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Local News

Saturday, October 03, 2009

Rare mussel could change flood projects
Oiler's Lube Express - Findlay
By JOY BROWN

STAFF WRITER

They live a quiet life in the soft silt of the Blanchard River, meaning no harm to anyone, yet two men are searching for them in and near Findlay.

The men, wearing waders and carrying mesh bags, are paid to find evidence of the rayed bean freshwater mussel, known to scientists as Villosa fabalis.

This species of mussels is labeled as a candidate for Ohio's endangered species list by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It is already called endangered in other states, including Michigan, because of pollution and disruptions to the natural flow of streams.

Ironically, because there are so few of them left, the rayed beans could hamper flood control projects in the Blanchard River watershed.

If evidence of the mussels is found, even from shells left behind after they die, contractors could be halted from building anything in their habitats.

It's the same if the endangered Indiana bat is found within reach of flood control construction.

The rayed bean freshwater mussel can boast of something that no other mussel can.

"The largest population in the world of that mussel is in the Blanchard River," but closer to Mount Blanchard, said Michael Hoggarth.

Hoggarth, a professor in the department of life and earth sciences at Otterbein College, is a freshwater mussel expert who has been hired to conduct the search in and near Findlay.

Hoggarth drives with a canoe atop his vehicle or has vanity license plates with the word MUSSEL.

He is being assisted by Lee Burgess, a graduate biologist for URS Corp., which is a Cleveland consulting firm contracted by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The mussels already have affected a bridge project upstream from Findlay.

According to County Engineer Steve Wilson, the Hancock County 26 bridge, which was closed after the August 2007 flood, had to be redesigned with longer beams because vacant mussel shells were found in the area.

Villosa fabalis life need not be present to spur habitat protection. Hoggarth said "fresh" empty shells need only be detected.

The design change is increasing the cost of the bridge by as much as 20 percent, Wilson said. Federal highway funds are paying for 95 percent of the replacement, but now the bridge probably won't reopen until spring 2010, he said.

Hoggarth said it's unlikely the mussels will be found within the city limits because the river is so shallow and rocky there. But the Corps is requiring that someone take a look anyway before proceeding with the design phase for flood walls, levees and other control measures.

Even if they're not found, any of their cousins living near flood control projects would have to be relocated before construction begins.

Putnam County will be spared a search. Conditions aren't as suitable for such creatures farther downstream.

On Monday's windy morning, hours before the Northwest Ohio Flood Mitigation Partnership held a meeting to outline potential flood control ideas for the Findlay area, Hoggarth and Burgess waded through the river near Liberty Landing, just west of Hancock County 140, scanning the bottom for evidence.

It's not easy to find the mussels, particularly those that are alive. At the larval stage, their tiny, parasitic selves sometimes hitchhike rides on fish.

As they get older, they settle deep down in the sediment along the river bottom. They're less than 1.5 inches long, and their shells are dark grey with wavy green lines. Like other mussels, they're often mistaken for stones.

They live up to 50 years.

Hoggarth gets a kick out of talking about how to tell males from females. It has something to do with females having enlarged posteriors.

Hoggarth, who carries U.S. Fish and Wildlife permits that allow him to collect specimens and record inventory data, easily found other species Monday.

He pointed out the intake and outtake valves of another shelled creature, a white heelsplitter, peeking out from the mud like eyeballs. Shells from an invasive species called the Asiatic clam were scattered everywhere. A fatmucket and giant floater were spotted.

A few bivalves that are "species of special concern" to Fish and Wildlife were found, too.

It wouldn't be surprising if zebra mussels, another invasive species which Findlay is spending $1 million to keep from reservoir pipes, eventually show up in the river, he said.

"The water quality in this river has to be pretty good or these mussels wouldn't be here," said Hoggarth.

Their presence also tells good things about river fish, he said.

A few lucky mollusks that had wandered into less hospitable waters were picked up and carefully nestled back into the river bottom.

"One of the reasons I like this work is I don't have to collect live animals to voucher what I'm finding," Hoggarth said.

