Skip to main content
Published on: 08/22/2025

Spring City finds new identity in endangered fish

Race
Runners from both across the state and across the country came to Spring City to participate in the inaugural race for the laurel dace. The city's first Laurel Dace Day brought both attention to the endangered species and the outdoor opportunities the community offers. (Photos Courtesy of the Tennessee Aquarium)

By KATE COIL

TT&C Assistant Editor

The race to save a tiny fish has become the focal point of building community pride and economic development for Spring City.  

Laurel dace
Found only in creeks in the ridge above Spring City, the laurel dace has been adopted as the town's new symbol. Town officials have proclaimed it Spring City's official fish with banners and a mascot promoting both conservation efforts and Spring City tourism. 

Stephania Motes, who served as city manager of Spring City during the initial stages of the project, said officials were unaware of the existence of the laurel dace until three years ago. That was when the town was selected by the Thrive Regional Partnership for the Resilient Communities Program.   

“That program was about mitigating natural disasters,” Motes said. “During that program, it was mentioned that the laurel dace was an endangered fish on Walden’s Ridge, which is right outside the city limits. They actually introduced us to the Tennessee Aquarium folks. We started brainstorming on how we could help them, and how they could help us as we were looking for more tourism opportunities.”  

“We are a small town; we have less than 2,000 people, so for us to find those unique identity points is tough,” she said. “We feel like we live in the best place in the world because we have the Tennessee River on one side and the Cumberland Plateau and Cumberland Trail on the other. We have already been promoting things of that nature to let people know how special our natural resources are, but this is something more personal. This is something that lives and breathes in our community and is part of us. You don’t find those opportunities so often.”  

Researchers with the Tennessee Aquarium have been monitoring the species and hope the partnership will aid their efforts. Future goals include turning Spring City residents into citizen scientists who will play a vital role in helping the laurel dace thrive.
Researchers with the Tennessee Aquarium have been monitoring the species and hope the partnership will aid their efforts. Future goals include turning Spring City residents into citizen scientists who will play a vital role in helping the laurel dace thrive. 

At the same time, researchers from the Tennessee Aquarium were trying to raise awareness about the laurel dace. Helaina Gomez, watershed coordinator at the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute, said the partnership has been beneficial for them, too.

“This has both improved our ability to communicate and educate people about the laurel dace,” she said. “We have been able to raise awareness and explain the unique situation of this critically endangered species. We were able to identify this interconnected history between the laurel dace and Spring City as well.”  

Motes said the partnership came at just the right time for the town and for the laurel dace.   

“When we first started the conversation, the Tennessee Aquarium was in the process of trying trying to inform the communities in and around Walden’s Ridge that the laurel dace lives there,” she said. “We tried to help them get more advertising and marketing efforts to let people know they were having these different town halls about conservation.”  

RESCUE OPERATION  

First discovered in 1975, the fish was named for Laurel Creek – a waterway in which it is no longer found. The species was also known to swim in five other streams on Walden's Ridge near Spring City including the Soddy, Horn, Cupp, Young's, Moccasin, and Bumbee creeks. 

Researchers with the Tennessee Aquarium and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service undergo a rescue mission to extract the laurel dace from its remaining creeks during the 2024 summer drought. The lowering water levels put the species at more risk. Sediment is both the main threat to the laurel dace and the major cause of flooding issues downstream in Spring City.
Researchers with the Tennessee Aquarium and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service undergo a rescue mission to extract the laurel dace from its remaining creeks during the 2024 summer drought. The lowering water levels put the species at more risk. Sediment is both the main threat to the laurel dace and the major cause of flooding issues downstream in Spring City.

Gomez said the fish was once found in eight streams located on Walden’s Ridge, just a ten-minute drive up the mountain from the heart of Spring City. In the past decade, the population has dwindled with the dace now only found in six of the original streams. 

The timber boom on Walden's Ridge in the 1880s and local mining led to erosion of the stream beds over time. This was exacerbated by drought conditions in southeastern Tennessee in the 2010s. The laurel dace was listed as an endangered species in 2011 due to habitat degradation and is one of the 10 most-at-risk fish in North America.  

Sediment is the common denominator in both the loss of habitat for the laurel dace and flooding issues in Spring City. The cherry red and iridescent yellow colors of the laurel dace make it not just a colorful fish but are essential to its survival. Gomez said the laurel dace is a sight spawner, meaning it relies on being able to detect those bright colors to both spawn and feed.   

When an increase of sediment turns waters murky, the fish cannot perform those essential activities. At the same time, Gomez said this sediment is also flowing down the rivers into Spring City, creating flooding issues there. Mitigating sediment issues benefits both the fish and local residents.   

“The sediment in the Piney River that is causing the flooding in our town is the same thing negatively affecting the laurel dace,” Motes said. “We can bring those issues together. We can connect the dots and make a bigger impact for ourselves and this fish."  

