Crews work around clock after extreme storm damages fish hatchery facility: 'We won't know the total cost of renovation'
According to K8 News, the Jim Hinkle Spring River Hatchery in Mammoth Spring was flooded after massive amounts of rainfall in April. It's one of five hatcheries operated by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission that produce millions of fish each year for public waters.
Jason Miller, assistant chief of the AGFC's Fisheries Division, said debris was brought into the hatchery during the storm. Crews started their repairs after a damage assessment.
"The Commission authorized $500,000 to get us started on both the hatchery recovery and the initial work on other infrastructure throughout eastern Arkansas, but we won't know the total cost of renovation until we can get a few more inspections complete now that we've cleared off a lot of the debris," Miller said, per K8 News.
The AGFC said crews removed 26 dump truck loads of silt from the area, per the outlet. About 150,000 rainbow trout remain, but many were killed or escaped in heavy waters.
Over a four-day period in April, eight states in the Mississippi River Valley experienced the heaviest spring rainfall on record in the region since 1950. Researchers found that rising global temperatures made the flooding even more intense.
Human activities contribute to heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere that increase temperatures and trigger more frequent and powerful extreme weather events.
Burning dirty fuels such as coal, gas, and oil affects the climate more than other human activities, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Due to the warming climate, a larger percentage of precipitation occurs during strong single-day events.
Extreme weather events can lead to dangerous conditions for communities. In fact, the Climate Risk Index 2025 found that extreme weather has killed nearly 800,000 people and displaced millions over the last three decades.
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Experts have issued warnings that extreme weather events will only become more destructive in the future. However, new technological advancements may help anticipate the storms and the aftermath.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists developed technology using artificial intelligence to predict flooding, and experts at Columbia University created an interactive tool to help governments prepare for natural disasters.
While resources to mitigate extreme weather continue to be developed, people can take steps to protect their homes. Installing solar panels with battery storage can help make homes more resilient during weather-related grid outages and lower energy costs. Resources such as EnergySage allow homeowners to compare quotes from local installers and save up to $10,000 on solar installation.
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USA Today
6 days ago
- USA Today
Black Mountain Golf Course in North Carolina partially reopens after Helene damages
BLACK MOUNTAIN – Following a nearly nine-month closure due to damages from Tropical Storm Helene, the Black Mountain Golf Course has reopened the back nine holes. About a dozen people came out to support the golf course at a June 23 ribbon cutting, marking the course's partial reopening. The back nine holes were available for everyone to play starting June 24. The Black Mountain Golf Course is owned and maintained by the town. At a May 15 special call meeting, Town Manager Josh Harrold gave an update, saying 'more money' has been spent on the golf course since Helene than anything else in the town other than critical infrastructure. According to a June 24 news release posted to the town website, Black Mountain "has invested more than $135,000 in repairing the golf course." These repairs include getting the back nine holes open, culvert and cart path repairs, irrigation system restoration and pro shop renovations. The release said repairs to the front nine holes, golf cart barn and cart paths and bridges will take place "in a few months" as funds become available. At the May 12 regular session meeting, nine residents spoke in favor of opening the golf course during the public comment period. Some spoke of not wanting the golf course to be closed, something Harrold said 'has never been discussed or considered' at the May 15 meeting. According to Harrold, the FEMA damage inventory estimate for the golf course and operations is $2 million. According to a document provided to Black Mountain News by Harrold, the golf course made nearly $182,000 in revenue in 2024. Black Mountain Golf Course Manager Brent Miller said golf has increased in popularity since COVID and net profit in a "good year" is between $150,000 and $200,000. At the June 23 ribbon cutting, Black Mountain Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Cheryl Hyde said the chamber is 'excited' to have the golf course back open. Including staff, Miller said the golf course spends between $450,000 and $500,000 on maintenance each year. Harrold said the town is continuing to work on getting the front nine holes open and that it will 'take some time.' 'I hate that it's taken this long to get the back nine open,' Harrold said. 'But we are finally here and ready.' Harrold said he wanted to thank Miller and Jerry Brigman, golf course superintendent, for the work they have put in getting the back nine holes open. 'They're they rockstars here,' Harrold said. 'They've busted their butts to get this course open, and they've done a hell of a job.' Brigman told Black Mountain News the golf course had 35 trees come down across the property during Helene. Helene brought historic flooding across Western North Carolina, killing more than 100 people across the state and causing nearly $60 billion in damages. Much of the golf course equipment flooded from rain and water from the Tomahawk branch of the Swannanoa River and became unusable, leaving the town searching for options. 'We lost our shop, all of our equipment,' Brigman said. 'We went seven months without being able to mow anything, maintain anything. We didn't have irrigation for almost eight months.' The June 24 news release said the maintenance building will need to be demolished and relocated to be in compliance with FEMA standards, and the work will be reimbursable by the agency. Once the town leased equipment at the end of April, Brigman said the team was able to start mowing to playable heights. He said he wants to 'thank everybody' for being patient as the town works to get the golf course reopened. 'We still got a lot of work ahead of us,' Brigman said. 'But we're buckling down and we're doing all we can do to try to get this back to 100%.' Miller told Black Mountain News having the back nine holes reopen is a 'relief.' 'We've needed to get going in the right direction for a long time,' Miller said. 'We've been working towards it, but this actually feels like the culmination of that.' He said the Black Mountain Golf Course would usually see around 150 golfers each day, and he expects to see half that number with only half the course being open. Annually, Miller said there are between 30,000 and 33,000 rounds played. As for what is next for the golf course, Miller said he wants to continue working to get the front nine holes reopened. 'Doing what we can within the funds and the means that we have to get it done as quick as possible,' Miller said. 'And also have a product that people want to come back and play on this golf course. We've always kept it in relatively good shape for what we had to work with and we don't want to put out a subpar product.' Karrigan Monk is the Swannanoa Valley communities reporter for Black Mountain News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kmonk@
