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Upper Tennessee River Basin Strategy Communications Subteam - March 2016 Call
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Notes from the Upper Tennessee River Basin Strategy Communications subteam call on March 7, 2016.
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Team and Partner Workspace
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Communications
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Using a structured decision making process for strategic conservation of imperiled aquatic species in the Upper Tennessee River Basin
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Development of strategic conservation of imperiled species faces several large challenges, including uncertainty in species response to management actions, budgetary constraints that limit options, and issues with scaling expected conservation benefits from local to landscape levels and from single to multiple species. We used a structured decision making process and a multi-scale approach to identify a cost-effective conservation strategy for the imperiled aquatic species in the Upper Tennessee River Basin (UTRB), which face a variety of threats. The UTRB, which encompasses a landscape of 22,360 square miles primarily in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, harbors one of the most globally diverse assemblages of freshwater fishes and mussels occurring at temperate latitudes. In developing the strategy, we sought to identify which management actions to emphasize to best achieve recovery of imperiled aquatic species, given costs and uncertainty in management effectiveness. The strategy was developed for conservation implementation over a 20-year period, with periodic review and revision. In this presentation, we describe the ecological significance of the UTRB, the planning process, and the resulting strategy. A strategic emphasis on population management emerged as the optimal approach for achieving conservation of imperiled aquatic species in the UTRB, which aligns well with the goals of existing plans for conserving and recovering imperiled fishes and mussels in the UTRB. The structured planning process and resulting conservation strategy dovetail with the landscape approach to conservation embodied in the USFWS’s strategic habitat conservation approach and network of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives.
The recorded webinar is also available for viewing at the following link: http://www.fws.gov/northeast/science/seminars/July2015.html.
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News & Information
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Webinars and Presentations
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Conserving Imperiled Aquatic Species in the UTRB
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A team of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists, with assistance from U.S. Geological Survey, have developed a collaborative conservation strategy examining cost-effective approaches for efforts to conserve and manage 36 imperiled freshwater fish and mussel species in the 22,360 square-mile Upper Tennessee River Basin.
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Training
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Videos and Webinars
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Mussel Outreach Event
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Participants at a mussel outreach event where member of the public were able to observe mussels and their host fish.
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Resources
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TRB Images
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Mussel Infestation Outreach Event
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Mussel outreach event in which children are assisting a biologist to release host fish that were recently infested with mussel larvae.
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Resources
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TRB Images
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Conserving imperiled species in the Upper Tennessee River Basin
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When we think of river life, for many of us a handful of animals may come to mind – trout, smallmouth bass, muskie. But in the Southern Appalachians, waters of the Upper Tennessee River Basin are alive with a whopping 255 species of fish and mussels.
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News & Events
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Population Performance Criteria to Evaluate Reintroduction and Recovery of Two Endangered Mussel Species, Epioblasma brevidens and Epioblasma capsaeformis
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Genetic and demographic modeling of two endangered mussel species, Epioblasma brevidens and E. capsaeformis, in the Clinch River, U.S.A., was conducted to determine quantitative criteria to evaluate performance of extant and reintroduced populations. Reintroduction modelling indicated that the initial population size created during a 5 year build-up phase greatly affected final population size at 25 years, being similar to the population size at the end of the build-up phase, especially when population growth rate was low. Excluding age 0 individuals, age 1 juveniles or recruits on average comprised approximately 11% and 15% of a stable population of each species, respectively. Age-class distribution of a stable or growing population was characterized by multiple cohorts, including juvenile recruits, sub-adults, and adults. Because of current barriers to dispersal and the low dispersal capability of some mussel species, reintroductions will play a prominent role in restoring populations in the United States.
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Reports & Documents
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Map of Listed, Proposed, and Candidate Fish and Mussels in the UTRB
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Map depicting the number of listed, proposed, and candidate fish and mussel species within each 12-digit HUC within the Upper Tennessee River Basin. Occurrences include extant and historical records. Areas within the UTRB boundary not shaded by a color in the key have no records of imperiled fish and mussel species occurrences.
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Maps
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Map of Listed, Proposed, and Candidate Mussels in the UTRB
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Map depicting the number of listed, proposed, and candidate mussel species within each 12-digit HUC within the Upper Tennessee River Basin. Occurrences include extant and historical records. Areas within the UTRB boundary not shaded by a color in the key have no records of imperiled mussel species occurrences.
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Maps
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Map of Listed, Proposed, and Candidate Fish in the UTRB
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Map depicting the number of listed, proposed, and candidate fish species within each 12-digit HUC within the Upper Tennessee River Basin. Occurrences include extant and historical records. Areas within the UTRB boundary not shaded by a color denoted in the key have no records of imperiled fish species occurrences.
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Maps
