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Start Date
4-4-2023 11:10 AM
End Date
4-4-2023 11:19 AM
Abstract
Native freshwater mussels are an integral part of Pacific NW freshwater ecosystems, improving water quality, nutrient cycling and habitat for many of our local wildlife species. In the summer of 2018, Portland Parks and Recreation, Bureau of Environmental Services, and the Army Corps of Engineers (among others) completed a restoration project at Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge that re-established the natural flooding regime of the refuge and reconnected many acres of backwater habitat for salmon, mussels, turtles and other protected wildlife species. Preparation for the project included removing and re-homing several hundred native freshwater mussels that were living within the construction area. A unique mark-recapture method of “bedazzling” recolonizing live mussels was used to document recovery of the project site and to educate and inspire local youth groups, including the Youth Conservation Corps and PDX SummerWorks Interns. These young people are learning how much fun science can be and that it is right here in their own backyards.
Subjects
Environmental education, Habitat assessment, Wildlife biology
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/40497
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Freshwater Mussel Monitoring with Young People: A Bedazzling Good Time!
Native freshwater mussels are an integral part of Pacific NW freshwater ecosystems, improving water quality, nutrient cycling and habitat for many of our local wildlife species. In the summer of 2018, Portland Parks and Recreation, Bureau of Environmental Services, and the Army Corps of Engineers (among others) completed a restoration project at Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge that re-established the natural flooding regime of the refuge and reconnected many acres of backwater habitat for salmon, mussels, turtles and other protected wildlife species. Preparation for the project included removing and re-homing several hundred native freshwater mussels that were living within the construction area. A unique mark-recapture method of “bedazzling” recolonizing live mussels was used to document recovery of the project site and to educate and inspire local youth groups, including the Youth Conservation Corps and PDX SummerWorks Interns. These young people are learning how much fun science can be and that it is right here in their own backyards.