The Shadow
WARM SPRINGS — Dominion Virginia Power and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries have agreed to study the impact of warmer water temperatures on brook trout in Little Back Creek.
Little Back Creek was permanently impounded by Dominion when the Bath County Pumped Storage Project began operations in 1985.
Stephen Hiner, a Moun-tain Grove native who works as a laboratory and field specialist with an emphasis on aquatic insects in the Department of Entomology at Virginia Tech, asked the Bath County Board of Supervisors Tuesday night to “keep your fingerprints on any discussions that may happen between Dominion and the Virginia folks” during the two-summer study.
Hiner explained that historically Little Back Creek supported a healthy population of brook trout. But since the stream was impounded, a consensus among anglers — and perhaps VDGIF biologists — suggests that the population of the fish in the stream has deteriorated.
The brook trout was designated the official state fish of Virginia in 1993, Hiner explained.
“It holds some clout with the state of Virginia,” Hiner said. “It is the only native trout and/or char that we have in the state of Vir-ginia.”
Brook trout require cool, clean and pure water at about 60 degrees to exist.
“Anything above that, they don’t do well,” Hiner explained.
“They are wonderful indicators of the health of our streams,” Hiner added. “They tell us a story. They are wonderful indicators of water quality.”
Little Back Creek is one of 6-8 streams in Bath County that are designated as Wild Trout Waters by VDGIF.
“Historically, Little Back Creek supported a vibrant brook trout population,” Hiner added.
Hiner continued by explaining that three small settling ponds below Dominion’s upper reservior on Little Back Creek are now acting as giant heat-sinks, artificially elevating the temperature of the water in Little Back Creek.
“The anecdotal evidence and the data from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries kind of points to something going on with the brook trout in Little Back Creek,” Hiner said. “One of the theories is: The three ponds that are owned and on Dominion Power have been warming up the water to a point that the brook trout are not surviving like they historically did.”
Hiner said these settling ponds “have outlived their original purpose of sediment retention and could be breached or even removed entirely, allowing the much cooler water to enter the headwater of Little Back Creek.”
“They served their purpose,” Hiner added. “They’ve done their job. They kept the construction sediment out of Little Back Creek.”
Hiner said his “original goal was to inform the board of this concern and get them to prod the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and Dominion to take a look at this situation.”
“I don’t think I need your help on that anymore,” he said.
He added that he wanted to make supervisors “aware of the value of the natural resources that we have here in Bath County.”
“Will a clear-cut conclusion come out of this study?” Hiner said in closing.
“Anytime you’re dealing with freshwater aquatic environments, sometimes you get a clear picture — the critters will tell you a clear story. Other times, you have more questions than you had when you started.”
