Updated Flame Chub Accounting

I sat down last night with my field notebook and updated my count of how many flame chub sites I've visited. The accurate count is 33 historic flame chub collection sites have been visited in six Alabama counties, and I've found flame chubs at 10 of them. I've also found flame chubs at 4 sites with no historic record. There is a very steady 70% range reduction in my observations. Even if you count the 4 previously unreported sites, for a total of 14 sites out of 37 visited, that still leaves a 62% range reduction. My (simplistic) explanation for this range reduction is habitat degradation or destruction, more obvious at some sites than others. By the end of the summer I hope to have hit 50 historic sites; this Friday we should visit some more sites in Lawrence County, AL, around Wheeler. There's a spring at the Wheeler Plantation, the home of famous local Confederate General Joseph Wheeler, that has produced flame chubs on three separate occasions going back to the '70s. Maybe our visit will make four, we'll see.