Tennessee Aquarium VP and Chief Conservation and Education Officer Dr. Anna George, right, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Conservation Delivery Coordinator Geoff Call collect critically endangered laurel dace from a stream ravaged by a prolonged drought on the Cumberland Plateau. The rescue successfully relocated 105 adults into human care at the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute’s headquarters near downtown Chattanooga.  Photos by Doug Strickland/Tennessee Aquarium

Drought prompts emergency rescue of one of America’s most endangered aquatic species

Casey Phillips is a writer for the Tennessee Aquarium.

CHATTANOOGA — Few things trigger louder or more distressing alarm bells among freshwater biologists than watching a waterway dry up during a severe, prolonged drought. That’s especially true when the disappearing stream is home to one of America’s most imperiled fish.

In late July, reports of dramatically withered streams atop Walden Ridge north of Chattanooga spurred an emergency rescue operation to prevent the extinction of the federally endangered laurel dace, which scientists consider to be among the 10 most at-risk fish in North America.

This effort was carried out by representatives from the Tennessee Aquarium, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the University of Georgia’s River Basin Center in coordination with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. In all, 105 adult laurel dace were removed from dangerously dry streams and successfully relocated to the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute (TNACI) near downtown Chattanooga.

All but one of the collected fish survived the relocation and are now thriving in temporary human care, where they will remain until conditions in their few native streams are sufficiently improved for them to be returned safely.

This laurel dace (Chrosomus saylori) was among dozens other collected from a stream on Walden Ridge north of Chattanooga to save the fish from drought. In the last 12 years, this minnow’s range has drastically dwindled to just two streams, and scientists consider it one of North America’s 10 most imperiled fish species.

Invasive carp jumping from the water at Barkley Dam in Kentucky. One option for eliminating carp is to eat them, and you can do just that on Saturday in Knoxville.  Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources

Learn about invasive species such as carp and zebra mussels at Conservation Fisheries panel

KNOXVILLE —To hear Bo Baxter tell it, carp actually doesn’t taste half bad.

He fairly gorged on the bottom feeders once long ago, during a long Mississippi River trip with the famed aquatic biologist David Etnier.

He prefers silver carp to, say, bighead carp, but the meat is fairly light and flaky on both and “I consider it excellent,” Baxter said. (Baxter serves on the editorial board of Hellbender Press).

Regardless their culinary appeal, the fish don’t belong anywhere near here, and will be among several different invasive species set to be the subject of a forum beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23 at Remedy Coffee, 800 Tyson St., Knoxville.

And while you learn, you can enjoy a $5 carp po’boy and hushpuppies plate courtesy of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), which is working to both limit the spread and establish a robust commercial market for the fish. Payson will provide the bread and remoulade.

A protestor holds a sign during a 2021 demonstration against TVA’s plans for continued fossil fuel use outside the federal utility’s headquarters in Knoxville.  Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press

KNOXVILLE — On Thursday, August 22, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Board of Directors will meet in Florence, Alabama to authorize a 5.25 percent electric power rate increase without any public documentation showing why the increase is needed or how those additional revenues will be spent. This rate increase amounts to approximately a staggering half-a-billion-dollar increase for Tennessee Valley ratepayers. Only in the Tennessee Valley could a major utility raise rates without public scrutiny of financial documents.

The 5.25 percent rate increase coupled with last year’s 4.5 percent electric rate increase is strategically set just below a 10 percent threshold that would trigger renegotiation of hundreds of power supply agreements with local utilities. But even with this rate increase, TVA is still racking up debt at a rate not seen in decades.

Based on documents over a year old at this point, we can only guess what is driving TVA’s current financial woes: the largest buildout of fossil gas in the country this decade. These new fossil gas pipelines and power plants aren’t cheap, and TVA’s plan to increase reliance on gas is risky. Families and businesses across the Valley will see increased bills when gas prices rise again and as these new gas power plants become obsolete in just a few short years. 

Michael Katrutsa walks through rows of tomatoes on his 20-acre produce farm in Camden, Tennessee. His crops also include sweet corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, peppers, cucumbers, okra and more.  John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout

Specialty crops take root as models emerge of American agriculture dominated by Delta

This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation. It was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.

CAMDEN ­— A smorgasbord of bright red tomatoes and vibrant vegetables line the walls of Michael Katrutsa’s produce shop in rural Camden, Tennessee. What began a decade ago as a roadside farm stand is now an air-conditioned outbuilding packed with crates of watermelon, cantaloupe and his locally renowned sweet corn — all picked fresh by a handful of local employees each morning.

The roughly 20-acre farm west of the Tennessee River sells about half of its produce through his shop, with the rest going to the wholesale market.

Farms like Katrutsa’s make up just a sliver of roughly 10.7 million acres of Tennessee farmland largely dominated by hay, soybeans, corn and cotton. Specialized machines help farmers harvest vast quantities of these commodity “row crops,” but Katrutsa said the startup cost was too steep for him. While specialty crops like produce are more labor-intensive, requiring near-constant attention from early July up until the first frost in October, Katrutsa said he takes pride in feeding his neighbors.

The World Wildlife Fund sees farms in the mid-Mississippi delta as ripe with opportunity to become a new mecca for commercial-scale American produce. California currently grows nearly three-quarters of the nation’s fruits and nuts and more than a third of its vegetables. 

But as climate change compounds the threats of water scarcity, extreme weather and wildfires on California’s resources, WWF’s Markets Institute is exploring what it would take for farmers in West Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas to embrace — and equitably profit from — specialty crop production like strawberries, lettuce or walnuts.