Mussel Restoration Effort Indicates Improved Water Quality in Pennsylvania Waterway

November 12, 2025

The freshwater mollusks, along with eels, are being reintroduced in a branch of the Susquehanna River upstream of the Chesapeake Bay

When my dad attended college in 1975, he could see the West Branch of the Susquehanna from his dorm window. But he never fished it – because there were no fish to catch. The river had been degraded to the point where it could barely support aquatic life. In fact, a Pennsylvania stream map I have on the wall from 1958 actually shows this section of the river with a skull and crossbones along its reaches.

Fast forward to 2025 and it’s a different story. Anglers float the West Branch chasing smallmouth bass, walleye, channel cats, panfish, and more. Eagles and ospreys are common, and elk regularly wade its waters. And now, an initiative to restore American eels and freshwater mussels is underway because the water quality has improved enough to justify the effort. The river’s change in fortune is a direct result of water quality standards and investments in clean water initiatives.

Freshwater mussels in North America were once much more common and widespread than they are today. Historic water-quality impacts and dam construction have restricted their distribution and populations, with many disappearing completely from historic watersheds. As water quality improves, state agencies are working to restore freshwater mussel species and the fish hosts that they require for reproduction. Here in Pennsylvania, an effort is underway to do just that in sections of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River; waters which ultimately find their way to the Chesapeake Bay.

Early Efforts Show Promise

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Lock Haven University, and other partners are leading the restoration effort, funded in part by a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Chesapeake WILD grant. To determine if the water quality is suitable for mussel reintroduction, the PFBC and WPC have housed juvenile mussels in protective “silos” in a section of the West Branch. The mussel silos are placed within the river and periodically removed to monitor their survival and growth. PFBC biologists have already determined that the water quality is now suitable for further mussel reintroduction, due to the successful survival and growth of the juvenile mussels in these silos.

Unfortunately, actual recolonization of mussels has not yet occurred in many places. Multiple downstream dams impact upstream movement of aquatic organisms, including the American eels that host the larvae of eastern elliptio mussels. When these mussels reproduce, their young develop into larvae, called ”glochidia,” and disperse throughout the water. It is here that the glochidia attach to the gills of a host fish where they develop into miniature mussels. The mussels later release from the fish and find a home in the stream sediment, where they grow and can live for decades.

Importance of In-Tandem Eel Reintroduction

Eastern elliptios rely on only a handful of fish species to reproduce, with American eels as their primary host. While they can reproduce using other fish species, reproduction through eels as their host has been shown to be the most productive. With the presence of dams along the Susquehanna blocking their migration route, however, eel numbers in many tributaries have declined, leading to a corresponding decline in elliptio reproduction.

To restore this historic relationship in the West Branch, scientists and students at LHU are essentially infesting eels with elliptio larvae. Eels are captured in the lower Susquehanna, transferred to a lab at the university, and placed in tanks that contain glochidia from mussel broodstock collected from beds farther downstream. Once the glochidia attach to the eels, they are transported to sections of the river upstream of existing dams and released. The intent is for the juvenile mussels to mimic natural processes and develop on the eels before dropping off into the river, creating new populations of mussels. Another project partner, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, is currently refining techniques for mussel rearing that will allow their hatchery to produce tens of thousands of viable glochidia from only a handful of adult mussels.

On the Right Track

Once a dead zone, the West Branch of the Susquehanna River is now a destination sport fishery, because of its remoteness, scenery, access, and smallmouth bass populations. Various conservation efforts – including mine and coal remediation, reforestation, riparian buffer programs, stream restoration, and water quality policy – have led to increased health of the river. The presence of mussels will restore another component of this aquatic ecosystem, benefiting gamefish species and enhancing angling opportunities. Protections and funding for water quality initiatives in Pennsylvania like this are critical for aquatic organisms, anglers, and rural economies that all benefit from clean water.

Learn more about how TRCP supports policy change for healthy habitat and clean water.

All images courtesy Jim Kauffman

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by: Michael O'Casey

posted in: Habitat and Clean Water

October 21, 2025

TRCP Applauds Senate Committee Markup of the Fix Our Forests Act

Bipartisan legislation seeks to accelerate forest management and restoration, improve wildfire resilience, and expand collaboration and innovation

Today, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership applauds Senate advancement of the bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act. Led by Senator John Curtis (R-Utah), Senator John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Senator Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), and Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), the Fix Our Forests Act passed out of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee with bipartisan support. The bill was first introduced by Representative Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) and Representative Scott Peters (D-Calif.) and passed the U.S. House of Representatives with a strong bipartisan vote earlier this year.

“The declining health of our National Forests and the fish and wildlife habitat that they provide is a concern for America’s hunters and anglers,” said Joel Webster, Chief Conservation Officer for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “TRCP applauds the leadership of Senate Agriculture Committee members for advancing the bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act. We urge Congress to pass these important forest management provisions and to accompany them with adequate resources and capacity to carry out on-the-ground work.”

