Dam removal kills more than 1,000 endangered fish at Roebuck Springs

Dam removal kills more than 1,000 endangered fish at Roebuck Springs Tuesday, September 23, 2008 KATHERINE BOUMA News staff writer A thousand or more endangered watercress darters were killed when the city of Birmingham drained most of the water out of a pond at Roebuck Springs, one of the state's top fish experts said Monday. A stench wafted through the air at Roebuck-Hawkins Park, where dead fish were strewn around the mud flats, hidden in the grasses and decomposing at the edge of the water. City workers removed the dam that held back the pool Friday. Biologists said the water clearly dropped so quickly that the rare fish were left to die on the banks or in the grasses. By Monday morning, the 50- to 60-foot-wide pond had been reduced to a shallow pool about five feet across and a muddy flat covered in dead fish, crayfish and snails. The kill had not been fully tallied Monday night. Biologists had to search out the tiny decomposing fish one by one in the grasses or mud. Alive, the fish are brilliantly blue, dotted or banded with bright red and orange. They are 1 to 1.8 inches long and are known to live in only four locations, all in the Birmingham area. Birmingham and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials were planning to meet at the site this morning. "Watercress darters thrive in spring pools," said Bernie Kuhajda, manager of the fish collection at the University of Alabama. "This was the ideal habitat for them." He said the fish would not have followed the water when it drained, because they instinctively hide in the edges when in danger. That made their bodies more difficult to find Monday. "Their life history is hiding out in grass," Kuhajda said. The park center's director, Regina Nummy, said she authorized the dam's removal without consulting federal authorities. She said the pool has flooded the park's tennis courts in the past, causing thousands of dollars of damage. She said it never crossed her mind to consult a U.S. Fish and Wildlife official who contacted her Monday morning. "I did not realize it was an issue until he called a little while ago," she said. Don Lupo, of the Mayor's Office of Citizens Assistance, said the city has been committed to protecting the darter, including posting signs along the spring below the pool notifying everyone of a ban on pesticides near the water. "We have orders not to get into that creek and not to do that stuff," he said. Lupo said he was not aware that the dam removal had killed any darters. Rob Tawes, supervisor of the Fish and Wildlife Service's Daphne Field Office, said late Monday that scientists looking into the event are "in fact-finding mode. It's something that we're extremely concerned about." Killing, wounding or injuring endangered species can be punishable by fines in the thousands of dollars per animal. But federal officials said it was too early Monday to say what direction this case will take. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists were not able to investigate the site Monday but granted Kuhajda permission to gather the fish carcasses and other evidence. The watercress darter is also found in Seven Springs in Powderly and in two locations at the Watercress Darter National Wildlife Refuge in Bessemer. E-mail: kbouma@bhamnews.com ©2008 Birmingham © 2008 al.com All Rights Reserved.