Fish and mollusks are returning to a 20-mile stretch of
the original Coosa River channel in east Alabama thanks
to coordinated efforts between Alabama Power and
government biologists at the state and federal level.
Biologists from Alabama Power and the Alabama
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
(ADCNR) inspected waters below the Weiss bypass
dam. ey found improving conditions supporting
species growth and habitat restoration, proof that plans
implemented in 2014 to return continuous river flows to
the area are working.
"Now that we've got a more natural flow regime,
we expect to see the return of a lot of fish, snail and
mollusk species that had become adapted to a more lake
environment," said Alabama Power Environmental Affairs
Supervisor Jason Carlee.
e 20-mile stretch of the original river channel was
bypassed in 1960 when Weiss Dam was constructed
to deliver more efficient generation conditions. Like
many of the rivers in the Southeast, the Coosa features a
tremendous number of freshwater snails, mussels, fishes
and crayfishes – once supporting the greatest freshwater
snail fauna in the world. Increasing water flow to sections
of the Coosa offers the unique opportunity to study
efforts to restore a portion of the fauna previously absent
from the river.
"We hope to see the reintroduction or the expansion of
a lot of snail and mollusk species," Carlee said. "ere's
actually one listed species called the southern clubshell
on this stretch of river. We really want to see it have
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