CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — The U.S. Department of the Interior announced Tuesday that it established two new national wildlife refuges. One was in Wyoming, and the other was established in Tennessee.
The Paint Rock River National Wildlife Refuge is located outside Chattanooga and is meant to link nonprofit and state land in Tennessee and Alabama, helping conserve the Paint Rock River watershed and one of the largest contiguous tracts of hardwoods remaining in eastern North America. The watershed drains into the Tennessee River.
In a release, the department said the refuge will also help protect threatened and endangered species like gray bats, Indiana bats, Tennessee cave salamanders and Alabama cave shrimp. The waters in the area are home to around 100 species of fish and around 50 kinds of freshwater mussels. Some of those species are not found anywhere else in the world, the department said.
The new refuge is also meant to protect water quality, water quantity and hydrology of the Paint Rock River. It is also meant to expand outdoor recreational opportunities, helping support local economies.
The newly-acquired tract is around 87 acres large and was donated by The Nature Conservancy and the Open Space Institute. Visitors at the refuge will be able to hunt, fish, hike and take photos, as long as it is compatible with refuge use policies.
