the lower lake levels were picked up along the riverbank and returned to the water. "e primary objectives at Lay Lake and Lake Mitchell were surveying known populations of Tulotoma and rough hornsnail, searching for new populations of the species and relocating species to suitable habitat in deeper water," said Chad Fitch, a biologist with Alabama Power. e snails live anywhere from one to 30 feet below the shoreline but prefer to live just below the water's edge, according to Carlee. "e lowering of the water forces the snails to follow the water and, as they move, they can get trapped by vegetation or stuck behind a log or rock," Carlee said. "Our priority is to identify new populations and to salvage as many snails as we can." e teams focused on areas with known populations and salvaged snails when the water was at its lowest level to make the most significant positive impact. A previous survey and salvage effort was conducted 26 | 2018 Vol: 4