Morning Ag Clips logo
  • Subscribe ❯
  • PORTAL ❯
  • LOGIN ❯
  • By Keyword
  • By topic
  • By state
  • Home
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • Store
  • Advertise
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Subscribe to our
    daily email
    ❯
  • Portal Registration❯
  • Login❯
  • policy
  • tractors & machinery
  • education
  • conservation
  • webinars
  • business
  • dairy
  • cattle
  • poultry
  • swine
  • corn
  • soybeans
  • organic
  • specialty crops
  • Alabama
  • Alaska
  • Arizona
  • Arkansas
  • California
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Hawaii
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • Nebraska
  • Nevada
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Ohio
  • Oklahoma
  • Oregon
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Utah
  • Vermont
  • Virginia
  • Washington
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

Morning Ag Clips

  • By Keyword
  • By topic
  • By state
  • policy
  • tractors & machinery
  • education
  • conservation
  • webinars
  • business
  • dairy
  • cattle
  • poultry
  • swine
  • corn
  • soybeans
  • organic
  • specialty crops
  • Home
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • Store
  • Advertise
Home » 'Livers of our rivers' could help clean up Pa. waters
report ...

'Livers of our rivers' could help clean up Pa. waters

Report says freshwater mussels are at risk in the Chesapeake Bay watershed

PUBLISHED ON July 29, 2021

As a new report details the importance of restoring declining populations of freshwater mussels within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, multiple programs in Pennsylvania are working to do just that. (photos provided)

HARRISBURG, Pa. — As a new report details the importance of restoring declining populations of freshwater mussels within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, multiple programs in Pennsylvania are working to do just that.

The report “Incorporating Freshwater Mussels into the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Efforts,” comes from a workgroup of experts under the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Chesapeake Bay Program. It lays the groundwork for expanding mussel restoration in the Bay watershed with a growing coalition of advocates and scientists across the region.

“Freshwater mussels really are unsung heroes in Chesapeake rivers and streams. But as their populations plummet, I’m afraid we could lose some mussel species before we fully understand their benefits,” said Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) Virginia Senior Scientist Dr. Joseph Wood, who is the lead author of the report.

More than half of all freshwater mussel species are now facing extinction. About 25 species live in the freshwater rivers and streams that flow into the Chesapeake Bay.

“Like forests alongside streams, native freshwater mussels in rivers and streams help restore and protect water quality in Pennsylvania’s rivers and streams,” said Harry Campbell, CBF’s Science Policy and Advocacy Director in Pennsylvania. “They do this by filtering out things that act as pollutants in the water and are a food source to them.”

A single mussel can filter up to 15 gallons of water per day, which can prevent pollutants such as nitrogen from flowing downstream, leading to clearer and cleaner water. Mussel beds create habitat for small aquatic creatures, which in turn become food for fish.

“A lot of people call them the ‘livers of our rivers’ because they filter things that are harmful to humans, like toxins and heavy metals out of the water that passes over them,” added Dr. Heather Galbraith, a Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission (PFBC) Water Planning Biologist who contributed to the report.

For a Commonwealth where more than 25,000 miles of rivers and streams are harmed by pollution, and  that provides half of the freshwater to the Chesapeake Bay, protecting and restoring freshwater mussels have important implications for clean water.

With multiple efforts underway in Pennsylvania, it could take years before significant populations of freshwater mussels are in place to benefit local waters in the Susquehanna River Basin and downstream to the Bay.

The Mussels for Clean Water Initiative (MuCWI), coordinated by the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary (PDE), aims to restore freshwater mussels to streams, rivers, and lakes  in the upper mid-Atlantic region, particularly the Delaware and Susquehanna River Basins.

Under MuCWI, ground will be broken in 2022 for a central hatchery to be built in southwest Philadelphia. It is supported by an investment from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority.

Up to 500,000  baby mussels will eventually be produced annually at the Philadelphia hatchery. The offspring will be used to support diverse recovery efforts in streams, rivers and lakes in   the Delaware and Chesapeake watersheds in Pennsylvania, as well as adjoining states.

“The goal of MuCWI is to restore functional mussel beds containing natural assemblages of both common and rare species,” said Dr. Danielle Kreeger, Science Director for the PDE. “By our estimate, this new PA-based effort is the first of its kind to focus on the less rare species that do the bulk of the water filtering. But we will of course also do what we can to help sustain the rare species too.”

According to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, 10 of Pennsylvania’s freshwater mussel species are considered endangered, and another 13 have not been observed for decades. The conservancy is working on a number of projects to establish the distribution of rare mussel species in Pennsylvania – in the Delaware, Potomac, Susquehanna, and Ohio basins.

