Ohio River Valley Ecosystem Meeting

March 25 - March 27, 2003

Safari Club, Columbus Zoo, Dublin, OH

Welcoming comments and round table introductions were started by team leader Kurt Snider, who then delivered his team leader report.

Team Leader Report

Kurt attended the Region 5 team leaders meeting in January. He reported that Region 5 was committed to the ecosystem approach and supported the teams. The process for flex fund allocation was discussed but would not change at this time. Funding for flexfund projects had not been announced.

A comment letter from the ORVE Excomm was completed and sent to Rich Cogen of the Ohio River Advocacy concerning their green paper entitled A Framework for Ecosystem Restoration of the Ohio River and its Watershed. The team's comments consisted of softening the occasional harsh tone of the paper along with a list of suggested edits to correct minor scientific an statistical inaccuracies.

Mike Hoff is our new ORVET representative in the R3 Regional Office.

There were no changes to the agenda at this time.

Regional Updates

Representatives from the three regional offices were not able to attend but all sent written updates:

Region 5 - Ed Christoffers - There is not a great deal to report from R5. As you know from the REAT meeting the Region is still committed to the Teams and landscape level cross program work. Most of our information should be available from the meeting notes.

Although the budget has passed there is still no final allocation to the Regions. Apparently the process is stalled in DC over how to deal with the CAM issue. In R5 we still plan to allocated the funds to the Teams as outlined in our earlier memo. Questions to the Programs recently only had ES indicating that they might have a problem do to very tight budget projections.

Migratory bird folks have been visiting the Team meeting and discussing with folks how they might work to enhance bird conservation efforts.

Region 4 - Mike Gantt - 1. Washington has received the budget for the Dept and has shared the FWS budget with all Regions. We are still awaiting a Regional Breakdown from Washington (to my knowledge). The budget contained an across the board 0.67% reduction so when the Region gets the Washington figures, this will need to be considered.

2. A call for FY03 TAGS for each Team will be going out shortly....so it is great that your Teams are already working on this for the year.

3. Flex Fund Managers have not yet made their decisions because they have not yet received their individual budgets. They are, however, working hard on reviewing the flex fund projects submitted by the Ecoteams and Stations and are in the process of coordinating with each other about the potential to fund different projects. Once the decisions are made and we know what projects are funded, I'll be putting out a Team Listing for you all and I will then begin to work with you on finding funding for those high priority projects that were not funded.

4. I am in the process of developing a Regional Grants Website that will be updated regularly and hopefully, will provide a quick place for Teams and their partners to check on opportunities for funding. It may go on the sii Intranet first as a test...but I would like it to be available for our partners as well.

5. The March Grants listing went out recently...if you did not receive a copy....let me know. You may wish to review some of those opportunities with the Teams as I KNOW that they have needs and in many instances we are working in partnership with others.

6. I have also been working on a Landscape Level Partnership Webpage that would include our Ecoteams as well as other Landscape Partnerships we are involved in. I will soon be developing draft fact sheets for each Team and circulating them to all of you for review and comments.

7. Am continuing to get input for the Team Leaders meeting and will be working on finalizing that. We will probably be looking at early summer for that meeting.

8. IMPORTANT: If there are any particular issues you would like for me to bring to the attention of the RD, DRD and Reg'l Directorate, please don't hesitate to let me know. Our Regional Director likes to know what the Teams are doing, how the Teams are doing, and what we in the Region can be doing to help the Teams......so feel free to give me a call, share ideas, talk to your Team Coach, or give your ARD a call....We are all part of the same Service trying to help each other make an improvement in the quality of fish and wildlife habitat.

As always, I continue to work closely with the NFWF on proposed grant applications. If there is anything I can do in this regard to help the Team. let me know.

Sounds like these are going to be great meetings...and I am sorry I can't be there.

Region 3 - Mike Hoff - I apologize for not being able to attend the upcoming meeting. Below is a quick summary of changes in Region 3 office personnel, and some possible future direction.

