In October, the National Park Service announced that more than 1,600 native fatmucket mussels were released into the East Branch of the Little Calumet River. The effort was supported with funding through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and marks a major sign of success for using lab-grown mussels to help restore water quality.
Mussels improve water quality by filtering out pollutants, stabilizing sediments, and cycling nutrients to help support other aquatic life. The mussels began as larvae at the Indiana Dunes National Park Dunes Mussel Propagation Laboratory and developed into juveniles under controlled conditions.
Each reintroduced mussel is tagged so that resource managers can track their growth and movement. In the future, they hope to determine if the lab-grown mussels are able to successfully reproduce in the environment. Ultimately, the goal is to revive the native populations to improve the overall health of the watershed.
To learn more, see the full news release on NPS’ website: Indiana Dunes National Park Releases 1600 Lab Grown Native Mussels into the Little Calumet River to Improve Water Quality