Coal-Harmed Crayfishes Get 446 Miles of Habitat Protection
A Wildlife Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM Center for Biological Diversity
March 2022

Our fate is bound up with the fate of the crayfish.


Big Sandy crayfish - USFWS photo

Responding to a Center lawsuit, the Fish and Wildlife Service just protected 446 stream miles of critical habitat for two Appalachian species — the Big Sandy and Guyandotte River crayfishes — in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia.

“These unique crawdads would soon be snuffed out by destructive coal mining without these essential protections,” said Perrin de Jong, a Center attorney.

“But this isn’t charity, since our fate is bound up with the fate of the crayfish. The clean water they need to survive is the same water people rely on for drinking and recreation.”

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