The task force overseeing the restoration and maintenance of four lakes and dams in Midland and Gladwin counties ruined in epic flooding in 2020 has a multimillion-dollar job and a 2-inch problem.
That problem is the endangered snuffbox mussel, a freshwater, 2-inch creature that burrows deep into a riverbed and can live for up to 25 years. The snuffbox is the most widespread of the Epioblasma genus of mussels. The rest are extinct or severely imperiled.
As part of its restoration efforts, the Four Lakes Task Force has filed a draft habitation conservation plan with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service outlining the measures it intends to take to protect snuffbox mussel. The task force has also applied for a permit that would allow it to take an incidental amount of the mussels — just 84 over the 30-year term of the permit.
Sentinel of river health
Yes, it's important to fix the 2020 flood damages to four lakes and dams: Edenville Dam and Wixom Lake, Sanford dam and lake, Secord dam and lake, and Smallwood dam and lake. But the snuffbox is important, too. It is a sentinel of river health, and prefers a stream or river with a swift, clean, current. Silt and pollution are its nemesis.
More: Great Lakes fish and fisheries suffer stress of warming climate
Jessica Pruden, a wildlife biologist with the Fish & Wildlife Service in East Lansing, said the snuffbox and other freshwater mussels are critically important to water quality, and the snuffbox is especially endangered. She said the snuffbox enhances water quality and serves as a food source for other animals.
According to the Fish & Wildlife Service, freshwater mussels are one of the most critically imperiled groups of organisms in the world. In North America, 65% of the remaining 300 species are vulnerable to extinction.
More: Tax dispute pauses restoration of four flooded dams in Midland and Gladwin counties
More: Judge: Former owner of failed dams near Midland liable for $119M in environmental damage
To maintain the current snuffbox populations in Michigan, rivers need to be protected to reduce silt loading and runoff, according to the Michigan State University Extension Service.
Public input sought
The Fish & Wildlife Service announced the filing of the permit request and conservation plan draft on Wednesday, which opens a 30-day public comment period. Comments will be taken until Sept. 12, and the public can view the draft plan at www.regulations.gov, then by searching for Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2024-0112.
More: Tax dispute pauses restoration of four flooded dams in Midland and Gladwin counties
The snuffbox lives across a wide range of the country, from Arkansas to West Virginia to Ontario, Canada, and, of course, Michigan. But its population is declining due to habitat destruction and modifications, sedimentation and pollution.
According to a news release from the Fish & Wildlife Service, the proposed draft habitation conservation plan from the Four Lakes Task Force outlines conservation and other measures to conserve the snuffbox mussel. The plan proposes to maintain or improve water quality, maintain or improve bank stability and integrity, maintain aquatic habitat and hydrology — or the movement and quantity of water — sufficient for preservation of the snuffbox.
According to MSU, the snuffbox is a medium-sized, freshwater mussel that is triangular in shape. Its shell is thick and yellowish on the outside with numerous broken dark-green rays.
The Four Lakes Task Force is a volunteer group of property owners, which acquired all four dams through condemnation in late 2020 and took on responsibility for restoration and financing the dams and lakes on behalf of Midland and Gladwin counties.
After heavy rains, the Tittawabassee and Tobacco rivers flooded in May 2020, destroying or damaging hundreds of homes at a cost in the tens of millions of dollars.
Contact Jennifer Dixon: jbdixon@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Snuffbox mussels need protection as mid-Michigan waterways are restored, experts say
Local News
Comments / 0