The construction of dams in the early to mid-20th century is one of the main factors contributing to the Southeast’s growing list of endangered species, a government biologist says.
The list’s most recent additions are three species of mollusks once thought to be extinct.
“These are flowing-water species that require flows, and dams stop flows,” said Paul Hartfield, endangered species biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alabama. “A lot of habitat has been destroyed, and we can’t get it back. We’re not going to get the dams out; no one is proposing to take the dams out.”
But designating the species as endangered and portions of the Conasauga and Oostanaula rivers as critical habitat is a step in saving their populations, biologists say.
The three mollusks are the Georgia pigtoe mussel, the interrupted rocksnail and the rough hornsnail.