Potential Impacts of the North Fork Hughes River Project, Ritchie County, West Virginia, 1999 on Freshwater Mussels (Unionidae)

摘要

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is providing technical assistance to the Little Kanawha Soil Conservation District and other sponsors in the planning and construction of a multi-purpose dam on the North Fork Hughes River, Ritchie County, WV. As a condition of the 404/401 Permit granted by the U.S. Army Engineer District, Huntington, the permittee was requested to prepare and implement a plan to 'quantitatively assess' populations of Epioblastna triquetra downstream of the dam prior to construction, 30 days following construction, and every other year for a period of 6 years. Concern had been expressed by resource agency personnel and others that direct and indirect effects of construction could negatively affect E. triqitetra. In June 1999, personnel of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) , Vicksburg, MS, conducted a mussel survey in the project area for the NRCS. Work was accomplished by Andrew Miller, William Boyd Green, and Kathryn Barko of the Environmental Laboratory (EL) at the ERDC. Assistance in the field was provided by Mr. Ralph F. Kirchner, U.S. Army Engineer District, Huntington, and Mr. Lynn Shutts, NRCS. Maps and background information on the project area were provided by Mr. Shutts. Suggestions and constructive criticism of the study design for this work was provided by William Tolin, Elkins, WV, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Mr. Shutts provided useful commands on a draft of this report.