Please comment here by 11:00 pm on February 11, 2025 to Protect Endangered Mussels and Clean Water in Minnesota.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has requested public comments on designation of “critical habitat” for three endangered mussel species that are found in Minnesota: the snuffbox, spectaclecase, and sheepnose mussels (pictured above top right, left side, and bottom right). Your comments are needed to support proposed designation of critical mussel habitat in the St. Croix River and to request additional designation of critical habitat in the Mississippi River.

Why Comment on Critical Habitat for Endangered Mussels in Minnesota?

1.  Native freshwater mussels been described as the “livers of our rivers” because they remove algae, sediment, nutrients, harmful bacteria, and metals from rivers and lakes. Critical habitat designation and mussel conservation will directly improve Minnesota rivers and ecosystems.
2. Critical habitat designation for Minnesota’s endangered mussels will also encourage practices that reduce ecosystem harm from activities, such as agriculture and urbanization, dams and other changes to hydrologic flow, resource extraction (gas, gravel, and metals), and channel modifications for navigation.

What is the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Proposing for Minnesota’s Endangered Snuffbox, Spectaclecase, and Sheepnose Mussels?

• The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is proposing to designate 53 river miles of the St. Croix River in Minnesota from Taylors Falls to where the St. Croix River meets the Mississippi River at Point Douglas as critical habitat for the snuffbox and the spectaclecase mussels. That is great.
• The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is not proposing to designate any segments of the Mississippi River as critical habitat for endangered mussels and is not proposing to designate any Minnesota waters to protect the sheepnose mussel. Your comments can help address these gaps.

Talking Points

We suggest that you share your personal thoughts along with ideas in these Talking Points to ask that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service designate critical habitat for Minnesota endangered mussels in both the St. Croix River and the Mississippi River. Please comment here by 11:00 pm on February 11, 2025.

1. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service designation of critical habitat for Minnesota endangered mussels–including the snuffbox, spectaclecase, and sheepnose mussels–is essential to protect water quality in Minnesota and downstream states all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.
2. Native freshwater mussels serve as filters to remove algae, sediment, nutrients, harmful bacteria, and metals from rivers and lakes. Minnesota can’t afford to lose our endangered mussels.
3. Critical habitat designation for endangered mussels can serve as a wake-up call to change harmful development, agricultural, extraction, dams, and dredging that eliminate mussels and destroy ecosystems.
4. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service should affirm and finalize its proposal to designate the 53 river miles of St. Croix River from Taylors Falls, Minnesota (St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin) to the place where the St. Croix River joins the Mississippi River in Douglas Point, Minnesota (Prescott, Wisconsin) as critical habitat for Minnesota’s snuffbox and spectaclecase mussels.
5. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service should add a designation of critical habitat for the sheepnose mussel in the sections of the Mississippi River just downstream of where Wisconsin’s Chippewa River joins the Mississippi River. Despite upstream development and dams, this stretch of the Mississippi River–including National Fish & Wildlife Refuge areas –still hosts sheepnose mussels. The mussels should be conserved here.
6. The Fish & Wildlife should also designate the stretch of the Mississippi River below Lock and Dam 1 in St. Paul’s Hidden Falls Regional Park as snuffbox mussel critical habitat unless it is demonstrated that efforts to reintroduce thousands of snuffbox mussels here over two decades has failed. It makes no sense to reintroduce mussels and then stop short of designating their historical habitat for protection.

Please draft and submit your comments through the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service comment page by 11:00 pm February 11, 2025. You can type in the comment form or attach a letter.

There is more information on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service website here. You can also request a copy of WaterLegacy’s draft comment letter or get help in using the Fish & Wildlife Service comment page by emailing us at info@waterlegacy.org.