Region 3 update-- Leslie TeWinkel has changed positions, and is no longer the Regional Ecosystem Biologist for the Ohio River Valley Ecosystem Team (Team). Mike Hoff is now the Ecosystem Biologist for the team, and so is the Region 3 first-line contact. Mike needs to would like to bring himself up to speed by: 1) reviewing a summary of accomplishments by the team during the last two fiscal years, 2) reviewing team priorities and planned activities for FY03, 3) determining possible impediments to accomplishing planned activities, and 4) determining what major changes have occurred in the Team since the Website was last updated.

The new Director for Region 3 (Robyn Thorson) will be reporting within 1-2 weeks. To help bring her up to speed, our acting RD requested updated Ecosystem Team Fact Sheets. Therefore, I request that you send me the updated ORVET Fact Sheet. Please update the Fact Sheet by ensuring that Team and Committee leader names are current, and by listing the most important issues and planned activities in FY03.

Subgroup Reports

Freshwater Mollusks - Patty Morrison for Bob Butler

ORVE Mussel Subgroup Report - March 2003

Dave Berg, Miami University:

Genetics work has begun on the spectaclecase mussel, a project funded by the ORVE with flex funds last year. Dr. Berg and Curt Elderkin have generated DNA sequences for the mitochondrial COI gene for about 27 spectaclecase mussels (6-11 individuals for each of three populations) and are in the process of aligning them so that they can be analyzed.

Bob Butler, MSG Leader

Since the last ORVE Team meeting, the Mollusk Subgroup completed the status reviews for three wide-ranging mussels, the spectaclecase (Cumberlandia monodonta), sheepnose (Plethobasus cyphyus), and rayed bean (Villosa fabalis). Region 3 agreed to take the lead for all three species, and had biologists in three field offices draft candidate elevation packages for them. The Minnesota FO (Phil Delphey) took the lead for the spectaclecase, Rock Island FO (Jody Millar) for the sheepnose, and Ohio FO (Angela Boyer) for the rayed bean. The packages have been forwarded to Washington for the Director's approval on elevation to candidate status under the Endangered Species Act. According to the Candidate Notice of Review instructions, they intend to publish the new candidate list in May in the Federal Register. We wish to thank the dozens of individuals who provided the data for this project

The poster project on the status review work for these three mussels at the symposium of the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society in Durham, North Carolina, was very well attended and admired. Dozens of folks expressed specific interest in our work and offered support for our encouragement in pursuing candidate elevations for these species. We need to thank the following folks on the poster project: Patty Morrison, Jim Widlak, Steve Ahlstedt, Dick Biggins, Kevin Cummings, Rita Villella, Heidi Dunn, Brant Fisher, Tom Watters, Bob Anderson, Mark Endris, and particularly Ryan Evans and Heidi Dunn for the maps, Greg Zimmerman for maps, photos, and coordinating poster efforts and scheduling conference calls, and especially Kurt Snider for the layout task of assimilating all the verbiage, maps, and photographs and printing the final product.

Work has begun on the status reviews of two additional species of wide-ranging mussels that the Subgroup decided to pursue at our November meeting last year. These are the snuffbox (Epioblasma truquetra) and rabbitsfoot (Quadrula cylindrica). Together, they occur in five Service regions (2, 3, 4, 5, & 6), more widespread than the three mussels last year. Status information is being assimilated from cooperators in this 15 state area plus Ontario. Preliminary data indicates that these two species have been eliminated from about two-thirds of their range with most extant populations being small and of questionable viability. Unfortunately, this sounds all to familiar.

The Task Force working on mussel survey protocol development will be testing and validating the protocol this FY.

A new children's book titled "Russell the Mussel" has been published and is available from Virginia Tech. Dick Biggins and Dick Neves were two of the three authors, and the FWS provided funds to help publish it.

The Southwest Virginia Field Office contracted with a theatrical designer to make a human-sized Mussel Costume, complete with hard outer shell, soft parts, and a bubble machine to simulate the release of glochidea (larval mussels). The costume made an appearance at the recent FMCS Symposium in Durham, NC.

