Save the mussels, damn the people
by Terry Toole

This was the sight of Spring Creek just above the only flowing water, which was furnished by the pipe from the Colquitt sewer pond.

Just in case you haven't noticed, Spring Creek and most of the ponds in this area are dry. We are in the worst drought in this area since 1954, possibly ever.

Now other than being one of the driest years in most of our memories, 1954 was the year, I graduated from Miller County High School. It was dry, but Spring Creek was not dry. Even back then, we had thousands of small springs and a few large ones that kept the water level up in Spring Creek as well as it being one of the cleanest streams in the nation. We all thought that Spring Creek would be with us forever. Wrong!

The people who knew what kept Spring Creek a deep, clear waterway wasn't the rains, but the springs.

Over the years, our stewardship for the only running stream left going through Miller County has become terrible. Those who owned this beautiful stream allowed timber crews to cut large trees across the creek so they could cross with equipment and take the timber out and leave the large cut trees there in the run of the creek. They allowed farming practices to drain hundreds of thousands of tons of silt, chemicals and top soil into the basin of this once deep stream and cover the thousands of springs so that they no longer pumped the water into the creek.

As all of this happened to Spring Creek, agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Georgia Department of Natural Resources and other agencies were formed to protect these natural treasures. They did good for awhile, until a bunch of tree huggers and mussel lovers took control.

Several years ago, after Colquitt flooded, for the first time ever because Spring Creek could not take care of the water that came due to heavy rains. There was just too much silk and sand filling the creek basin and too many logs, cut logs damming up the run of the creek.

Area people got together and formed a group that eventually received several hundred thousand dollars to clear some of the logs out of the creek run so that the water wasn't dammed up. This was done to a point until some mussels were found. This almost stopped all of the reclamation project that would have helped the flooding of people's homes and businesses to make the creek a running body of water instead of a wet weather stream.

By clearing out many of the logs that dammed the creek, it not only made it better, it opened it so that some of the hundreds of tons of silk and soil could be flushed when the spring rains came making the thousands of springs start back feeding the creek. Many of the logs were removed with the understanding that Miller County would do the upkeep to keep the restoration project going.

The county, thinking that they were doing what was suppose to be done, dragged some logs out of the creek run. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife agency, along with the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) came in and fined Miller County thousands of dollars for doing what they were suppose to do, keep up the restoration project on Spring Creek.

The county was ordered by DNR enforcement division to place the logs back into the run of Spring Creek or face more fines to be paid by the citizens of Miller County. This was all done, because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was afraid that removal of the logs might disturb some of the mussels in Spring Creek.

One county official asked, "Where are the mussels today?"

It was discovered that all of the mussels are dead, except those few harvested by a few DNR or USFWS workers and taken to Warm Springs to stay until Spring Creek gets some water in it, if ever. This saving of a few mussels costs taxpayers multiplie thousands of dollars each year.

On June 28, this newspaper received notification that $42.7 million and $67.9 million over the next 20 years would be available to conserve seven species of freshwater mussels protected in the Federal Register. Among these seven mussels, several are, or were found in Spring Creek.

If there was water or mussels still in Spring Creek, Miller County might qualify for some of these funds. Maybe one day we will receive enough rain to make Spring Creek run again. Maybe the U.S. Fish and Wildlife people will bring some of those mussels saved back to the creek. Maybe someone with common sense will get into office to allow the clearing and cleaning of the creek so that the springs will again fill Spring Creek with clear, clean water. It is already apparent that we will need clean, clear water in the very near future to furnish people drinking water.

Until we elect government officials who hire people that have a higher respect for people than they do things, such as mussels and trees, we will continue to lose our most needed and lifesaving natural resources.

Nothing is being done to protect endangered people's homes and property. The logs have been placed back into the basin of the dry Spring Creek as demanded by state and federal officials. There are thousands of logs on and under the tons of silk in the basin of Spring Creek. Your taxes at work!

Our federal and state officials who allot these funds need to know how you feel about how our tax monies are spent that are paid by the citizens of this county, state and nation.