On Nov. 18, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission reintroduced 2,000 of these aquatic snails into a pond on NCWRC Game Lands in Brunswick County. This large freshwater snail is endemic to the lower Cape Fear River Basin.

The reintroduction was part of the Programmatic Safe Harbor Agreement and a Candidate Conservation Agreement the NCWRC and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service signed in November 2022, 50-year agreements that allow NCWRC to reintroduce species listed or proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act into targeted historical locations.

The agreement applied to 21 aquatic species, including several native to the mountain region. The magnificent ramshorn snail was the first to be released under this agreement, followed by the Roanoke logperch in the upper Mayo River.

For more information, including a full list of species, visit ncwildlife.org/conserving/species/restoring-aquatic-species-to-north-carolina.