Displaying items by tag: tennessee wildlife resource agency

Thousands of sandhill cranes winter at the confluence of the Hiwassee and Tennessee rivers in Birchwood, Tennessee. The 35th edition of the Sandhill Crane Festival is set for Jan. 16-17. TWRA

Come watch the cranes and their feathered friends and observe an East Tennessee tradition

Lee Wilmot is statewide information specialist for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

BIRCHWOOD — The 35th Tennessee Sandhill Crane Festival is set for Jan. 17-18 at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge, Cherokee Removal Memorial Park, and  Birchwood Community Center. The festival celebrates the thousands of sandhill cranes that stop over or spend the winter on or near the refuge. It is also an opportunity to focus attention on the rich heritage of the state and the Native American history of the area.

The free event runs 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day and includes free shuttle transportation from the Birchwood Community Center to the Cherokee Removal Memorial Park and the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge and parking is available at the Birchwood Baptist Church. Visitors will notice a change this year regarding parking. A parking map can be found on the festival webpage.

Beginning in the early 1990s, the recovering population of eastern sandhill cranes began stopping at the Hiwassee Refuge on their way to and from their wintering grounds in Georgia and Florida. TWRA has been managing the refuge for more than 60 years for waterfowl, and it provides sandhill cranes with a combination of feeding and shallow water roosting habitat. Thousands of birds now spend the entire winter at the confluence of the Hiwassee and Tennessee rivers. The Hiwassee Refuge comprises about 6,000 acres. 

Bart Carter retired after a 30-year career at TWRA. He is credited with improving backpack electrofishing equipment commonly used by conservationists around the country. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

Electrofishing innovator retires after 30 years of service with TWRA

MORRISTOWN — Bart Carter, Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency Region 4 Fisheries Program Manager, has retired after three decades of service to the state’s wildlife resources. 

During his 33-year career, his work included improving hatcheries, enhancing fish habitat, restoring streams to native fish fauna, helping discover new species, adding public access areas, and mentoring employees.   

One of his most significant developments during his career was designing and building new backpack electrofishing equipment.

“Electrofishing can be an effective tool for fish community sampling, fish relocation, invasive species eradication, (and) sampling fish tissue contaminants,” said Mark O’Neal, director of ETS Electrofishing systems, LLC in Madison, Wisconsin.

“The tools they use just stun fish and doesn’t kill them. It stuns them out and then they can weigh them and put a tag on them, without having to using a pole with a hook or a net,” O’Neal said.

“It puts out a high DC voltage pulse. On a boat system you have to use a larger pulse. More DC power to drive a current in the water. When the fish experience a DC current they go to the anoid,” O’Neal said.

A Tennessee deer with Chronic Wasting Disease.  Tennessee Wildlife Federation

In a lawsuit filed against the agency, the former employee claims officials misled the public about the rate of a neurological disorder in deer, changing protocols to avoid admitting mistakes.

This story was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.

NASHVILLE — A former state biologist claims he was confronted in his home by law enforcement officers with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency on the same day he sent his boss’s superiors evidence the state was falsifying data on wildlife diseases.

After his cell phone, laptops and other items were confiscated, the biologist said he was then subjected to hours of questioning by officers — among them the husband of his immediate supervisor.  

James Kelly (video link features Kelly at 10 minutes), a wildlife biologist, led the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s deer management program, chaired the agency’s Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Deer Management Standing Team and served as a wildlife biologist until he was fired in 2022.

In a whistleblower lawsuit filed this week, Kelly alleges state officials manipulated data and misled the public about the prevalence of chronic wasting disease, a fatal and infectious disease that attacks deer populations.

(TWRA would not comment on the specific allegations in the filing, but said its data was solid).

Officials mull farm runoff as possible cause

NEWPORT — Tennessee state conservation, agricultural and environment officials are investigating a widespread fish kill along the lower Pigeon River.

The probe began on Aug. 12 after Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency officers noticed multiple species of dead fish along the river near Newport.

Aquatic life in the Pigeon River, a popular rafting, kayaking and fishing spot boasting big smallmouth bass, has steadily recovered following years of pollution from the upstream paper mill in Canton. The Pactiv Evergreen site permanently closed earlier this year, after it and previous owners drastically reduced the amount of effluent into the river. Fishing and whitewater sports rapidly took off from there.

TWRA didn’t immediately identify the reason for the fish kill, which remains under investigation, but alluded to sediment and agricultural runoff that spiked during heavy rains this month.

Here is the full news release from TWRA:

“The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) and the Tennessee Dept. of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) are jointly investigating a fish kill on the Pigeon River above Newport. 

“On Friday, TWRA wildlife officers reported dead fish on the Pigeon River from Edwina Bridge down to the Newport police station.  TWRA fisheries biologists responded to the area documenting multiple species of dead fish at several locations. Based on the dispersal of the fish, recent water generation from the dam likely pushed them further downstream while leaving higher numbers of dead fish at the top of the kill zone.

“To determine potential contributing factors, biologists investigated the surrounding area and documented muddy runoff from agriculture fields likely caused by heavy rains in the area.

“TWRA biologists contacted the TDEC field office in Knoxville to assist with the incident and notified the Tennessee Department of Agriculture of the investigation. 

The incident currently remains under investigation.”