The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks says it has successfully stocked a pair of protected freshwater mussel species in rivers, including one species in the Neosho River.
It’s actually the second stocking of the federally-endangered Neosho Mucket mussel, which has naturally occurred in Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma but no longer occupies nearly two-thirds of its historical range.
Almost 1,400 mussels were released into the Neosho. Wildlife and Parks Species Recovery Coordinator Trevor Parks says this is the first stocking of its kind as part of the Wildlife and Parks Aquatic Species Recovery Program. As part of this effort, landowner agreements try to re-establish self-sustaining wildlife populations while offering regulatory protections to landowners.
The second mussel stocking involved over 7,000 Fatmucket mussels in the Marmaton River.
Wildlife and Parks anticipates a release of 18,000 more mussels next year once drought conditions improve. Click here for a link to Wildlife and Parks information about species in need of conservation as well as threatened or endangered species.