The bill provides a comprehensive approach to address forest health and the wildfire challenges on our nation’s forests by accelerating important planning and implementation of restoration projects, expanding collaborative tools, and improving coordination between local, state, federal, and Tribal partners. The legislation bolsters the use of prescribed fire, promotes replanting after wildfires or other extreme events, and supports ecosystem and habitat restoration across Western forests, as well as the priceless white oak forests of the Eastern U.S.

Importantly, the Fix Our Forests Act would help communities become more resilient to wildfire by establishing a Community Risk Reduction Program and makes improvements to existing grant programs while fostering cutting-edge research. The bill creates a Fire Intelligence Center to improve interagency coordination and adoption of new technologies. For the first time, this bill recognizes that projects to restore and improve floodplains and wetlands can demonstrably reduce wildfire risk to downstream communities, including the long-term impacts wildfires can have on valuable drinking water supplies for rural and urban populations.

“While the ongoing government shutdown highlights the challenges facing our public land agencies, today’s bipartisan action by the Senate Agriculture Committee shows that progress on forest health and wildfire resilience can and should continue,” added Webster. “The Fix Our Forests Act lays the groundwork to advance the pace and scale of forest management, and the TRCP will continue to work with Congress to secure the resources agencies need to put these tools to work.”

Learn more about TRCP’s commitment to public lands HERE.

by: Josh Metten

posted in: Habitat and Clean Water

October 15, 2025

Comment period extended to December 18 for Proposed Rock Springs Resource Management Plan Amendment

Wyoming hunters and anglers urge BLM to retain community-developed management actions for fish and wildlife, including the Greater Little Mountain Area, in an amended plan

On November 1, the Bureau of Land Management added a 45-day extension to the comment period for its Notice of Intent to amend the finalized Rock Springs Resource Management Plan. A public meeting has also been scheduled for Wednesday, December 3, in Rock Springs.

The proposal to amend the now in-effect RMP is over compatibility concerns with recent Administration executive orders. The 3.6-million-acre Rock Springs Field Office is prized by sportspeople for its critical big game habitat, long-distance migration corridors including portions of the Sublette pronghorn and mule deer migrations, and diverse hunting and angling opportunities. The Field Office is also important for energy development, mining, grazing, motorized recreation, and other multiple uses.

Wyomingites are used to rolling up our sleeves and tackling tough challenges, and the Rock Springs RMP is no exception. The revision process first started over a decade ago, and we’ve worked hard to develop community-supported management actions that will conserve big game and fish habitat that bolster our sporting traditions. Thanks to these efforts, the conservation of big game migration corridors and special places like the Greater Little Mountain Area were included in the revised plan finalized in December 2024.

The BLM’s proposal to amend the RMP creates the opportunity for the agency to retain common-sense management actions that have strong support from locals and sportspeople across Wyoming, while addressing the limited controversial elements of the plan. This approach, supported by Governor Gordon, is much preferrable to Congressional action under the Congressional Review Act, which would tie the hands of the BLM when making management changes in the Rock Springs Field Office well into the future.

The extended comment period ends on December 18 and is an opportunity for hunters and anglers to support a durable outcome that benefits wildlife, local economies, and the multiple uses of the field office. Please visit the eplanning site today to submit your comments by December 18.

The public is also invited to attend the in-person meeting in Rock Springs on December 3 from 3-6 p.m. at the Sweetwater Events Complex at 3320 Yellowstone Road.

COMMENT HERE

Suggested Comments:

The outstanding fish and wildlife resources of the Greater Little Mountain Area make it the crown jewel of southwest Wyoming. Please retain the community-supported management actions for this region.
The Rock Springs Field Office contains important habitat for the Sublette mule deer and antelope migration corridors. Please retain management actions that follow the 2020-1 Wyoming Mule Deer and Antelope Migration Corridor Protection Executive Order.

Photo Credit: Andy Roosa

by: Noah Davis

posted in: Habitat and Clean Water

October 14, 2025

All Hunters Love Stories

TRCP’s communication manager meditates on the common language of hunters

The two pickups jostled down the dirt track that followed the railroad south. I was in the second with Alex Harvey, founder of Legacy Land Management, and the pickup in front of us had the beagles.

We’d just spent a morning hunting swamp rabbits along a creek in the Mississippi River Delta. I was bloody from bushwhacking and tired from crossing the water three times trying to get in front of the rabbit. While I wasn’t fortunate enough to pull the trigger, the group bagged two of the oversized bunnies. With the day growing longer, most folks in the party had to leave for afternoon work.

There were more hunters than rabbits at the end of our morning, but still, smiles were had.

Fortunately for us, Fred Johnson was willing to show Alex and I a potential duck hole for the morning, and we followed him and Zarius Moore up the lonely highway to the turn off that snaked us down along some flooded timber.

