Mussel community data was collected in wadeable streams throughout Illinois at existing basin monitoring sites used by the IL Department of Natural Resources and IL Environmental Protection Agency. These data added a mussel component to the existing datasets of water and sediment chemistry, instream habitat, and macroinvertebrate and fish indices, and provided baseline data for future monitoring of freshwater mussel populations on a local, regional, and watershed basis. Funding from the US Fish and Wildlife Service State Wildlife Grant (SWG), Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), and the Illinois Natural History Survey supported this study.
This work also helped establish expectations for mussel populations in Illinois, and distribution maps (current as of 2013) were completed for species of freshwater mussel in Illinois.
The distribution maps and additional information collected during the basin surveys enabled us to provide a status revision and update for Illinois’ freshwater mussel species in greatest need of conservation.
Basin Survey Reports for Freshwater Mussels in Illinois
- 1 – Mississippi River tributaries: North, North Central, and Central drainages
- 2 – Rock River tributaries: Pecatonica, Kishwaukee, and Green River basins
- 3 – Rock River
- 4 – Fox River basin in Illinois
- 5 – Des Plaines River and Lake Michigan tributaries in Illinois
- 6 – Kankakee River in Illinois
- 7 – Iroquois River in Illinois
- 8 – Upper Illinois River basin: Mazon River, Aux Sable Creek, and Vermilion
- 9 – Mackinaw River
- 10 – Illinois River tributaries: Upper, Middle, and Lower drainages
- 11 – Spoon River
- 12 – La Moine River
- 13 – Sangamon River
- 14 – Vermilion and Little Vermilion Rivers in the Wabash River in Illinois
- 15 – Embarras River basin and minor Wabash tributaries in Illinois
- 16 – Little Wabash River basin
- 17 – Kaskaskia River basin
- 18 – Mississippi South and South Central drainages
- 19 – Big Muddy River
- 20 – Saline River and Ohio River tributaries in Illinois
- 21 – Cache River
