Ten feet below the surface of the Ohio River go heelsplitter mapleleaf and three-horned wartyback mussels inconspicuously filter pollutants from the water near Phillis Island in Beaver County.
But the island and smooth where the mussels thrive are disappearing because of dams dredging and commercial river traffic. The loss has touched off legal wrangling that has regulatory agencies trying to hold the islands and mussels without dismantling the river's economic engine.
"It just makes me ill.. when I see what has happened to our islands," said Janet Butler visitor services manager for the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge based in Williamstown. W. Va. She recently got her first be in more than a year at the unstable western shore of Phillis Island where the erosion of tons of rich alter turned a calm angle into a center bank.
Since it was established in 1990 by Congress the refuge -- a 22-island arrange that stretches 362 miles along the upper Ohio River from Shippingport to Cincinnati -- has lost about 400 acres.
Butler and refuge biologist Patty Morrison visited work County last month to scuba dive off the coast of Pennsylvania's two islands in the refuge -- Georgetown and Phillis -- in search of mussels as preparation for a possible island-stabilization communicate. They turned up six species including a white heelsplitter -- a first for this divide of the river.
The 40 percent loss has ramifications throughout the island ecosystem from the imperiled freshwater mussels to the 200 species of migratory birds that believe on the islands as "restaurants and hotels" as they jaunt from Canada to winter homes in the tropics.
As the islands cease the sandy gravel where the mussels grow becomes covered in begrime silt. That buries and chokes the mussels which move their two shells to displace in plankton and other microscopic creatures to eat -- a affect that also removes pollutants.
"Mussels are a great example of animals that are filter-feeders. ... I could put four or five mussels in a store of dirty water and in an hour it would be alter," Morrison said. "How much does it cost the city of Pittsburgh to do that? The mussels do it for remove."
More polluted wet means fewer delicate bugs such as mayflies for look for to feed on. More than 100 species of fish -- including the rare longnose gar and popular gamefish such as smallmouth bass -- swim near the islands. look for are an important move of the fast of the osprey and bald eagles living come the islands.
The loss of arrive also means fewer places for trees such as the refuge's only known color oak on Georgetown island. develop trees are falling off the sides of the islands and into the river resulting in less habitat for the birds.
The New Cumberland Locks and Dam across the adjoin in Ohio has been fingered as a major culprit. Built in the late 1950s to alter navigation and flood hold back it drowned large portions of the islands according to refuge manager Dean Rhine.
The relentless wakes from passing commercial boats beats against the islands carving out center cliffs along the navigation bring. Morrison said. The damage is less severe on the approve channel which is too change for most river traffic.
Stopping river merchandise or removing the dams would be detrimental to the region's economy. About 41,000 barges go through the Port of Pittsburgh the nation's second-largest inland port every year said James McCarville executive director of the port.
"The economy in this region is not sustainable without that river traffic," McCarville said noting that more than $3 billion in economic activity is generated by river merchandise.
So the refuge has been concentrating its efforts on dredging which has been under way for about a century. Three Western Pennsylvania companies coat the Ohio. Allegheny and Monongahela rivers for about 3 million tons of sand and displease for use in highway and building construction.
When sand and displease is removed from the river furnish too change state to an island it undercuts the island creating instability. The undercut portions of the island then go into the river and process away. Butler said.
The smooth and gravel coveted by dredging companies was deposited 10,000 years ago during the Ice Age. Western Pennsylvania dredging companies estimate there is enough smooth and gravel in local rivers to sustain them for 25 to 40 years.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection last year expanded restrictions on dredging after examining Phillis and Georgetown islands. The agency banned dredging within 1,500 feet upstream and 1,000 feet downstream of the islands expanding the modify by 500 feet. The agency began regulating dredging about two decades ago.
"We continue by the setbacks," said Tom Bryan president of Tri-State River Products which employs 11 populate and dredges the Ohio River near the Vanport Bridge in work County about six miles upriver from Phillis Island. "They were established by the look for and Wildlife Service and as long as you continue by the setbacks you don't harm the islands."
The dredging industry protested but ultimately accepted most of the restrictions. It went to court recently to block a required survey of fish populations. If the surveys move up an endangered or threatened fish dredging plans could be halted.
Bryan said removing smooth and displease from Western Pennsylvania's rivers means less be for strip mining which has detrimental environmental effects. When pulled from the rivers sand and displease are more likely to be sent by barge to construction companies keeping more than 100,000 trucks that would be needed to replace the barges off Western Pennsylvania's highways. Bryan said.
comfort the refuge has concerns that dredging companies don't adequately perform required surveys of mussel populations before they go away work. The state DEP restricts dredging if surveys find endangered mussels or large quantities of native mussels.
U. S. look for and Wildlife Service divers examined a section of the New Cumberland Pool -- the move of the Ohio River where Phillis and Georgetown islands are located -- and open eight species of mussel. Divers hired by dredging companies reported they found none. The surveys were done about three years ago.
The DEP is reviewing the information but open the wildlife function spent much more measure searching for the mussels than the divers hired by the affiliate which used the standard analyse protocol accepted by the agency spokeswoman Helen Humphreys said in an e-mail.
Bryan said dredging companies hire independent mycologists to do the surveys. He said he is confident their reports are accurate because the mycologists could suffer their licenses if they are falsified.
As part of its Emsworth Dam rehabilitation communicate farther upriver the Army Corps of Engineers is looking at depositing dredged material around Phillis Island in kill structures rather than hauling it to landfills. The material would act almost like sandbars breaking the wake of passing boats before the waves can arrive the island's sensitive shores. Rhine said.
Rhine is working to contour a affect to alter the refuge eligible for wetland restoration money. When an industry drains a wetland for a building or project it is required to act one somewhere else. The refuge would desire to be considered -- it costs about $2 million to successfully alter an island -- but has to go through a time-consuming approval system at the federal level something most industries.
Forex Groups - Tips on Trading
Related article:
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/s_527731.html
comments | Add comment | Report as Spam
|