The professor said he's "always been interested in invertebrates."

As a kid growing up in a little town north of Seattle, Wash., his idea of fun was to take species guides with him to the shore and identify everything he found in the tidal pools.

A book he coauthored, "Freshwater Mussels in Ohio," will be published this month. Undoubtedly, it will focus on the good things about mussels.

Along with being natural water purifiers, mussels have been used to make buttons and jewelry because of the iridescence of their inner shells.

Hoggarth said about 99 percent of mussel shell material used to create cultured pearls in Japan are from North America.

They're also very tasty when cooked and dipped in clarified butter.

The presence of so many bivalves in the Blanchard River proved to Hoggarth that the river is generally healthy, despite all the trash he has seen in it and the leaking sewage pipe he noticed, and reported, to the south along Eagle Creek.

There are unexpected treasures.

"There's a squirt gun over here," said Hoggarth, making his way to the north bank. "The river provides. Let's see if it works... It does."

Burgess said he recently found a ceramic turtle perched on a river rock. His dad discovered it later in his garden.

Void of political motivation, Hoggarth cares only about the well-being of the mussels he studies.

He credits farmers for voluntarily improving their agricultural practices over the years to reduce phosphates and nitrates that leak into streams and lakes and rob underwater life of oxygen. But he is a staunch opponent of dams, a phrase he uses to characterize anything that disrupts a stream's natural flow.

He cheerfully tries to recruit others as he teaches and searches.

For example, he kept quizzing Burgess, a recent University of Toledo graduate, on scientific mussel names, and claiming he was "going to make him become a molluscologist."

Brown: 419-427-8496,

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15 Comments (2 pages)

Latest comments listed first.
Jim wrote:
Flooding
“ You know the main reason there are flooding issues is because there are no more wetlands. For cryin out loud, that whole area used to be the GREAT BLACK SWAMP! Its amazing what is lost in the name of growth and progress. Now instead of the natural system we had to stop flooding, we have to spend yet millions of dollars to stop the natural processes that will always happen as a result of modifying every square inch of land for the supposed greater good. ”
Monday, October 05, 2009 1:58:41 PM
jsl wrote:
flooding
“ why don't the dang city save everyone the headache and go dig a hole out by the resivor that can hold a few hundred gallons of water and hve a pipe that runs to it from the river with a door that is only opened when the river reaches a certian height so it can then drain off the access water into it and be done with it....I thought these people we elect were suppose to be smart ? even I am not that dumb. Oh and people that blame the "new" wal-mart for flooding get over ur self the flooding has nothing to do with the store, I lived there as a child There used to be a pond were the store now is and when it flooded this would also flood and i remember a few times where it come real close to flooding the trailer park that used to be there so stop looking for people to blame, the store has nothing to do with it. ”
Sunday, October 04, 2009 8:38:55 PM
Ed in NB wrote:
Eat the Mussels, Save Findlay!
“ Professor Bozo admitted that the mussels (supposedly on an endangered list) are very tasty. OK...time to collect & eat ALL of the mussels immediately----no mussels, no problem. These so-called intelligent liberals should really get their priorities straight. ”
Sunday, October 04, 2009 8:38:29 PM
Joe T wrote:
Getting them off the emdangered list
“ Ok everyone...I have a plan to help our mussel friends get off the endangered list. When the next BIG flood hits Findlay, we watch Marathon pull out and take many families with them. This will in turn close a bunch of businesses that rely on that income from our local oil company. Still more businesses will fold as the dominos fall. Then there will be less humans here in the Blanchard Valley to affect our beloved Mussels! Then of course, we will have to begin a NEW endangered species list: THE FINDLAY BUSINESS OWNER! ”
Sunday, October 04, 2009 6:11:19 AM
j wrote:
What Next
“ Remember the Snail Darter. It took a 6 years delay, an act of congress , the signature of a president and a truck load of money, to get the Tellico Dam built in 1979.
A lot of very important and powerful people will now be watching every thing that is done to the Blanchard river. If the past is any indication, this will be a long,slow and very expensive process.

