WASHINGTON (CN) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to list the Georgia pigtoe mussel, interrupted rocksnail, and rough hornsnail as endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.
The three species are endemic to the Coosa River drainage within the Mobile River Basin of Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia. Their disappearance from large parts of their natural ranges is blamed on extensive construction of dams that eliminated or reduced water currents and caused changes in habitat and water quality. The surviving populations are small, localized, and highly vulnerable to water quality and habitat deterioration.
The agency also plans to designate critical habitat for the Georgia pigtoe, interrupted rocksnail, and rough hornsnail under the Act. In total, approximately 160 miles of stream and river channels fall within the boundaries of the proposed critical habitat designation for the three species. The proposed critical habitat is in Cherokee, Clay, Coosa, Elmore, and Shelby Counties, Alabama; Gordon, Floyd, Murray, and Whitfield Counties, Georgia; and Bradley and Polk Counties, Tennessee.
Click the document icon on the front page for details and links to the regulations. The document icon under the "Conservation, Infant Safety & More" heading leads to other new regulations.
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.