Big Canoe Creek at Goodwins Mill in St. Clair County is flowing free once again!

Alabama Rivers and Streams Network partners replaced a deteriorating stream crossing that serves as the only access to the residence of a private landowner. 

The old structure, comprised of seven metal culverts, was buckling and on the verge of collapse. The steel pipes greatly altered the hydrologic regime, changing the long-term water patterns and distribution. This structure added barriers for fish and other aquatic creatures to pass through, stopping them from traveling to find food or places to reproduce. Over time, this can break habitats apart, reduce populations, and limit how healthy and varied those populations are.

Big Canoe Creek is a priority watershed in the Strategic Habitat Units (SHUs) ARSN uses to prioritize restoration efforts. SHUs are Alabama’s most critical watersheds and river corridors for aquatic conservation with the highest concentration of rare and imperiled aquatic species. 

This site is known for occurrences of many federally listed endangered & threatened species, including the Trispot Darter (Etheostoma trisella), Canoe Creek Clubshell (Pleurobema athearni), Finelined Pocketbook (Hamiota altilis)and Triangular Kidneyshell (Ptychobranchus greenii). This site is also near designated critical habitat for eight federally listed mussel species, including H. altilis, and will complement other species conservation and recovery efforts within the Big Canoe Creek Strategic Habitat Unit (SHU). 

ARSN partners replaced the failing structure with a new bridge across Big Canoe Creek. This enhanced bridge will help restore the hydrologic regime and improve upstream and downstream migration in Big Canoe Creek for aquatic fauna. The structure also helps humans by improving infrastructure to minimize or eliminate any threats to public safety and landowners.

This project builds on the removal of the Goodwin Mills Dam in 2013. Together, this work is expected to reconnect approximately 20 miles of fragmented habitat.

This project was led by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Partners for Fish & Wildlife (USFWS PFW), The Nature Conservancy, and Cawaco Resource Conservation and Development Council and was funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.