The Upper Tennessee river basin has
be called one of the last great places by The Nature Conservancy and If you
have ever been there or studied its water’s then you will know why. The Upper Clinch
and Powell rivers in Virginia are the only undammed sections of river within the
Tennessee River basin. This has allowed around 48 imperiled species of
freshwater muscles, fish, and plants to persist as well as provide critical
habitat for many other species. While these rivers have managed to go undammed,
they are heavily subjected to other threats like untreated sewage, either
pumped straight into creeks and tributaries or from failing septic systems,
agricultural runoff, sedimentation from mining, logging, and agricultural
activities, and other forms of commercial runoff. The Clinch river, and many
other rivers and streams in the area, are afflicted by these problems because of
the geography of the are which in turn influences the land use. The Clinch
river mainly flows through the Valley and Ridge Physiographic Province with the
western edge in the Appalachian Plateaus Physiographic Province. The Valley and
Ridge area is characterized by forested ridgelines and rolling hills and flat,
fertile valleys which are mostly used for pastureland and hay production. The
Plateaus region is too rugged for farming but instead hosts many of the coal
mines, mountain top removal and underground mines, and various gas well sites
with all the necessary infrastructure to maintain such sites. Logging
operations happen throughout both provinces. These non-point source stressors
have caused a decline in the populations of many endangered or imperiled
freshwater muscle species.