At the Union City Hatchery in Erie County, the PFBC converted a facility to raise mussels in 2019. Last July, the Commission stocked 200 mussels into Dunkard Creek in Greene County.

The PFBC effort is funded by a settlement after a massive fish-kill at Dunkard Creek in 2009, and the focus is on restocking Union City’s mussels into that creek. The Commission hopes to stock another 2,000-3,000 mussels there in 2022.

Biologists caution that re-introducing freshwater mussels is not the silver bullet solution to pollution.

“If all of our environmental problems can be solved by just dumping in buckets of mussels, we would have figured that out a long time ago,” Dr. Galbraith said.

“We found that mussel restoration would be one more arrow in your quiver, but you cannot do mussel restoration unless you continue to double down on existing best management practices like buffers and cover crops,” Dr. Danielle Kreeger added.

Establishing proper habitat before introducing mussels is key to their survival.

“What mussels don’t like is unstable or scoured bottom habitat,” Dr. Kreeger said. “The problem is that with increasing bouts of heavy rainfall and impervious surfaces due to development, we get flash flooding that scours the streambed every time it rains hard. Mussels need a safe place to burrow into, so they don’t get washed out or buried by fine sediments every time it rains.”

“When combined with proven practices like forested riparian buffers, rain gardens, cover crops, and other techniques that keep soils and nutrients on the land instead of in the water, mussels represent a promising new tool to further efforts to restore the Commonwealth’s rivers and streams,” Campbell added.

The new report estimates that mussel populations in the Chesapeake Bay watershed have likely fallen by 90 percent since European colonists arrived in the 1600s.

“Just like oysters in the 1980s, freshwater mussels are on the brink of catastrophe,” said Wood. “The progress we’ve made with oysters should inspire hope for what could be done with mussels, but progress requires investments. To turn things around, new funding is needed for clean water, restored habitat and protecting and rehabilitating mussel populations.”

–BJ Small, Chesapeake Bay Foundation

RECOMMENDED ARTICLES

Watershed Implementation Plan a Work-In-Progress
August 09, 2022

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Restoration goals for the Chesapeake Bay cannot be realized overnight; it takes years of coordination, cooperation, and compromise to induce the changes needed to positively affect water quality. Gurpal Toor, professor, extension specialist, and associate chair in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology at the University of Maryland College of […]

USDA invests $22.5 million in water quality improvements in Chesapeake Bay
May 09, 2022

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today it will invest an additional $22.5 million in conservation assistance in fiscal year 2022 to help farmers boost water quality improvements and conservation in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The new Chesapeake Bay States’ Partnerships Initiative will support Bay-area farmers, building on a $1.1 billion […]

OP-ED: It is an opportune time for action and clean water
August 25, 2021

HARRISBURG, Pa. — In the wake of what has become a legacy of inadequate commitment and investments of financial and technical resources at the state and federal levels, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is optimistic that seizing current opportunities can put Pennsylvania back on track toward its goals for cleaner local rivers and streams and […]

Spread the word

Browse More Clips

Answering the call to quality

Leading experts in calf health and welfare will share the latest research and management tips with calf managers, dairy producers and industry professionals at the 2019 PDPW Calf Care Connection© Workshops, presented by Professional Dairy Producers® (PDPW). (Courtesy of PDPW)

Antibiotic stewardship training for veal growers

Primary Sidebar

MORE

PENNSYLVANIA CLIPS

cattle on feed
CattleFax forecasts producer profitability in 2023
February 2, 2023
Pa. awarded $8.8 million funding for low-income senior nutrition programs
February 2, 2023
2022 Heritage Breed Microgrants awarded
February 2, 2023
Taranis introduces AcreForward, setting a new standard for crop intelligence
February 2, 2023
Cattlemen’s College draws big crowd in New Orleans
February 2, 2023
  • Trending
  • Latest

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE...

Footer

MORNING AG CLIPS

  • Contact Us
  • Sponsors
  • About Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service

CONNECT WITH US

  • Like Us on Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

TRACK YOUR TRADE

  • Markets & Economy
  • Cattle Updates
  • Dairy News
  • Policy & Politics
  • Corn Alerts

QUICK LINKS

  • Account
  • Portal Membership
  • Just Me, Kate
  • Farmhouse Communication

Get the MAC App Today!

Get it on Google Play
Download on the App Store

© 2023 Morning Ag Clips, LLC. All Rights Reserved.