Laurel Dace
While the majority of the laurel dace have been returned to their native streams, an ark population has been kept at the aquarium as an insurance policy. The aquarium is also conducting research with the fish. Doctoral student Christian Swartbaugh, pictured here, hopes to give the critically endangered laurel dace a better chance at survival by researching how minnows school together, rather than compete, for mutual benefits. 

During the summer drought in 2024, the Tennessee Aquarium extracted the remaining laurel dace population from Walden’s Ridge. Working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, more than 300 fish were relocated and divided between the Tennessee Aquarium and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service facility. This allowed both monitoring of the fish and study of the streams to determine when it was safe to take them back home.  

“We were able to return them to their creeks in the spring just before their spawning time in early April,” Gomez said. “We did hold on to 30 of them as an ark population. An ark population is a reference to Noah’s ark. In case there is ever another event like this where the laurel dace are looking extinction in the eyes again and we do not have the ability to rescue them or survive their habitat, we at least have their genetics. It is sort of an insurance colony here at the Tennessee Aquarium as we ideally work to restore those habitats.”  

Gomez said the ark population at the aquarium also spawned with employees working to collect thousands of eggs measuring about the size of a grain of sand.Later this year, once the spawning season has completed and the baby fish have grown, researchers will also return to the creeks on Walden’s Ridge to do another count to see if the laurel dace population has increased.  

RACE FOR THE DACE  

With their new knowledge of the scrappy little fish in their streams, Motes said citizens were ready to enter the race to save the laurel dace.   

race for the dace
Nearly 160 runners from 36 cities and states as far as Washington state, Minnesota, and Florida wait for the start of the 5K during Laurel Dace Day in Spring City. 

“We have this nice little fish  that needs our help,” Motes said. “We thought we could do a Laurel Dace Day and be able to bring awareness to what’s happening, why the fish is considered endangered, as well as bring people into Spring City.”  

Spring City officials proclaimed the laurel dace the official fish of the town and declared Laurel Dace Day on May 17. The Race for the Laurel Dace event held on that day brought together project partners like the Thrive Regional Partnership, Tennessee RiverLine, as well as local fresh food markets and the Aquarium.  

Motes said one of the most interesting aspects of the day was the appearance of scientist Charles F. Saylor, who was the first to identify the fish and give it a name. Saylor regaled both aquarium officials and locals with the story of how he found the fish and the process he went through to have it identified as a unique species.   

Of course, the biggest part of the day was the actual 5K race held as part of the awareness event. Motes said 157 runners came from 36 cities across the U.S. with visitors coming as far as Washington, Minnesota, and Florida to Spring City.   

Gomez said the day is an example of how conservation can bring people together from all over.  

“I believe Spring City is a hidden gem,” she said. “They are surrounded by natural wonders, and there is room for ecotourism and recreation that will bring light and revenue into that city. In bringing our plans for Laurel Dace Day to life, we attracted both locals and people from across Tennessee. We had people who drove up from Alabama and Georgia. It brought people from near and far to experience Spring City.”  

IDENTITY AND CONSERVATION  

The inaugural Laurel Dace Day doesn’t mean the end of the partnership between Spring City and the Aquarium. Motes said the town has also created laurel dace banners  and a mascot to promote both the laurel dace and Spring City at various area events.  

Spring City and aquarium officials worked together to create the inaugural Laurel Dace Day in May. In addition to a 5K race, local businesses and partners like the Tennessee RiverLine and Thrive Regional Partnership helped educate vistors and locals on the laurel dace and recreation and tourism opportunities in the area.
Spring City and aquarium officials worked together to create the inaugural Laurel Dace Day in May. In addition to a 5K race, local businesses and partners like the Tennessee RiverLine and Thrive Regional Partnership helped educate vistors and locals on the laurel dace and recreation and tourism opportunities in the area. 

“This has given us another identity as a community,” Motes said. “The feedback I am getting from folks is that they feel like this is something special to have; it is something we can put our name with.”  

Gomez said the event has also helped the aquarium make valuable connections with community members who will be instrumental in preserving the laurel dace.  Spring City residents are being included on an advisory board to keep up-to-date with the progress of the species’ and trained to conduct citizen science.  

For Gomez, the partnership with Spring City has been an eye-opening experience and helped renew her outlook on conservation.  

“This is something that has given us hope to continue to do work like this,” Gomez said. “It can be hard to remain optimistic when you are constantly trying to beat the ticking time bomb. Through this, we really feel that we are not in this alone. I am really hopeful that what we have done through Spring City provides a roadmap for others who work with critical and endangered species.”  

Ultimately, Gomez said the efforts of Spring City residents will play a major role in returning the laurel dace from the brink of extinction.  

“A few field biologists cannot protect a species on their own, and we certainly cannot do it without community buy-in,” she said. “These are the people who have been in that area as long as the laurel dace is, and it’s their fish. We need the community. It has been amazing and beyond my wildest dreams that this community has gotten so involved in this. It takes a village to save a species.” 

Related Articles