Jim Layzer, Tennessee Tech:

The Tennessee Cooperative Fishery Research Unit and the Mammoth Cave National Park have jointly initiated a major long-term initiative to enhance populations of the most critically endangered mussels within the Green River. The Unit has expanded its existing propagation facility by 720 square feet. The new facility has a self-contained heating and cooling system, UV sterilizers, bio-filters, in-line chillers, heaters, back-up power supply, alarm system, and 30 - 45 gal. tanks, 4 - 90 gal. 'raceways', and 3 - 280 gal. tanks.

The Mammoth Cave National Park culture facility will consist of a trailer (12' x 60') located stream side. Design features include flow-through (river water) culture troughs that will automatically switch to recirculating systems during power outages; back-up power supply, and an alarm system with automated telephone dialing.

Full-time culturists will operate each facility. Juveniles propagated and initially cultured by the Unit will be transferred to MCNP culture facility for grow-out. The Green River likely contains the last remaining population of the endangered ringpink Obovaria retusa. Consequently, a major sampling effort is planned to collect, propagate, and culture this species.

Jim Widlak, Cookeville Field Office:

This is not technically an Ohio River item, but the Nashville Corps has proposed to conduct long-term monitoring of the mussel bed in the Tennessee River below Kentucky Dam during the construction and into the operation phase of the new lock. This should give us some very good data about how the construction and operation of the new lock affects the mussel community. When we review projects that will affect mussel resources, we always recommend long-term monitoring, but this is the first time that an agency has actually agreed to do it; normally they agree to monitor during construction and maybe for a short time after project completion. Wayne Davis has proposed that any individuals of federally listed species found during this monitoring be transported to the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife mussel propagation facility in Frankfort.

The Tennessee River between Kentucky Dam and the I-24 bridge supports a very good mussel community. Lampsilis abrupta has been found on the bed on the right descending side. On the left descending side, reportedly not good mussel habitat because of scour, TVA found more than18,000 mussels during a pre-construction survey of the footprints of two mooring cells. More recently, more than 55,000 mussels (23 species) were relocated from the area around two rock fishing jetties that will be constructed as part of the lock construction project.

TVA is currently conducting a study of its reservoir operations. They are evaluating water use and demand in the Tennessee River drainage and looking at potential modifications to the way they operate their reservoirs. Modifications may or may not have significant impacts on tailwater mussel resources. In mid- to late summer they will have a series of public meetings; one is scheduled to be held in Gilbertsville, Kentucky.

Native Fishes

Leroy Koch, Kentucky Field Office:

Voiced the need to compose a small group of folks interested in participating in the subgroup.

Migratory Birds - Joe Robb, Big Oaks NWR (via e-mail)

Attended the BRD Cerulean Warbler workshop at NCTC in December and gave a short presentation. Canadian sponsored workshop at Niagra Falls, Canada, on Henslow's sparrows, loggerhead shrikes, and Kirtland's warblers, was attended by John Castrale, our IN DNR partner.

We are awaiting budgets to find out if bird projects (cerulean warbler work at Big Oaks NWR and Loggerhead shrikes in KY/TN) will be funded.

Cave/Karst - No report.

Wetlands - No report

Endangered Species - Lee Barclay, Tennessee Field Office:

Lee reported that funding through Region 4 for the ORVE Indiana Bat has been funded ($10,000), which should be matched by a coal company. Funding is in place to catalog the mussel collection of Herb Athhern. Herbs' home is in a deteriorating condition so it is essential to complete this work as soon as possible. $27,000.00 of the proposal has been funded by Region 4. $18,000 each are needed from Regions 5 and 3 to complete funding.

