Multi-partner Project Continues as Biologists Protect the Diversity of Holly Creek

Murray County landowner lauded for proactive conservation efforts

Chatsworth, GA — July 28, 2007— Donning wet suits and snorkels, biologists surveyed a section of Holly Creek in Murray County, Georgia, Thursday, July 27, for species of imperiled freshwater mussels. The mussel survey was one phase in a continuing multi-partner effort to protect the diversity of Holly Creek – a tributary that supports the highest diversity of freshwater mussels in the Conasauga River.

Last Thursday, biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Department of Transportation and The Nature Conservancy relocated a number of imperiled mussel species to avoid any impact from upcoming construction designed to restore and stabilize the now-eroding streambank. Species found included the federally endangered Coosa moccasinshell and the southern pigtoe; the federally threatened fine-lined pocketbook; the sate endangered Alabama creekmussel; and the Coosa creekshell and Alabama rainbow.

The survey took place on Pat Tanksley’s property, which includes roughly one-half mile of Holly Creek However, erosion has swallowed nearly 20 feet of creek streambank along Tanksley’s land, further threatening the imperiled mussels as well as the federally threatened blue shiner fish.

“The ground was disappearing so quickly that I’ve had to move a fence back twice in the past two years,” said Tanksley. “That’s when I realized that I needed help to stop the erosion or risk permanently changing the land that has been in my family since 1830.”

Early this year, The Nature Conservancy approached Tanksley with a $70,000 grant to restore his property and the opportunity to be the first northwest Georgia landowner to enroll in the state’s Landowner Incentive Program. Since that time, Conservancy staff and volunteers have planted 240 trees and shrubs and transplanted river cane to slow the erosion.

“I was amazed by the dedication and intensity of everyone involved,” said Tanksley. “It was worth the effort, and I would encourage any of my neighbors to do it.”

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.