Abstract
The primary objective of a new survey of the Cuyahoga River was to assess species richness and population abundance of various mussel species in the family Unionidae throughout the Middle Cuyahoga River and upper parts of the Lower Cuyahoga River. Historically, few records existed for this river between Lake Rockwell and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, a region in which four dams have been removed in the past 12 years. Timed visual surveys were conducted during low flow conditions and by using tactile techniques in deeper water. Throughout the survey, only 37 live animals were located across the 18 Middle Cuyahoga River sites inspected, which included only Lampsilis siliquoidea, Pyganodon grandis and the state-endangered Ligumia nasuta. No live mussels were found between the Gorge and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. That 434 shells and valves were collected, and all but two were classified as long dead, attests that mussels had been more abundant, and that at least nine of the ten species known to be present above Lake Rockwell had lived in the Middle Cuyahoga River. Remote sensing data and aerial photographs were used to characterize change in opening up the river, but benefits to water quality and stream flow subsequent to dam removal must be tempered with the apparent loss of an assemblage of mussels better adapted to lentic conditions.
Highlights
Dam removal is gaining popularity both to solve problems of dangerous structures and to restore river habitat (Poff and Hart 2002; Hornbach et al 2014)
In 1985 the Water Quality Board of the International Joint Commission (IJC) designated the Cuyahoga as one of 43 Areas of Concern that contributes to the degraded condition of the Great Lakes, with nine of 14 beneficial-use impairments defined by the IJC designated as a problem in sections of the Cuyahoga River and its lower tributaries
Much of the attention focused on the lower Cuyahoga River watershed, and as a consequence, the main stem and its largest tributaries (Big Creek, Tinkers Creek and the Little Cuyahoga River) have been regularly surveyed and assessed by the Ohio EPA since 1984 (OEPA 1999; 2003)
Summary
Dam removal is gaining popularity both to solve problems of dangerous structures and to restore river habitat (Poff and Hart 2002; Hornbach et al 2014). The vast sediment loads stored behind dams and the potential for downstream deposition following removal can create a disturbance outside the typical range for an ecosystem (Resh et al 1988; Poff 1992). Several dams have been removed from the Cuyahoga River (Ohio), a place named by President Clinton in 1998 as one of fourteen American Heritage Rivers Pollution in this watershed remains part of U.S history (Stradling and Stradling 2008) for stimulating formation of the EPA in 1970, the Clean Water Act in 1972, and subsequently the Great Lakes Water Quality agreement by the International Joint Commission (IJC). The impact of dam removal in the OHIO JOURNAL OF SCIENCE
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