A growing appreciation for freshwater mussels

Today you’re hearing from Brett Hillman, a biological science technician for the Service’s New England Field Office, as he recounts his work with freshwater mussels at the Service's Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge in Vermont. Brett assists the endangered species biologists and has the great pleasure of working with a wide variety of wildlife. This post is part of a series running all month on freshwater mussels, highlighting their importance to the Northeast landscape and the concerted efforts underway to ensure their future in our waters.

Before I began my job in the New England Field Office, I will admit that I didn’t have a great appreciation for mussels.

I knew that they were an important component of aquatic ecosystems, but I didn’t understand quite how important. And while I’ve spent countless hours searching for and identifying species of many other taxa, from birds to bugs to plants, mussels never captured my interest. Now that I’m fully immersed in mussel ecology, however, I am definitely gaining some more respect for these underrated invertebrates.

Freshwater mussels are one of the most imperiled taxa in the country. According to Patty Morrison, a mussel expert and biologist at the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge, 76 out of the approximately 300 native mussel species in the U.S. are federally listed, six of which have been listed within just the past two years. 

Not just rocks: The mussels of our rivers and streams

Today you’re hearing from Meagan Racey, who handles public affairs and media relations for Ecological Services, on her recent encounter with freshwater mussels. This post is part of a series running all month on freshwater mussels, highlighting their importance to the Northeast landscape and the concerted efforts underway to ensure their future in our waters.

The sky beamed blue above, and the sun shined down on me below as I sliced the clear water with my paddle—shwoosh down the right side of the kayak, and shwoosh down the left side. From the shoreline, a great blue heron watched me wearily, and up ahead a bald eagle peered from the treetop. Minnows darted under the water and water bugs glided across the top.

It’s hard to beat a day on the water. My trip down a portion of New England’s longest river, the Connecticut River, started at Greenfield, Mass., and amid all the beautiful details I mentioned above, one unmentioned characteristic struck me the most – the littering of freshwater mussels poking up from the bottom of the clear river.

Reviving a river: Checking in at Great Works Dam

Each week, our folks at the Maine field office are driving by to check on the progress of the Great Works Dam removal, part of the Penobscot River Restoration Project.

As the Penobscot River Restoration Trust says: "The next best thing to the sight of a newly restored, free-flowing stretch of river? The sound of water coursing through natural ledges and cobbles. An amazing transformation has been taking place on this stretch of the Penobscot River!"

Reviving a river: From the Atlantic Salmon Federation

Andy Goode, vice president of U.S. programs
for the Atlantic Salmon Federation.

Today you're hearing from Andy Goode, the vice president of U.S. programs for the Atlantic Salmon Federation, an international conservation organization dedicated to the conservation, protection and restoration of wild Atlantic salmon and the ecosystems on which their well being and survival depend. ASF is a partner in the internationally recognized Penobscot River Restoration Project, re-opening nearly 1,000 mile of habitat for endangered Atlantic salmon, sturgeon, river herring and eight other species of sea-run fish in Maine.


The Penobscot Project offers a rare, far ranging, and for the foreseeable future, our only opportunity to restore a significant run of Atlantic salmon in the southern range of the species. For the first time in 200 years this project will directly address the primary threat to Atlantic salmon restoration by reducing multiple dams in Maine’s largest salmon river, thus offering the real potential to reverse the longterm decline of salmon in the United States.