According to a report published a Journalnow.com (subscription required) A new study partially sponsored by Trout Unlimited, says that native brook trout have been eliminated in over 80% of their previous habitat.
"According to the report, there are no intact populations of native brook trout in Georgia or South Carolina, only one intact population in Tennessee and North Carolina - headwaters streams in the Little Pigeon River watershed - and only 36 populations in Virginia, nine percent of their overall historic habitat."
The brookie or "speckled trout" as we Appalachian mountain folk have always referred to them are considered to be the only truly native American trout and are the subject of the Trout Unlimited conservation effort that goes under the name "Back the Brookie".
Oddly enough this new report comes on the heels of reports back in March of this year, that the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is reopening several brook trout waters to fishing. (link to previous posting)
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