Darren Oliver photo

Friends of Dale Hollow Lake work to rebuild a footbridge during recent renovations on the Accordion Bluff Trail, an eight-mile hiking trail that connects Willow Grove to Lillydale.

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) on Friday, May 17 announced an agreement between TVA and federal and state wildlife agencies that he said will keep open hatcheries that produce 60% of the trout stocked in Tennessee rivers and lakes.

During a press conference at Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency headquarters, the senator said that budget woes have threatened to close both the Dale Hollow and Erwin national fish hatcheries. The senator credited TVA’s participation in a 3-year agreement with federal and state wildlife agencies with keeping the hatcheries open while a permanent solution is being negotiated.

“Closing Dale Hollow and Erwin would have been a disaster for 900,000 Tennesseans and visitors who bought fishing licenses last year,” Sen. Alexander said. “Dale Hollow helps make Tennessee’s rivers and lakes among the most prized trout fisheries in our country. The Erwin hatchery provides brood stocks for fishing waters across the country.”

For several years Alexander has helped provide funds for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ budget to purchase trout from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to mitigate the loss of fish caused by Corps dams. He is the senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Corps. TVA will also mitigate for the loss of fish on the Tennessee River system.