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Ohio River Valley Ecosystem Mollusk Subgroup
Annual Meeting
November 14 15, 2006
Lloyd Wildlife Management Area
Crittenden, KY
National Fish Habitat
Partnership Tom Busiahn, Wash., DC. Currently, aquatic habitat
conservation is not working. Were still losing habitat. Need to try
something different. Aquatics are most imperiled. Many local actions,
but no national strategy in place. In 2002, modeled after North American
Waterfowl Management Plan, (NAWMP), the Sport Fishing and Boating council
recommended a new planning effort. IAFWA endorsed concept and agreed to
take lead. National Fish Habitat Action Plan thus began.
Partnership driven,
science based, non-regulatory, sustained and accountable. Local projects,
regional strategies, national attention and funding. Regions = joint
venture areas.
Pilot partnerships were
formed, e.g., eastern brook trout joint venture. These are primary
management units. Different sizes and scales. FY 2006 $1 M, 24 projects
and development of plan funded. FY 2007 requested $3 M. Initial Money
comes through FWS Fisheries Program. Other sources of funding exist
(e.g., NFWF, industry, states) but not integrated together yet. Congress
may provide additional funding. Must still be within a Fish Habitat
Partnership area, formally recognized by the National Fish Habitat Board.
We can market mussels as
habitat and part of healthy aquatic ecosystems. Dont neglect to mention
connection to FISH. Handed out guidance for establishing partnerships.
Powerpoint by Catherine
Gatenby on what a NFHP highlighting mussels might look like. Formed a
core group to move forward with mission statement development.
Upper Ohio River
Ecosystem Planning Charles Bier, Western PA Conservancy.
Connectivity challenges among discrete focus areas in the basin.
Depressed habitat in the interim areas creates an impediment to
connectivity. Still high quality riverine habitat in these areas, or
some that can be restored. What do we want it to look like in 50 years?
No one has a vision for this area. Proposed to develop a Conservation
Partnership to improve ecosystem viability in the lower Allegheny River
and upper Ohio River with Corps, TNC, PAFBC, USFWS. Need to establish
aquatic life refugia, a network of protected places to serve as anchors of
biodiversity. How much is needed, size and distance apart. Review of
operational opportunities at locks and dams.
What role can this group
play? Other river management plans and information systems, e.g.,
Tennessee River by TVA and Upper Mississippi River by UMRCC/Corps. Mussel
bed dynamic model by Morales, in press, may help with modeling task.
Translocating adult
mussels to historical locations Bob Butler. Draft white paper
prepared by Jess Jones. May be critical to mussel recovery in the
ecosystem. Possibly expand to include common species as well goal to
restore the bed. With listed species, put in existing beds where that
species is gone. There will be opportunities coming up in western PA for
E. t. rangiana, P. clava and V. fabalis; also large numbers of C. stegaria
in the Licking River. Would be beneficial to have the technical paper in
place. Maybe have it come out of FMCS. Need to have the states endorse
it.
Maybe need recovery teams
for endangered mussel recovery and translocations. Also a chance to
prevent listing of V. fabalis by re-introductions now throughout the
range. Possibly have a clearinghouse to alert people when certain species
and numbers are going to be available due to a relocation project. Need
to be broader than just bridge project opportunities, expand to other
possible collections. Monitoring of source and recipient populations is
critical. Action item get comments to Jess by December 15, 2006.
Add section on benefits which will accrue. From a new planning team
conference call in January 2007. Leslie TeWinkel, Bob Butler, Bob
Anderson, Janet Clayton, Greg Zimmerman, Barb Douglas, Steve Alhstedt,
Brant Fisher, Jess Jones, Darran Crabtree, Mike Turner, Monte McGregor,
Nevin Welte, Tom Watters, Don Hubbs, Glenn Kruse.
Status review of E.
triquetra Bob Butler. Lots of good comments came in, hope to finish
this winter. Region 3 most logical lead. Chris Davidson took lead on Q.
cylindrica, but it was not listed as candidate this year. The data are
valuable even if not listed as candidate, need to encourage recovery.