Law Enforcement - No Report

Outreach - Janet Butler, Ohio River Islands NWR:

The Tall Stacks Festival will be held on the Ohio River in Cincinnati, October 15-18.. Sawyer Town is the theme (steam era). We will share a booth with the ORA (we share the space but have our own area) in the education area. There will be twelve hour periods and we need two people at one time to attend the booth. Possible idea was to acquire the Pearly The Mussel costume from the Virginia Field Office. All of the local school children will visit the educational area. There should be over 100,000 people over the week long event.. ORSANCO will have a 3300 gallon mobile aquarium at the event and offered to work with FWS on a combined display.. Having tagged fish in the aquarium or a diver to give a presentation and answer questions would be a possibility. This is a great outreach opportunity for the team to get a great bang for our buck. Action item: Contact Janet Butler if able to participate

GIS/ Website - Kurt Snider, Tennessee Field Office - The ORVE website continues to be updated with meeting info, minutes, project features, etc. Kurt is organizing an "online symposium" that will feature results from projects funded by the team. Action Item - Those with project results should e-mail text and photos to Kurt.

The GIS group also participated in the creation of a mussel poster for the Fresh Water Mussel Symposium. The 4x8 ft poster featured text, images, and maps for 3 mussel species that have been researched by the Mollusk Subgroup and will soon be raised to candidate species

Acid Mine Drainage/MTR/VF Removal - Bill McCoy (via e-mail)

I would like to say that Cindy Tibbott's emails relating to mountain top removal activities in West Virginia have been elucidating from the standpoint of understanding a serious environmental problem that is a political football. It would appear the best we can do is to keep providing truthful facts about the biological impacts and encourage donations to the Citizens Committees that are using the only source of help possible-- the Courts, to limit the massive permanent destruction being wreaked upon our mountain habitats.

Patoka River NWR has secured a $20,000 Clean Water Action Grant to be matched by the Indiana Division of Reclamation to install Alkaline Recharge Trenches (ART) on the up gradient side of some old pyritic sandstone spoil ridges draining acid waters into a tributary of the Patoka River. It is a small effort but should have big impacts on this limited area. Each improvement in water quality contributes to better water downstream so we'll keep chipping away on our end.

Contaminants - Bill Kurrey, Reynoldsburg Field Office, Ohio:

Discussion was on how water quality regulations differ from state to state and that mussels aren't looked at for consideration when they make rules in Ohio. Some states are on three year cycles and others are on continuous cycles.

Land Protection - No Report.

ORSANCO - Jeff Thomas and Erich Emery gave a brief overview of ORSANCO and an update on current work along with their commitment to be an active part of the team.

Erich Emery, ORSANCO - Acid mine drainage will take $2 billion dollars to fix overflow into the Monongahela River. Coal mines don't have all the quality monitoring impact. Power companies however are willing to work with the coal companies for solutions. Abandoned mine lands are under funded for a project of this magnitude. There needs to be someone lined up for the next meeting to talk about this issue.

Chris Yoder - 25 years of biological assessments in Ohio - Chris gave a thorough and enlightening presentation displaying his vast experiences in working in the State of Ohio for the last 25 years.

Wednesday, March 26, 2003

Outreach Opportunity - Tall Stacks Event in Cincinnati, OH - Mid October - see info in Janet's subgroup report. Action Item - If interested please contact Janet as soon as possible.

Winter Fish Sampling - Stuart Welsh - USGS - WV Coop Fish Unit - Stuart presented graduate student's research results on winter fish sampling.

Ecosystem Restoration Program update - Rich Cogen - Ohio River Advocacy - Rich updated the Team on his meeting with USFWS and COE in Washington. He is getting support from the upper echelon of the Corps along with Federal legislators. He is interested in setting up a meeting with folks from Federal and State agencies along with academia to discuss the ecosystem restoration of the Ohio.

Erie NWR Presentation - Jeff Haas, Norma Kline, Todd Sampsell, James Bissell

Todd Sampsell, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, discussed the ecological significance of French Creek and Erie NWR's need to be more actively involved in the protection of Muddy Creek.

Norma Lynn Kline, Wildlife Biologist for Erie NWR

Presented an overview of the refuge=s federally listed species, globally rare biotic resources and other federal trust species.

8777 acres that contains two divisions-

The Senecca Division 3544 acres

James Bissell, Curator of Botany for the Cleveland Museum of Natural History discussed the importance of shrub fens on the refuge along with the many invasive plant species in the area.

