Rapids Clubtail damselflies (Phanogomphus quadricolor) have returned to the…

June 25, 2026Clayey High Lime Till Plains

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damselflies (Phanogomphus quadricolor) have returned to the swift reaches this early summer — seven sightings over the week of May 31 through June 7, an encouraging sign for this threatened species' resilience in the region.

Their presence here is striking given the upstream context. Both the impounded waters that bookend this stretch—Barton Pond and Argo Pond—carry pollution listings and don't support the demanding habitat this clubtail needs. Yet the free-flowing gravel and cobble habitat between them, where current scours the riverbed clean, remains viable. The river ran 2.5 times its recent average flow on the day of observation, surging to 12.46 feet, conditions that favor both the damselflies and the aquatic prey they depend on.

This is a quiet reminder that ecological recovery isn't binary. A threatened species can persist in refugial pockets even when surrounded by degraded water, so long as those patches of clean current remain unbroken.

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