Assessment of Reintroduction of American Eel into Buffalo Creek (Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania)

American Eel Anguilla rostrata populations along the Atlantic coast of the United States have been in decline over the past several decades. One suggested cause of the decline is construction of barriers that block access to upstream tributaries where they can spend a significant portion of their lives. Success of reintroduction efforts above barriers has rarely been evaluated. Within the Susquehanna River (Chesapeake Bay watershed), over 1 million eels were released above four major downstream barriers in the past decade. We used backpack electrofishing and tagging to monitor growth, sexual differentiation, and population density of reintroduced eels in Buffalo Creek, a tributary to the Susquehanna River (Pennsylvania). From 2012 to 2019, we caught over 2,000 individuals, tagged more than 1,800, and recaptured 229. Recaptured eels provided insight into growth, sexual differentiation, and movement. Nearly 99% of recaptures remained near stocking locations. The average growth rate was 47.8 mm/y and ranged between −5.8 and 116.0 mm/y. Females generally grew significantly faster than males, and growth rates of several females exceeded 100 mm/y, a rate typically associated with estuarine residents. The population density within stocking sites was over 2,300 eels/km, roughly four times higher than Susquehanna River tributaries below the most downstream dam, and exceeded the target stocking goal of 529 eels/km. While we caught most eels in areas sampled near stocking locations, we captured some eels in smaller upstream tributaries away from stocking locations. Our study is the first to examine how reintroduced eels grow following stocking above four major dams on the Susquehanna River. We suggest that managers considering moving eels above blockages account for release location and density to achieve desired benefits to the overall population.

Managing Centrarchid Fisheries in Rivers and Streams

<em>Abstract.</em>—Unique genetic lineages of <em> Micropterus </em>species are increasingly recognized; however, little effort has been devoted to identifying their ecological relationships despite recognition of their conservation value by management agencies. Our study objectives were to determine young-of-year, first-summer survival, and examine overall channel-unit habitat use by the Neosho subspecies of Smallmouth Bass <em> Micropterus dolomieu velox </em>from two Ozark streams (Spring and Buffalo creeks). We completed snorkel surveys approximately every 2 weeks from June–September 2013. As anticipated, young-of-year mortality was high during the first 2 weeks of the sampling period (85% in Buffalo Creek and 99% in Spring Creek). Mortality stabilized by the end of July in both streams and was similar over subsequent 2-week periods (95% CI: 0.13%–2.38% and 0.72%–3.48%, in Spring Creek and Buffalo Creek, respectively). In Spring Creek, backwater habitats were unavailable, and young-of-year fish used both pool and run habitats throughout the study duration. However, we observed different habitat-use patterns in Buffalo Creek: young-of-year fish used pools and backwaters throughout the season, use of run habitats increased by late July, and increased use of backwater habitats followed an increase in late summer discharge. In general, there was substantial habitat use variability both within and between streams. Considering both stream reaches combined, young-of-year fish densities in riffle habitat were statistically lower than other channel units. We show that young-of-year Neosho Smallmouth Bass mortality is high during the first few weeks following swim up, and that backwater habitats may be important to early life stages under certain environmental conditions.

Hurricane Katrina's Families and Children: Before, during and after the Deluge

Left to Chance: Hurricane Katrina and the Story of Two New Orleans Neighborhoods and Children of Katrina are two titles in an important University of Texas Press series called the Katrina Bookshelf. Series editor Kai Erikson is well known for his seminal book Everything in Its Path: Destruction of Community in the Buffalo Creek Flood (1976), about the Buffalo Creek flood disaster on 26 February 1972 in which over 132 million US gallons of black waste water broke through three dams and virtually wiped out sixteen coal towns in West Virginia, demolishing (as Erikson's book title indicates) everything in its path. Similarly, and with the same aim as Everything in Its Path of combining broadly relevant findings with the particulars that inhere to every catastrophe, these books in the Katrina Bookshelf series of five (to date) focus on how families in two particular New Orleans neighborhoods (Left to Chance) and on how children and youth in New Orleans and across the Gulf Coast (Children of Katrina) navigated and negotiated their lives before and after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Louisiana on 29 August 2005. Both books, then, track how people and neighborhoods were impacted during the hurricane, immediately afterward, and up to seven years after the floodwaters receded. Valuably for future policy and prevention efforts, the stance in both books is the continuous juxtaposition of individual and structural influences on disaster outcomes.

Disaster at Buffalo Creek

This chapter focuses on the Buffalo Creek flood in West Virginia that occurred on February 26, 1972. Almost everyone along Buffalo Creek depended on coal mining for a living. The creek is formed by three narrow forks meeting at the top of the hollow. The middle of these forks, known as Middle Fork, had been for many years the site of an enormous bank of mine waste. The waste was there because it solved two important disposal problems for the Buffalo Mining Company. This chapter describes the events that led to the Buffalo Creek disaster and its aftermath. It also considers the individual and collective trauma caused by the flood. Finally, it presents the story of a survivor named “Wilbur.”