Prophetstown-Echo-08-09-2022

CORDOVA

By SARAH FORD

For Shaw Local News Network For the first time since 2017, teams of biologists and surveyors returned to the Cordova boat ramp to search the Mississippi River shore for the federally endangered Higgins’ Eye pearly mussel and other freshwater mussels Aug. 2. The annual event was on hiatus for a couple of summers because of high water and activities then were limited during the pandemic. Organizers scheduled the field day early in the week so it wouldn’t impact recreational boat traffic, and numerous experts filled a halfdozen boats to explore the shorelines. More than 70 people were involved in the survey, including representatives from federal and state agencies – the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois Natural History Survey. They were aided by Constellation‘s Quad Cities Nuclear Station employees, college students, a few retirees and even world-renowned mussel expert and author Kevin Cummings.

The surveyors “pollywogged” or collected mussels by walking and crawling along the shoreline and shallow water in search of the bivalves. They also cleaned and removed all zebra mussels attached to the shells of mussels to promote the health and vigor of the Cordova mussel bed. This helps offset native mussel decline brought by the introduction of zebra mussels in the early 1990s. Some zebra mussels will be brought to a lab for more studies. They also reviewed several influences and trends at this environmentally significant mussel bed, such as overall condition of the mussel bed population in relation to the amount of zebra mussels found and a general assessment of the larger or smaller instance of zebra mussel infestation. Joe Jordan, USACE District endangered species coordinator, said the general trend for the Cordova location is that it’s “coming back from a zebra mussel abundance that was affecting the natives.” By the afternoon, they already had documented 23 mussel species, with up to 27 known species in the mussel bed.

See MUSSELS, page 24

Sarah Ford - Shaw Local News Network

Joe Jordan, USACE District endangered species coordinator, holds federally endangered Higgins’ Eye mussels found near the Cordova boat ramp Aug. 2 during an annual survey of the mussel bed.

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N BN U L ’ GO FRIDAY, AUGUST 12TH