”
Sunday, October 04, 2009 2:05:07 AM
Quickledo wrote:
your tax money at work
“ Another thing to feel good about -- these smarter than the rest of us folks are usually funded with taxpayer money. That's right, we pay them to come up with this trash.

Hopefully, he has a bumper sticker on the back of his canoe hauler that reads "you pay me to mess with your life".

Maybe we start with this guy next time the government cutback issue comes up, eh? ”
Saturday, October 03, 2009 8:36:18 PM
Area resident wrote:
Flood control
“ I think people are insane when they think that they are going to prevent flooding in this area, the only thing they can do is make it a bigger flood when it happens, sounds like a great plan to hold back all the water then when that fails the city is flooded and lives are lost. Great plan. Oh and he does not say the endangered species are good to eat, he was claiming that other ones that are larger and popular are good to eat, i dont think a mussel thats just over and inch long. I agree its screwed up that this would stop any project, but this flood control project is a joke anyways. ”
Saturday, October 03, 2009 6:42:29 PM
j wrote:
Interesting
“ Since these rare mussels are obviously in the Blanchard river system. How come the city didn't do this enviromental impact study eariler before the dam project done earlier. Our we again facing law suits, this time from the state and federal government under the endanger species act of 1973? ”
Saturday, October 03, 2009 4:46:59 PM
Colin Baird wrote:
Rare mussel in the Blanchard River
“ OK..Let's see if I understand this. If this Professor finds any evidence of this mussel in the Findlay area, there can be no construction to help prevent the flooding of the Blanchard River.
In my lifetime, I have seen and heard some pretty bizarre things. This one ranks right up at the top. It is totally insane to prevent the people of this area from protecting their properties from floods.
This professer says that the shells from these mussels are used to make jewelry, and the mussels themselves are good to eat. Does the Ohio Department of Natural Resources require a person to obtain a license to hunt them for food?
What comes next? Is a person going to be prevented from doing any remodeling on his home because it might disturb a spider's habitat, or prevent a rodent from finding a warm place to live?
This country has gotten so far out of whack, it's unbelievable. This professor needs to find himself some kind of gainful employment. It's getting to the point, that an American citizen with a job is the one that is on the verge of becoming an endangered species. ”
Saturday, October 03, 2009 11:51:47 AM
Carol Cary wrote:
Rare mussel could change flood projects
“ "Hoggarth cares only about the well-being of the mussels he studies".
Well I believe we should all care about the damages the floods cause. I personnal don't care what mussel or fish live where. I do care about people losing their homes and belongings, and the cost to all the communities the flooding causes.
The extra cost to change the bridge because of some mussel is ludicrist. Biuld the bridges and the flood walls where they NEED to be. These mussels will survive and grow in the new areas. Its just like the Elk and Deer in Alaska when they put the pipeline through. Everyone said we were going to destroy their way of life. WE DIDN"T, they are living just like they did before, they adapted to the new situation. I think the mussels and fish and other water inhabinates can and will do the same. Stop wasting our time and money and get on with it. ”
Saturday, October 03, 2009 10:04:19 AM
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News Briefs Firefighters discover 20 marijuana plants in house
After fighting a house fire early Monday at 815 Howard St., firefighters found 20 marijuana plants in the residence.

"They ran across it and called us," said police Sgt. Justin Hendren with the Hancock County METRICH Drug Enforcement Unit.

Police seized all 20 plants, and Hendren said charges are pending.

High-powered growing lights, fans, and a box filled with dried marijuana were also found in the house, according to a police report.

Investigators said an electrical short started the fire before 3 a.m. Monday.

The blaze caused an estimated $12,000 in damage to the residence, owned by Amanda Crawford. No one was injured, according to the Findlay Fire Department.

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Fletcher began his patrol career in 2002 after graduating from the 139th Academy class and has been assigned to the Findlay post since.

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The Toledo and Findlay campuses of Owens Community College will be closed Saturday through Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

There will be no classes and the college offices will be closed.

Classes will resume and offices will open again on Tuesday.

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