This Fall, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks has released protected mussel species into state waters, as part of a new conservation project . The Kansas News Service reports that forty freshwater mussel species reside in Kansas, but most have disappeared from waters they historically occupied. Trevor Starks is a Species Recovery Coordinator with the state. He says development and water pollution fragmented mussels’ habitat. The state is attempting to reverse this trend by growing mussels in fish hatcheries, then releasing them into the wild.
This fall, the state stocked two southeast Kansas rivers with two mussel species, one of which is federally endangered. The state is planning to release up to 18,000 mussels in southeastern Kansas next year. Starks says he hopes to return the species to non-protected status.