When the pickups stopped, we all piled out and looked at the water and listened to Fred say how six ducks were taken out of there two days before, so the birds were around.

Fred lit a cigarette, and I turned to Zarius to ask him how deer season had been. A grin cracked his face, and he reached into his pocket for his phone.

“It’s been good, deer seasons are good around here,” he said as we huddled around his screen to look at the bucks he and his buddies had killed in the last few months.

Light-tined bucks filled side-by and truck beds. Smiling faces of old and young hunters slide-showed by as I picked up moments of the hunts through Zarius’ first, second, or in some cases, third-hand accounts.

The dogs admire the bounty of their hard work.

Being a Northeastern hunter at heart, I asked about the size of the deer, naively guessing that they were small like most southern deer I’d encountered.

“What do the bucks weigh? 110 here?”

Zarius, Alex, and Fred all shook their heads and chided me for such an outrageous assumption.

“So, you have bucks here that get to 200?”

“We have does getting to 200!” Alex laughed. “All they do is eat, then disappear and grow.”

“I just thought it’d be like in Texas or South Carolina with the smaller bodies.”

“No, this is Mississippi,” Zarius chuckled.

Zarius scrolled to a video where he was on the ground and a heavy-beamed eight point cautiously made his way through the brush along a trail.

“I took this video last week. I was done hunting. Had my rifle there though, but I knew I wasn’t going to shoot him.”

I watched as the deer stepped closer to the phone. Head bobbing up and down trying to tell what the figure was at the base of the tree. Not so scared as to turn and throw the white flag, but unwilling to commit fully to continuing down the trail.

“I just wanted to watch him. I like this video.”

Finally, Zarius behind his phone shifts and the deer moves off and the video ends. A few more deer and happy hunters appear, then we’re on to talking about rabbits and ducks again and how the expected cold next week will really change things.

A bird’s-eye view of a post-hunt gathering.

I realized then that the moment of us passing stories epitomized the collective home of hunters. No matter that we’d all just met hours before, no matter where we’d been or where we were going, we as hunters were able to listen and share a common reverence for the creatures and spaces we love.

This common language, this connective tissue that binds all of us who find the woods and water to be clarifying places for our lives, is why we can join together for conservation. The woods and waters where we can gather and pursue our passions is the common space that must be conserved. It’s why I can see a young hunter’s face smiling with a deer and recognize myself in that joy. I work to ensure that the animals and places that makes that joy possible endures for generations.

Conservation makes more stories possible.

In January 2025, TRCP traveled to the Mississippi River Delta to talk with land manager Alex Harvey, founder of Legacy Land Management, about the hunting traditions of the region as well as his work to enhance the wildlife values of private property by implementing conservation measures with support from United States Department of Agriculture programs included in the Farm Bill.

“If a landowner is able to make conservation improvements on their property, they will likely be able to utilize it more,” Harvey explains. “Better conservation practices mean more rabbits, ducks, and deer. More animals means better hunting, and that means the landowner and their family will spend more time hunting there.”

Watch The Land Manager below and find the full playlist of short films HERE.

by: Ryan Lockwood

posted in: Habitat and Clean Water

October 10, 2025

TRCP Announces New Conservation Staff Member in Pennsylvania

PA field representative will focus on key state conservation issues as well as national wildlife health concerns, including Chronic Wasting Disease

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership announced today the addition of Jim Kauffman, who will serve as the organization’s Pennsylvania field representative and wildlife health coordinator. This position will ensure that hunting, fishing, and trapping opportunities are maintained for all Pennsylvanians through sound conservation policy and scientific management strategies while helping TRCP achieve its mission to guarantee all Americans quality places to hunt and fish.

In this role, Kauffman will serve as the organization’s state representative for conservation, access, and habitat policies affecting hunters and anglers, as well as work to address water quality concerns that affect Pennsylvania’s trout streams, wetlands, and downstream waters including the Chesapeake Bay. He also will coordinate the organization’s strategy to combat Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) nationwide and support partners in educating hunters about other relevant wildlife diseases and pest threats.

“Despite growing up in suburban Pennsylvania, I was fortunate to have access to two cabins on public land that allowed my family to maintain our rural roots and passion for the outdoors,” said Jim Kauffman, Pennsylvania field representative and wildlife health coordinator for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “Those places have inspired in me a life dedicated to wildlife conservation, fair access to public lands, and the ethical pursuit of game.”

A lifelong Pennsylvanian, Kauffman holds a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Science from Penn State and a master’s in biology from East Stroudsburg University. His career initially focused on the research and management of wildlife species including river otters, bobcats, fishers, and ring-necked pheasants. He has also worked extensively with private landowners to deliver habitat-incentive programs, provide forestry guidance, and promote public hunting access.

Learn more here about how TRCP works in Pennsylvania.