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Shockingly large extinct possum uncovered in Texas
Around 60 million years ago, a large species of Swaindelphys—extinct marsupial-like animals—roamed through modern-day Texas' Big Bend National Park. While they were only about the size of a hedgehog, the now-extinct species Swaindelphys solastella were 'gigantic' in comparison to similar Swaindelphys from the same time period, according to researchers from the University of Kansas (KU). In a study recently published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, the paleontologists describe the recently discovered species based on previously-excavated fossils. Kristen Miller, lead author of the study and a doctoral student at KU's Biodiversity Institute, analyzed the Texan fossils to investigate what kind of metatherians—a group including marsupials and their extinct cousins—they'd belonged to. 'Not only are they [Swaindelphys solastella] the largest metatherians from this time period, but they're also the youngest and located at the most southern latitude,' Miller said in the statement, which describes the animal as a sort of big possum. Chris Beard, a co-author of the study and a senior curator also at the Biodiversity Institute, added that 'the new fossil we're describing is notable because it's the largest marsupial — in terms of body size–found so far in the North American Paleocene. Since everything is bigger in Texas, this is perhaps not surprising.' The Paleocene Epoch was 66 to 56 million years ago, during which North America experienced a warmer climate. Most dinosaurs had just been wiped out by the Chicxulub impactor. Because Swaindelphys were similar to early primates, studying the former can shed light on the primates who shared their same ecosystem. Notably, the distribution of Swaindelphys remains could provide insight into the geography of the time, specifically in terms of how long-gone natural features may have limited the spread of certain species—including primates. 'In place of desert terrain seen today, there was a lot more vegetation and probably lots of rivers and streams,' Miller said. 'We find these fossils in what we call fluvial deposits — so, deposits from ancient river systems.' The Swaindelphys solastella remains join a host of other specimens shedding light on the fossil differences between northern regions, like Wyoming and Alberta, Canada, and southern zones, like the US-Mexico border near Big Bend National Park. In Wyoming's Bighorn Basin, the fossil record is so complete that it allows for biostratigraphy—identifying time periods based on fossil layers. Outside of the Bighorn Basin, however, biostratigraphy becomes more difficult. [ Related: Bones of a raccoon-sized prehistoric lizard sat in a jar for 20 years. ] Within this context, Miller, Beard, and colleagues found 'an ancient high point or divide in the landscape, in southern Wyoming, that seems to correspond with the shift we see,' Miller said. 'North of that ancient divide, we see the classic Bighorn Basin taxa in their expected time periods,' she added. 'But south of that, in river drainages that originate in the central Rockies and areas farther to the south, things start to go a little wacky. What we're proposing is that this shift in river drainages marked the boundaries where ancient species of marsupials and primates lived.' In other words, the rivers and high points impacted the spread of certain species. Moving forward, Miller plans to continue investigating this hypothesis with further research.
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Yahoo
Fossils from giant possum-like mammal that lived 60 million years ago found in Texas
Paleontologists have found fossilized remains of a giant possum-like mammal that lived 60 million years ago. The fossils, found at Big Bend National Park in Texas, belong to a group of ancient near-marsupials from the Paleocene period that scientists call Swaindelphys, according to a paper published last week in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. MORE: Fossils found in North America reveal new species of 'very odd' sea monster: Scientists The prehistoric species, called Swaindelphys solastella, was "gigantic" compared to other Swaindelphys at the time but are actually about the size of a modern hedgehog, according to the researchers. "I compared them to a lot of other marsupials from around the same time period to see what they're most closely related to," said Kristen Miller, a doctoral student at The University of Kansas' Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum and lead author of the paper, said in a statement. At first, the paleontologists thought the fossils belonged to a group of metatherians -- or marsupial-like mammals -- from the Cretaceous period that survived the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction, the mass extinction event believed to have wiped dinosaurs from the planet 66 million years ago. But additional analysis revealed that the specimens belonged to a "surprisingly large" new species of Swaindelphys. "Not only are they the largest metatherians from this time period, but they're also the youngest and located at the most southern latitude," Miller said. MORE: What paleontologists learned from fossils of a 3-eyed predator that lived 500 million years ago The new fossil is the largest marsupial -- in terms of body and size -- found so far in North America from the Paleocene period, Chris Beard, senior curator with KU's Biodiversity Institute, said in a statement. "Since everything is bigger in Texas, this is perhaps not surprising," Beard said. "I call them 'primatomorphans,'" Beard said. "They're not, technically speaking, primates, but they're very close to the ancestry of living and fossil primates. These marsupials are probably ecological analogues of early primates." The researchers' work is aimed at uncovering some of the smaller and harder-to-find fossil mammals that lived at Big Bend at the time, Beard said. MORE: Scientists discover 'legless, headless wonder' that predated the dinosaurs The paleontologists are also interested in the differences in the kinds of fossils found in more northern regions, such as Wyoming and Alberta, Canada. "North of that ancient divide, we see the classic Bighorn Basin taxa in their expected time periods," Miller said said. "But south of that, in river drainages that originate in the central Rockies and areas farther to the south, things start to go a little wacky." More research into Swaindelphys solastella, as well as new fieldwork in Big Bend, is planned.
