by: Doris White
JC psychology major
The members of the Judson Cahaba River Society Chapter and friends recently canoed the Cahaba River. Our guides and teachers for this expedition were Dr. Randy Haddock- Field Director of the Cahaba River Society, Christine Rodrick- Environmental Educator of the Cahaba River Society, and Dr. Wilson. The canoe trip was a seven mile stretch through Perry County and we started at the Sprott bridge landing.
We beached our canoes on a big gravel bar and had a lesson on river mussels from Dr. Haddock. According to Dr. Haddock, at one point in history every particle of the river was filtered on its way down stream by the then numerous mussels. Now, there are only about twenty-seven species of mussels left in the river which is approximately half of the original population. Some, such as the washboard and three-horned mussels, are pollution tolerant. Others, such as the orange nacre mucket, are being extinguished one-by-one as pollution takes its toll.
At one stop on our journey down river, Dr. Haddock and Christine seined a stretch of sand bar on the river. They captured fingerlings of largemouth bass, spotted bass, and several small darters. While canoeing down the river though, we were able to glimpse some larger fish. We also were afforded the chance to see a turtle, some birds, and some deer and raccoon tracks.
Despite the numerous biting deer flies and slippery mud banks, everyone enjoyed the trip. When we were not learning something about the river, we were able to float down stream some and the adventerous ones jumped from a leaning bald cypress tree. It was cloudy for part of the day and we narrowly escaped the downpour that followed us back to the van. The trip was well worth the fifteen dollar membership in the Cahaba River Society and it showed us the beauty of the river and reminded us that the Cahaba needs our help.
