Endangered mussels bound for the Powell River

In September 2012, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Virginia Tech, Lincoln Memorial University, and several other partners released 5,000 endangered mussels into the Tennessee stretch of the Powell River. The animals were propagated and reared at Virginia Tech’s Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Center in Blacksburg, Virginia. The release is the largest recovery effort to date for the two endangered mussels in the Powell River.