When the tiny brook trout wiggled out of Jim Cook’s hand in mid-May and into the chilly waters of Little Tumbling Creek in Smyth County, Va., it was the first time in more than 22 years that trout had been in the stream.
Brook Trout, Virginia’s state fish and the only native trout species for the region, existed in the stream until the 1980s and early 1990s. That’s when years of man-made and naturally occurring acid deposition and the lack of natural buffers in the stream upset the chemistry to the extent that it no longer supported the fish or the aquatic insects they needed to survive. Now with help from Appalachian Power, the AEP Foundation, Trout Unlimited and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF), they are positioned to make a comeback.
“The Little Tumbling Creek project really came to fruition this past winter when our crews built a new access road to the Broadford-Richlands 138 kV line that crosses the Clinch Wildlife Management Area,” sa
