The Cordova, Illinois cleaning is a unique event with many different groups working together along the Mississippi River.
Holland Engineering Biologist, Larissa Herrera, volunteered for the Cordova Mussel Event in Cordova, Illinois this summer. The event is sponsored by the US Army Corps of Engineers and has been taking place for over 15 years.
The goal is to clean zebra mussels, a damaging invasive, off the native freshwater mussels and assess the population of the federally endangered Higgins Eye Pearlymussel. Zebra mussels attach to any hard substrate to have a strong foothold where they can feed and grow. When densities of zebra mussels get high enough, they can kill the native mussels. Overall, the zebra mussel coverage was spotty throughout the Cordova mussel bed, and the native mussels with zebra mussels attached to them seemed to be doing well. Larissa holds a USFWS permit to survey and handle federally listed mussel species.
For more information about our mussel survey capabilities or our Environmental Services, please contact:
Sherry Slocum
Environmental Services Group Manager
(248) 827-7322