PSU team studying Spring River fish populations

PITTSBURG, Kan. (AP) — The long history of mining in Southeast Kansas left its mark not only on the landscape but on local water quality as well, although remediation efforts in recent years have helped to make some improvements.

Now, a Pittsburg State University professor and his students are working to determine whether improved water quality is allowing aquatic animal populations to bounce back.

With help from a grant from the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism, aquatic ecologist and PSU Professor James Whitney is conducting “a comparison study over time and also across space” to look at fish and aquatic invertebrate populations in the Spring River, which was heavily impacted by mining in the 19th and 20th centuries, and in the Neosho River, which was not.

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