Officials release plan for at-risk mussel in Northwest Arkansas

Federal officials have released a plan to return an endangered mussel species to prosperity in Northwest Arkansas and three other states.

The six-page draft recovery plan for the freshwater Neosho mucket mussel is a guidance document for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s actions.

The plan calls for establishing “viable populations” in the four watersheds in four states where the mussel is found. Additional but lower priorities include protecting and improving the Neosho mucket’s habitat, ensuring that policies and regulations to protect the mussel are being followed, monitoring the mussel, preventing the spread of competitive nonnative species, researching and reviewing progress.

Implementation of best management practices for land use would generally reduce sedimentation and runoff and improve water quality, said Chris Davidson, deputy field supervisor for the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Arkansas Ecological Services Field Office.

All recovery activities and the eventual de-listing of the Neosho mucket as an endangered species are estimated to cost $9,792,000, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s plan.

The mussel has disappeared from about 62 percent of its historical range, according to the service.

The Neosho mucket mussel, along with the Rabbitsfoot mussel, received critical habitat designation in 2015 after nearly two years of dispute over how much land should be designated for the mussels.

The Rabbitsfoot mussel ultimately received critical habitat designation in about 13 spots throughout Arkansas, but the Neosho mucket mussel received designation only in Northwest Arkansas, along the Illinois River in the westernmost portion of the Washington County-Benton County border.

The Arkansas Farm Bureau opposed wide-ranging critical habitat designation of the mussels in 2013 and argued that the Endangered Species Act was in need of change. Landowners were concerned about the property they owned in the designated areas.

Last week, Bureau Director of Environmental Regulatory Affairs John Bailey said the Farm Bureau still believes the act needs to change because meaningful amounts of money aren’t being spent on recovering species. Too many are listed as endangered and most won’t ever get off the list, Bailey said.

The $4 million proposed for spending on activities like streambank restoration for the Neosho mucket sounds like a lot of money but won’t restore much streambank, he said.

“Let’s spend some meaningful money on prevention,” Bailey said.

The Neosho mucket exists in four watersheds —the Illinois River, Neosho River, Verdigris River and Spring River — and four states — Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. The Spring River population near Joplin, Mo., is the only viable one, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.