The Tennessee Game and Fish Commis- 

 sion recognized an opportunity to promote a 

 rainbow trout fishery in the new lake . Several 

 months prior to the inundation, state biologists 

 laid the ground work for the reclamation of the 

 Little Tennessee River between the new dam 

 and Calderwood Dam, 10 miles upstream. Since 

 Abrams Creek is a major tributary to the river 

 within the area, the biologists requested that 

 the National Park Service and Fish and Wildlife 

 Service reclaim the 14. 6 -mile section of stream 

 below Abrams Falls. It was considered essen- 

 tial that the abundant carp and rough fish in 

 both the river and Abrams Creek be reduced or 

 eliminated so that stocked rainbow trout could 

 become established in the new lake. 



Representatives of the Tennessee Game 

 and Fish Commission, the Tennessee Valley 

 Authority, the National Park Service, and U.S. 

 Fish and Wildlife Service met at Great Smoky 

 Mountains National Park on May 3, 1957. All 

 were in accord on the merits of establishing 

 rainbow trout in the new lake . An agreement 

 was made that the reclamation of the Little 

 Tennessee River and Abrams Creek would be 

 conducted simultaneously by the respective 

 State and Federal crews. The State represent- 

 ative anticipated that the reclamation would 

 take place in July 1957, during the brief interval 

 when Calderwood powerhouse would be shut 

 down. The river below the powerhouse would 

 be largely emptied at this time to permit instal- 

 lation of the last gate-sill in ChiUiowee Dam. 

 The low water would facilitate the State's recla- 

 mation job, and the completion of the gate -sill 

 would prevent reoccupation of the reclaimed 

 section by rough fish from below the new dam . 



A review of park files showed that there 

 was very little survey data available on Abrams 

 Creek. A program was initiated immediately 

 to gather necessary information on the stream, 

 its tributaries and its fishes. In addition. 

 National Park Service crews undertook to clear 

 or build foot and jeep trails to facilitate access 

 to the stream. The program was barely under- 

 way when notice was received on May 21 that 

 Chilhowee Dam would be completed on June 9 

 and that reclamation operations would have to 

 be conducted on that date . In consequence, only 

 the most essential observations on Abrams 

 could be made before the reclamation. 



Toxicant application 



The National Park Service set up a base 

 camp on Abrams Creek several days prior to 

 the reclamation operation . From this point, 

 equipment and supplies of rotenone were packed 

 in and cached at Abrams Falls at strengthening 

 stations, and on remote tributaries. Park per- 

 sonnel provided the rather elaborate precautions 

 which were necessary to protect the caches from 

 marauding black bears . 



State biologists specified that the bolt of 

 rotenone in Abrams Creek had to reach the 

 mouth into the Little Tennessee River precisely 

 at noon on Sunday, June 9, in order to meet their 

 bolt. The observations with salt and the resisti- 

 vity meter had shown that the toxicant would re- 

 quire 20 or more hours depending on water 

 levels to move from Abrams Falls 14.6 miles 

 downstream to the mouth . The volume of flow 

 in Abrams on the morning of June 8 was 92 cfs . 

 At this rate, rotenone introduced at the falls at 

 noon on the 8th would reach the mouth at noon 

 on the 9th . 



The treatment of Abrams was initiated 

 at the falls at 12:20 PM on Saturday and continued 

 to 6:20 PM. Pro-noxfish was applied by means 

 of a metered drip system at the rate of 5 ppm 

 for the first hour and 1 ppm for 5 hours there- 

 after. Other crews made carefully scheduled 

 6 -hour, 1-ppm applications of rotenone in 

 Rabbit Creek, Whiteoak Flat Branch, and Kryder 

 Branch, all of which enter Abrams within 2 miles 

 below the falls . Also, the doses in Mill Branch, 

 Buckshank Branch, Cooper Branch, Bell Branch 

 and Panther Creek were timed to meet the bolt 

 of toxicant in Abrams, Strengthening doses 

 were added in the mainstream at appropriate 

 sites and times during the nl^t and in the early 

 morning. In the night the bolt of rotenone was 

 preceded downstream by a bolt of salt so that 

 the progress of the toxicant and its arrival at 

 strengthening stations could be checked accu- 

 rately with a resistivity meter. 



The bolt of toxicant reached Abrams 

 Campground at 10:00 PM Saturday; Bell Branch 

 at 4:00 AM Sunday; and the mouth of Abrams 

 precisely at 12:00 noon Sunday. The entire oper- 

 ation was accomplished very smoothly by the 

 crews which worked in relays down the stream 

 during the 23. 6 -hour period. 



13 



