by John Brackin
April 15, 2022
https://www.courthousenews.com/birmingh ... r-species/
Introduction:
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Courthouse News) — Hundreds of Birmingham revelers joined together at a local brewery last Sunday afternoon in celebration of an unlikely subject: the three federally endangered species of darter found only in central Alabama.
The darter is a small freshwater fish native to eastern North America, and in Jefferson County, Alabama, there are three species currently listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as endangered: the vermilion darter, the rush darter and the watercress darter.
At the aptly named Darter Festival, which was held at Avondale Brewing Company in downtown Birmingham on April 10, organizers made sure that festivalgoers had a good time, while also leaving with a better understanding of the imperiled fish.
“This festival is part of a general education program to take out the politics,” said Roald Hazelhoff, the director of the Southern Environmental Center at Birmingham-Southern College. “To bring it down to the level of saying, you like this little fish? It can only survive in the cleanest of water. You think we should support that?”
This year marked the city’s ninth annual Darter Festival, which is both a festival in the traditional sense and a fundraiser for the Southern Environmental Center, which manages nearby Turkey Creek Nature Preserve, where the three darter species can be found.