|
| 1837 |
Congress authorizes the US Army Corps of Engineers
to develop plans to improve Upper Mississippi River navigation |
| 1857-80 |
Railroad network established along the Upper Mississippi River
basin |
| 1858 |
First rail line to La Crosse, Wisconsin |
| 1870 |
Mississippi River heavily traveled by steamboats |
| 1875 |
Logging industry begins |
| 1875-85 |
Dumping of sawdust and wood waste creates major concern in Minneapolis
and Saint Paul, Minnesota |
| 1878 |
4.5-foot channel project |
| 1889 |
First big pearl strike in Mississippi River Valley |
| 1890 |
Passenger pigeon virtually eliminated from Upper Mississippi River |
| 1891 |
Beginning of pearl button industry |
| 1897 |
Crow foot drag bar (brail) invented; over 300 hundred clammers
between Burlington and Clinton, Iowa |
| 1898-16 |
Boom years of mussel harvest and button industry |
| 1899 |
Congress passes Rivers & Harbors Act (authority of Corps of
Engineers to regulate the dumping of pollutants in navigable streams) |
| 1900-20 |
Growing awareness of negative effects of direct discharge of municipal
and industrial waste directly into the Upper Mississippi River |
| 1901 |
Button making automated |
| 1907 |
6-foot channel project |
| 1907-10 |
Investigation of artificial propagation of mussels |
| 1914 |
Hydroelectric dam built blocking the migration
of skipjack, which were essential to the development of mussel glochidia |
| 1915 |
Clamming with dredge outlawed in Wisconsin |
| 1916 |
End of boom years for button industry |
| 1924 |
Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife & Fish Refuge established
by Congress |
| 1928-30 |
Natural reproduction of mussels on the Mississippi River was recognized
as essentially nonexistent |
| 1930 |
Locks and dams built to create a 9-foot deep channel for navigation.
This resulted in a change from a free flowing river to a series of
pools that occupy the river floodplain: Severe pollution in Mississippi
River |
| 1943 |
Water analysis in limited areas show some contamination |
| 1946 |
No shelling below Muscatine, Iowa |
| 1950's |
Development of synthetic buttons |
| 1960 |
Development of market for mussel shells to be used as seeds in
cultured pearls |
| 1965 |
Flood on Upper Mississippi River |
| 1966 |
Harvest of mussels using scuba gear begins |
| 1973 |
Flood |
| 1975 |
US Food and Drug Administration stops shipment
of common carp from Lake Pepin because of high PCB concentrations |
| 1976 |
Drought |
| 1978 |
Lampsilis higginsii mussel becomes the first
mussel to be on state and Federal endangered species lists |
| 1987-90 |
Submerged aquatic plants diminish in upper pools of Mississippi
River |
| 1988 |
Wilderness Society lists Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife
and Fish Refuge as among the 10 most endangered in the United States |
| 1987-89 |
Drought |
| 1989 |
10 mussels added to Wisconsin's endangered species
list; 7 to threatened list |
| 1991 |
First zebra mussel documented in Upper Mississippi River |
| 1993 |
Major flood of entire Mississippi River basin |
| 1999 |
Zebra mussels harm native mussels on the
Upper Mississippi River and tributaries |
| 2000 |
Endangered
Higgins eye pearlymussel (Lampsilis higginsii) jeopardized by zebra mussels
transported upstream by towboats and large recreational craft; endangered
winged mapleleaf (Quadrula fragosa) likely to be adversely affected in future |
| 2000 |
Corps
of Engineers implements Biological Opinion requirements for Higgins eye and
winged mapleleaf. |
| 2000 |
Corps
of Engineers establishes interagency Mussel Coordination Team |
| 2001 |
Mussel
Coordination Team begins conservation activities for Higgins eye(genetics
research, experimental propagation, monitoring, etc) |
| 2003 |
Minnesota closes all mussel harvest |
| 2004 |
Mussel
Coordination Team begins conservation activities for winged mapleleaf;
host fish found to be blue and channel catfish |
| 2004 |
To
help all mussels, the Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee releases a
“Conservation Plan for Freshwater Mussels of the Upper Mississippi River
System” |
| 2004 |
Sheepnose (Plethobasus cyphyus) and Spectaclecase (Cumberlandia monodonta) became candidate species under
the Endangered Species Act |
| 2005 |
Mussel
Coordination Team propagates winged mapleleaf in
cages |
| 2005 |
Wisconsin closes commercial mussel harvest;
Iowa
closes commercial mussel harvest in UMR bordering
Wisconsin " |
| 2006 - present |
Mussel Conservation
Activities |
Freshwater
Mussels of the Upper Mississippi River System
Teachers Resources
