Hello Folks!

I know that I have not kept up with the Newsletter as well as I had hoped to. But, it does get hectic this time of year!

One thing that has been kept up with a little bit better is our Facebook page. You can click on this from our Home page. Please take a few moments to become a fan of ours! The Facebook is pretty much a "fun" outlet for us! The other day, Pat said....maybe we shouldn't post all these pictures of us "having fun" in the water. People might get the wrong idea about the work we do....or if we really do "work".

I think pretty much anyone that does much field work probably enjoys what they do. I know I certainly do! I'm achy and sore today. That was a difficult crawl up the middle of the Cheoah River yesterday! But, it was fun! It's a privlege to be able to work with our interesting and beautiful aquatic critters in some of the nicer places left in the U.S. We don't often post the pictures of the umm....let's call them "less than pristine" sites. There are, unfortunately, plenty of them out there. And, the Cheoah is far from a pristine place! It's actually a pretty interesting project! This stretch of the river was essentially completely "de-watered" for many years! A flume (a large pipe) that diverted water from the reserivoir above to turbines for electricity generation completely by-passed that section of river. There is now an effort underway to restore minimum flows to the Cheoah and, ultimately, restore much of the aquatic fauna that once lived there. We have been contracted to propagate spotfin chubs and wounded darters (see species section of our site for info on these fish) to reintroduce and monitor in the Cheoah. Even though this project is in it's infancy, we do usually see some of our fish when we return to the river. There is no evidence of reproduction yet, but relatively few fish have been reintroduced and for only a couple years. To find any at all is promising! I will try to keep updating the progress of this particular project.

But, for now, we're still going out. Sometimes, it's fun. Sometimes, it's definitely not! Sometimes, it gives us a chance to get some of our hatchery crew out into the field for a much needed escape from the "back room"! These guys (mostly gals, actually) do a great job back there, keeping things going in the right direction. We like for them to see the "other side" of what they're doing whenever we can! Thanks guys!

Also, thanks to Steve Fraley, T. R. Russ and the rest of the crew from N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission as well as Bob Butler and crew from the Asheville  field office of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service! They do alot of work with us and help make this project possible for us!

So, go check out the fun on our Facebook page and drop us a comment!

Take care,

J. R. Shute

Conservation Fisheries, Inc.