Fish and Wildlife see no danger to endangered species under current drought plan

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ interim plan for operating Jim Woodruff Dam on the Apalachicola River will not threaten federally protected freshwater mussels and the Gulf sturgeon fish in Florida.

The Apalachicola River, which is formed by the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers in Georgia where they meet in Lake Seminole, is home to three freshwater mussel species listed under the Endangered Species Act.

They are the threatened purple bankclimber and Chipola slabshell, and the endangered fat threeridge.

The Gulf sturgeon, which is listed as threatened, spawns in the river below Woodruff Dam at Lake Seminole.

The Corps’ of Engineers recently reduced the amount of water flowing  through the dam to hold more water upstream during the ongoing drought.

The Corps can cut the flow to as low as 4,500 cubic feet per second during an extreme drought; since early May they’ve been holding the flow to about 5,000 cubic feet per second of water into the Apalachicola River.

The primary purpose of the minimum release is to conserve water for drinking and other purposes upstream while still protecting sea life and the Apalachicola bay Seafood industry downstream.

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