Possibly put on the FMCS website. Greg, Bob and Tom will help put poster
together for the upcoming symposium in Arkansas.
Tom Ohio facility is a
priority facility for ODNR. 46 of 50 E.t.r. collected in 2005 alive,
females up but not sure if gravid; 9 purple catspaw (all males) in
captivity; algae being used for supplemental feeding. Host fish raising
going well. Vets at zoo are working on grants for pathology, stress
levels during collection and holding, wild vs. captive populations.
Education component tying facility to zoo using kiosks, video cams.
Matt Allegheny River
East Brady salvaged 13,000, 16 species so far. All common species got
relocated to other sites this year (upper Ohio River, and the Monongahela
River in WV); V. fabalis went to the Elk River in WV. Captive holding
improvements made to flow rates and feeding rates. Sampling common
animals seasonally - 100% survival of 2 species out to one year. Looking
at stocking densities now. Juvenile production 80,000 for WV, Kanawha
River, Marmet Pool. Kept some juveniles back to release next spring, with
Barnhart style feeding system. Culturing 200 liters dense algae per day.
Outreach highlights mussels there too. Second annual freshwater folk
festival 500-600 people attended. New wild fish building under
construction. Rachel Mair working with VA on James spiny mussel.
Monte Licking River new
beds found with C. stegaria in low numbers (average 0.3 per m2). Some
riffles may have 150 200. Recruitment ongoing. 50 species present.
One live E. triquetra present. Active land management going on. CMC in
Frankfort expanding. New lab for in vitro work. Trying to raise darters
as fish hosts. Rearing algae in monoculture and wild poly-cultures from
source rivers. Juvenile rearing ongoing, continuous feeding needed.
Getting 40-55 microns growth per day. Mini-riffle closed systems.
Experimenting with some bacterial diets. Working with Mammoth Cave to
rear out animals there. Starting to work with PA to recover species in KY
mussel exchange. First are E. t. r. and V. fabalis for Cyclonaias and
Quadrulas. Some enhancement of C. stegaria going on in the Licking
River. 100 to 200 adults appear to be enough for recruitment. Recovery
Plan calls for 11 or 12 new populations.
May be a problem with
transporting or holding V. fabalis. Many have died in captivity in all 4
facilities. Need to share info on flow rates, feeding rates, successes,
failures, etc. Use source water for captive care? Maybe transport in
sediment in smaller containers. Relocate them in cooler weather.
Ohio River Islands NWR
Eramet/Elkem settlement reached, $3.25M total, $2.04 for mussels, fish and
snail restoration. Trustee Council formed, hope to develop restoration
plan this coming year.
Elk River surveys.
Clubshell persists in upper Elk River. Timed searches, data being
analyzed and put in to threat analysis. Clubshell still in Hackers Creek,
Middle Island Creek, N. Fork Hughes River.
L. subviridis.
Greenbrier River surveys completed for over 100 miles, looking for
habitat. Able to map upper occurrences of certain species along the way.
Islands are critical habitat features. It is a headwater species.
Kanawha River mitigation
project in Marmet Pool, surveys and stocking. Found 2 live C. stegaria 17
miles below previous known location. 2 live C. monodonta. Still live E.
crassidens beds. Habitat measurements also being ccollected bank to
bank.
WPC French Creek
surveys and tribs this year. LeBeof Creek the best so far. Allegheny
River work in navigable portion, pools 5, 7 and 8. Few if any mussels in
dredged areas. SWG work in NY, 40 sites timed searches. Re-visited best
sites and did some quantitative work. 2 live P. clava in Cassadaga Creek
last year, 2 this year, were presumed extirpated.
Killbuck Creek search for
E. obliquata for captive propagation to bring back into KY. Visited twice
this year, found old E. triquetra and 1 catspaw in spring. Fall
collection found 8 males only. Corbicula there now and lots of
sedimentation and headcutting going on. No females found. Maybe come
back in winter and look for females. Interstitial habitat impacted. Very
few fish seen at all. Lots of stress in the watershed. Trying to get
funding for Mike Hoggarth to re-do surveys done 10 years ago. Need a team
to look at options.