The Sugar Lake Division 5206 acre

Species:

3 Federally listed

7 Globally listed

22 State listed

26 Non-game species of management concern

11 NAWCA

23 Species of regional concern

112 Nesting birds

Muddy Creek

Dispersal center for 2 globally rare darters. Other examples of species are Clubshell, Snuffbox, Eastern Sand Darter, Longhead Darter, Ohio Lamprey, Mountain Brook Lamprey. Some of the federal trust species are the round pigtoe, three ridge, brindled madtom. One of the refuge needs is to prepare a threats and stress analysis.

Jeff Haas, Refuge Manager, Erie NWR, wrapped up the presentation with a request for support for refuge expansion and help with invasive plant control. Action item - Team will draft a letter of support for Erie NWR

Rich Meyer, Corps of Engineers, Huntington District, discussed partnerships being developed between the Corps and FWS concerning projects of interest to the FWS. The Corps will meet regularly with FWS ES office personnel to update and receive consultation on Corps projects that may have an impact on FWS interests. The Huntington District is currently working with the Elkins, WV Field Office and is in the process of developing relationships with the Reynoldsburg, Ohio and Frankfort, KY Field Offices.

Field Trip to Tom Watters' Mussel Propagation Facility

Evening Reception at the Columbus Zoo's Aquarium and Manatee Exhibit

Mussel and Fish Survey in downtown Pittsburgh : Enviroscience Inc.

Joel Bingham - Fish Survey

Study was done in the spring of 2001 tn the Allegheny River.

Results for their map generation came from:

USEPA physical characterization which evaluates substrate flow, underwater video, real-time GPS with ArcPad 5.1. The methods they used for collecting were electro-fishing, gill nets, hoop nets, and siening. They delt with anomalies such as deformities and lesions.

Results of the study:

25 fish species, 473 individuals, 4 considered either threatened or endangered. Dominant species were: silver redhorse, northern spotted bass, gizzard shad, small mouth buffalo, channel catfish.

Summary:

There is the absence of threatened and endangered spawning habitat. Preferred alignment had relatively lower overall scores and abundance.

Greg Zimmerman - Mussel Survey

Study was done in the fall of 2001 in the same area the Allegheny River.

The species mussels of concern were the Northern Riffleshell, Pink Mucket, Clubshell, Rough Pigtoe, Fanshell, Orange Pimpleback.

Mussel Survey-

Sampling covered 25,000m2 area

Qualitative sampling

50 x 50 m cells

4 hours search time in each cell

Quantitative Sampling

0.25m2 quadrants

fully excavated to 10 cm

approx. 180 quadrants

Project challenges

poor visibility

large survey area

commercial and pleasure boat traffic

underwater obstructions (about 70 cars)

We used two types of dive teams. They were: hard hat divers and EXO divers.

Results of survey:

Total of seven native species and a total of thirteen live specimen collection. Examples would be Paper Pondshell, Spike, Fatmucket and Fragile Papershell There was one Gastrorpod, no listed species and one new species record for the Allegheny River.

Randy Sanders - Spoke to the group about mussel habitat and stream restoration in Ohio. This was Randy's second presentation to the Team and his impressive slide show displayed successful stream restoration projects with private land owners along with future challenges.

OSU Status of wetland mitigation and vernal pool monitoring

Deni Porej, Ohio State University

The study goal was to identify critical habitats in need of protection. Within wetland characteristics of primary interest were changes in the community. Methods used were dip netting and visual searches. Amphibian diversity - Thirteen species of pond breeding amphibians were recorded during 2001/2002 field seasons. There was a year to year turnover of 3.9%. Goals of the project were to raise awareness of the diversity of life found in vernal pool and provide educators and managers with an excellent educational and recreational opportunity of monitoring vernal pools. There is a book that can be purchased for $5.00 entitled AA Field Guide to animals of the Vernal Pools@. Web link is vernalpool.org.

Next Meeting October 7-9, 2003, Bloomington, IN