Well, the Great Smokey Mountains are a lot smokier than usual right now. My beloved mountains are on fire. Growing up in Tennessee and in school at UT, the Smokies were always a short jaunt away for some of the best small stream mountain fishing in the world (IMO).
-- Seeing all the devastation in and around Gatlinburg and the park, I got to thinking about what might become of the trout population following a large-scale fire like the one raging through the park and surrounding areas. I'm thinking that a deluge of ash and soot will surely find its way into every stream large enough to hold trout. Will the fish and the aquatic insects they eat be able to survive a disaster like this in strong numbers?
Obviously the brook trout has survived in these mountains for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years of naturally occurring fires. I'm curious what to expect when I head home in the next several months.
Any wildlife biologists with an understanding of the issue?
It looks like one significant non-native fish population is safe: http://www.wbir.com/news/local/fire-surrounds-ripleys-aquarium-thousands-of-animals-left-behind/357623054
V/r
Alex
http://www.tpfr.org
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