The Powell River gets Infusion of Freshwater Mussels in Restoration Effort
The Powell River, one of the most biologically diverse aquatic systems in the nation, got an infusion of mussels Thursday thanks to a new $100,000 restoration effort, funded by the Tennessee Valley Authority and assisted by conservation partners in Tennessee and Virginia.
"From an ecological perspective, mussels are sort of that foundation layer that makes a river function like it should," said Braven Beaty, an ecologist with the Nature Conservancy's Clinch Valley program, one of the collaborators on the project.
Freshwater mussels act as natural filters, cleaning up rivers and streams while filtering food from the water.
They burrow into the gravel in the river bottom, leaving part of their shell exposed.
Mussels remove sediment from the water column, making it available for aquatic insects and other bottom-dwelling species.
"They filter a lot of water," said Beaty.
"An individual mussel can filter a couple of pints to a gallon of water an hour when it is actively filtering."
Students from nearby Lincoln Memorial University carefully placed and released 750 of the mussels into the Powell River near the Well Being Conference Center and Brooks Bridge.
The juvenile mussels were propagated at Virginia Tech's Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Center and the Aquatic Wildlife Conservation Center in Marion, Va.
Students released 400 oyster mussels, 200 Cumberlandian combshell mussels, 100 snuffbox mussels and 50 rainbow mussels.
The mussels are 1 to 2 years old and about 20 millimeters in size, or slightly larger than a penny. They can live 30 years or longer.
The oyster, snuffbox and Cumberlandian mussels — who were tagged for future study — are all on the endangered list.
"The Powell River is one of the last places that has the right ecological conditions for these endangered species to exist," said Jess Jones, a restoration biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services at Virginia Tech.
"We can gauge the health of a river by how well the mussels are doing," he said. "If the mussels are dying, then we know the river is not in good condition."
Because of mostly man-made causes, Beaty said there has been a steady decline in the population of mussels in the Powell over the past few years.
"Evidence (for the decline) points to the legacy of mining, higher levels of silts and metals, runoffs from roads and untreated sewage," explained Beaty.
Thursday's release was part of an ongoing effort to increase the mussel population in the Powell River.
"We've released, in these lower reaches in Tennessee, more than 10,000 mussels over the last five years," said Beaty.
"We've been monitoring six sites and are actively engaged in monitoring the population. Survival and growth has been good," he said.
"We're boosting the population and that helps with the recovery of these species. Our goal is to get them at 10 times the population they're at right now. Ultimately, our goal is to get to the point where they don't need to be listed as endangered."
Shannon O'Quinn, water resource specialist for TVA, said "this particular area is a priority for TVA to protect."
