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Casselman River, Garrett County, Maryland


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#1 Guest_fundulus_*

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Posted 27 April 2011 - 01:16 PM

I'm reposting this message that came in to Nick Zarlinga at the NANFA email contact address.
* * * * * *
From: Jim Wilkinson [mailto:jwilkinson@mde.state.md.us]
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 11:01 AM
To: info@nanfa.org
Subject: Info request via NANFA.org

I would like to know if your organization is familiar with the following issue about a proposed underground coal mine near the Casselman River in Garrett County, MD upstream of habitat for two Maryland endangered species, the Stonecat Madtom, Noturus flavus, and the Hellbender salamander,Cryptobranchus alleganiensis. The Hellbender is only found in Maryland in the Casselman and Youghiogheny Rivers of Garrett County. The Stonecat is apparently only found in Maryland in the Casselman River downstream of the proposed mine.

The Casselman is also a well-known trout stream and had Maryland's last known Long-nosed Suckers, Catostomus catostomus, in the late 1970s (not found in recent surveys). Striped Shiners, Luxilus chrysocephalus, (MD Department of Natural Resources status In Need of Conservation), are only found in the Casselman and Youghiogheny River drainage in Maryland.

I have attached selections from articles about the mine and copied the links below.

China Mining

Trout Stream

MD DNR Action

Jim Wilkinson

#2 Guest_ashtonmj_*

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Posted 28 April 2011 - 06:29 AM

Seriously? Proposed? It was proposed 3 years ago and approved last year.

Yeah I'm familiar with it, I helped with supporting documentation for the jeopardy opinion for stonecate and hellbender and the monitoring plan for their discharge permit after it was more than apparent they were getting their permits regardless of DNR's position. Can I attach that information?

#3 Guest_ashtonmj_*

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Posted 28 April 2011 - 08:01 AM

Nevermind my rant, Jim knows people who we worked with, my information is nothing new to him.

#4 Guest_wargreen_*

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Posted 29 April 2011 - 11:24 AM

Seriously? Proposed? It was proposed 3 years ago and approved last year.

Yeah I'm familiar with it, I helped with supporting documentation for the jeopardy opinion for stonecate and hellbender and the monitoring plan for their discharge permit after it was more than apparent they were getting their permits regardless of DNR's position. Can I attach that information?


Thats terrible, have any of the sports anglers associations voiced any opinions against the project (this would probably affect their trout fishery also)?

#5 Guest_FishheadDave_*

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Posted 29 April 2011 - 12:19 PM

Thats terrible, have any of the sports anglers associations voiced any opinions against the project (this would probably affect their trout fishery also)?


Ironically, the large trout we stock in the Casselman (on behalf of anglers) have probably have contributed to the decline of Hellbenders in the river (via direct predation of juveniles). My understanding is that essentially no recruitment has been detected in the population for a long time, and that numbers are very low.


Most of the grassroots effort in western Maryland is currently focused on issues surrounding Marcellus shale - while this coal mine is on the radar, it seems a done deal and appears to be a minor threat relative to natural gas drilling. Many of the species (stonecat, hellbender, longnose sucker, etc) that are noteworthy from the Casselman in Maryland are not globally rare, but rather are of conservation interest because we are on the edge of their range.



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