Mussel Introduction into an Urban Stream Environment: 2020 to 2022

Introduction

It is widely recognized that freshwater mussels have the ability to filter stream water at a prodigious rate, improving water quality, and thereby potentially keeping local streams, rivers, and receiving estuaries cleaner. Within urbanized settings such as Reston, the possibility of utilizing mussels to improve both local water quality and that of larger receiving systems is quite intriguing. The basic issue and associated research question for this RFP is whether or not newly stocked freshwater mussels are able to survive (and potentially reproduce) in these urban streams prior to deploying a larger scale effort that would also measure associated water quality effects. This project was conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from 2020 to 2022.

Request for Proposals

Original Request for Proposals: Mussel Introduction into an Urban Stream Environment, 2020

Amount awarded: $148,675

Research Reports

Final Research Report

Assessing the Potential for Restoring Freshwater Mussels to Urban Streams. Paul A. Bukaveckas, Rachel Mair, John-Reid Ryan and Rachel Duval, Virginia Commonwealth University, Center for Environmental Studies and US Fish & Wildlife Service, Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery, Report to Resources Protection Group, February 2022

Articles