FIELD REPORT
AQUATIC SPECIES
FRESHWATER FLEX Inside the Efforts to Bring Mussels Back to the James River BY ELLEN KANZINGER
DIVING BENEATH THE WATER’S SURFACE,
Erin Reilly descended to the riverbed and began placing mussels in the sediment. Breathing through her scuba gear, she watched as thousands of the freshwater critters settled into their new home— the James River. Amid the scattered concrete remains of bridges and natural bedrock, the mussels started to filter the water through their gills. As a staff scientist with the James River Association (JRA), Reilly works with a team of biologists from the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to bring mussels back to the James, starting in the urban section of the river through downtown Richmond, Va. “Seeing all those mussels down
there when you’ve just planted several thousands of them and they haven’t started to bury yet was really cool,” Reilly said, not long after her dive last fall.
“Mussels can’t move very far,” Reilly said. “So if they’re gone from an area, even if the area has improved water quality, it can take a long time for the mussels to get back.” An indicator species, mussels are useful for determining the overall health of a waterway. Once a prominent species in Virginia’s storied river, years of waste and pollution made the James an uninhabitable place for them to live. With the help of a grant from the Good Shepherd Foundation, this partnership is trying to create a thriving mussel population again, especially as water quality has improved since they disappeared in the 70s and 80s. “Mussels can’t move very far,” Reilly said. “So if they’re gone from an area, even if the area has improved water quality, it can take a long time for the mussels to get back.”
B I O L O G I S T S G I V E M U S S E L S A H E A D S TA R T AT T H E H A R R I S O N L A K E N AT I O N A L F I S H H AT C H E R Y. P H O T O S B Y S H A N N O N M C G O WA N
Mussels also play an important role in the ecosystem, as each individual can filter up to 15 gallons of water a day, removing algae, bacteria, and nutrients from the water column. “The James is a very industrial river and has been for a long time,” Reilly said. “The more that we can get the river’s natural processes to take care of things, the less money that our wastewater treatment centers and water treatment facilities have to spend, the better the water is." But across the continent, freshwater mussels are one of the most endangered groups of taxa, with around 70 percent of species considered threatened or endangered in some manner. In Virginia alone, there are more than 80 species of freshwater mussels, including almost two dozen of which can be found in the James.
Variety Is the Spice of Life
Mussel restoration work is not a new concept in Virginia. For almost three decades, biologists have been working in the Clinch River of southwest Virginia,
FEBRUARY 2022 | BLUERIDGEOUTDOORS.COM
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