Brant Fisher IDNR
statewide surveys ongoing, focused on medium streams over the past 4
years. P. capax is common in lower Wabash, also in Big Creek. O.
subrotunda reproducing populations in West Fork White River drainage.
Its in the Tippecanoe also. May be the next species we need a status
review on. E. triquetra in Salamonie River, upper Wabash. Will produce
some distribution maps for Indiana. More intensive surveys for rare
species to show current range.
ORVE gastropod status
work Paul Johnson and Jay Cordeiro are working on conservation status
for all North American species for the AFS. Ryan Evans is looking at
ORSANCO snail samples. Starting work with KY sites, verifying records,
field collections planned. Lioplax suculosa found in S. Fork Licking
River.
Sand and gravel
regulations ecosystem wide, Ryan is compiling for the team and FMCS.
Greg working with ODNR
in Scioto River surveys, Columbus to confluence. Lower reach shifting and
unstable gravels. Water quality is good.
Mike Miller, U.
Cincinnati: River Run in August, looking at zebra veliger densities. 2005
set large numbers, but then failed long term. Not surviving to second
year. Jump diving along reaches, mussels found everywhere except near
Cincinnati. Snails and salamanders looked at too. There are 4
universities cooperating on these.
30 stations scheduled for
Little Wabash in 2007.
Fish Coop Unit at WVU
willing to host us in Morgantown, WV next year. Meeting dates November 7
9, 2007. Pat Mazik is unit leader, Barb Douglas and Janet Clayton will
coordinate.
Send thank you to Jeff
and the Aquarium for their hospitality last night.
Ohio River Valley Ecosystem Meeting
November 14 15, 2006
Crittenden, KY
Patricia
Morrison USFWS
304-422-0752
patricia_morrison@fws.gov
Tom
Watters The OSU
614-292-6170
watters.1@osu.edu
Chuck Howard Ecological
Specialists 614-430-3780
choward@ecologicalspecialists.com
Ryan
Evans KY Nature Preserves
502-573-2886
ryan_evans@ky.gov
Bob Anderson
USFWS 814-234-4090 x 228
robert_m_anderson@fws.gov
Mike
Turner USACE Louisville
502-315-6900
michael.turner@lrl02.usace.army.mil
Leslie TeWinkel
USFWS 612-713-5164
leslie_tewinkel@fws.gov
Brant
Fisher Indiana DNR
812-526-5816
bfisher@dnr.in.gov
Michael
Floyd USFWS
502-695-0468
mike_floyd@fws.gov
Leroy
Koch USFWS
502-695-0468
leroy_koch@fws.gov
Matthew Patterson
USFWS 304-536-1361
matthew_patterson@fws.gov
Catherine Gatenby
USFWS 304-536-1361
catherine_gatenby@fws.gov
Darran Crabtree
TNC 814-332-2946
dcrabtree@tnc.org
Kevin Cummings
INHS 217-333-1623
ksc@inhs.uiuc.edu
Bob Butler, Leader
USFWS 828-258-3939 x 235
bob_butler@fws.gov
Greg Zimmerman
Enviroscience 614-866-8540
gzimmerman@enviroscienceinc.com
Janet
Clayton WVDNR
304-637-0245
janetclayton@wvdnr.gov
Steve Ahlstedt
USGS (retired) 865-776-9510
bigshelldaddy@bellsouth.net
Barb
Douglas USFWS 304-636-6586
x 19
barbara_douglas@fws.gov
Tam
Smith WPC
814-739-9991
tsmith@paconserve.org
Charles
Bier WPC
412-586-2306
cbier@paconserve.org
Michael Miller UC- Biol.
Sciences 513-556-9751
mike.miller@uc.edu
Heidi
Dunn ESI
636-281-1982
hdunn@ecologicalspecialists.com
Monte McGregor
KYDFWR 502-564-7109 x 371
monte.mcgregor@ky.gov
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