The Region 3 Dive team was reestablished in 2000 with two dive members. In the first year, all the diving was conducted with the National Park Service (NPS). The St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, NPS, established a Park SCUBA dive team, in large part, to actively monitor for the presence of zebra mussels. Members of the team include staff from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and NPS. Scheduled monitoring dives occur three times each year on the St. Croix River. Periodic unscheduled supplemental dives and dive work associated with research or resource management augment our understanding of zebra mussel numbers and locations in the.

The Region 3 Dive Team has expanded to six members and has also been active in several additional projects. Dive members have supported the Endangered Winged Mapleleaf and Higgins' Eye mussel projects. Divers have collected Higgins' Eye for propagation, which is conducted at Genoa NFH. After the mussels are collected fish are infected with their glochidia (young mussels). These fish are then placed in cages and set in rivers by the dive team. In several months the dive team goes back to monitor the growth and survival of these young mussels. This technique has been very successful and has produced thousands of young Higgins' Eye. Divers have also been needed to collect Winged Mapleleaf for research being conducted to determine their host fish.