Rocky Mountain ridged mussel (Gonidea angulata) management plan: chapter 2

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2. Management

• 2.1 Management Goal
• 2.2 Objectives
• 2.3 Actions
• 2.3.1 Protection
• 2.3.2 Management
• 2.3.3 Research
• 2.3.4 Monitoring and Assessment
• 2.3.5 Outreach and Communication
• 2.3.6 Restoration

2.1 Management Goal

The management goal for the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel is to maintain viable, self-sustaining, ecologically functioning and broadly distributed populations within suitable habitats at the species’ current distribution and range in B.C. 

With respect to this goal, the current range of the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel includes the Okanagan River watershed, from the northernmost record of a shell found in Vernon to the southernmost record of a shell found in the Osoyoos area. The range extent will be expanded if occurrences are found in the Kootenay or Columbia River watersheds, or the historic record from Vancouver Island is confirmed.

2.2 Objectives

1. By 2015, address knowledge gaps about the life history, provincial range and threats to the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel.
   
2. By 2015 inventory 75% of potential littoral habitat within the Okanagan River watershed, with standardized protocol for habitat and threat information collected at each site searched. 
   
3. By 2015, demonstrate an increased number of stewardship activities initiated and completed for land managers and public users of habitats occupied by the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel.
   
4. As research and inventory results on Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel become available, incorporate into land-use planning to inform future threat mitigation and land use protection.

2.3 Actions

Actions to recover the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel are outlined in six categories 1) Protection; 2) Management; 3) Research; 4) Monitoring and Assessment; 5) Outreach and Communication; and 6) Restoration (see Table 3). As can be gained from previous sections, there is substantial uncertainty related to the life-history, distribution, limiting factors and threats to the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel. Therefore, the overall approach described below is to focus additional actions on addressing that uncertainty in the implementation stage e.g. through research, monitoring and assessment. This should then provide a good foundation for future management actions.

2.3.1 Protection

Measures exist to protect the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel and its habitat. These include both federal and provincial legislation, protocol and guidelines. While most of these measures consider fish and fish habitat in general, some guidelines under regional protocols consider the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel specifically. As noted in Section 1.5.2.1 monitoring and auditing is also undertaken on protection measures.

1. Federal protection:
   • Fisheries Act
   • Canadian Environmental Assessment Act
2. Provincial protection:
   • Fish Protection Act and Riparian Areas Regulation
   • Water Act and Water Protection Act
   • Under Riparian Areas Regulation of the B.C. Water Act, the regional Okanagan Region Large Lakes Foreshore Protocol was developed and is available at: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/okanagan/esd/ollp/documents/Foreshore-protocol-May2009.pdf. This document requires proponents of project proposals below the high water mark to follow specific protocols according to type and location of activity with respect to sensitive fisheries zones, including the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel. For large-scale projects (e.g. multi-slip docks, marinas), the proponent must also undertake a wave/wind/sediment study to consider potential changes associated with the project (Robbins pers. comm. 2009a).

There are also policy initiatives that could include the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel to enhance its protection, such as:

1. Incorporate mussel considerations into the Okanagan Sustainable Water Strategy and Okanagan Water Supply and Demand Project, directed by the Okanagan Basin Water Board (http://www.obwb.ca/index/)
2. Disseminate information about the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel and the species’ habitat needs, to habitat protection officials at all levels of government who are implementing measures under the provincial Riparian Areas Regulation, Forest and Range Practices Act or agricultural policy (B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, 2008). 
3. Encourage water managers to consider mussel conservation in water allocation decisions.
4. Incorporate mussel management provisions into best management practices and guidelines, including riparian development guidelines, at all levels of government.

2.3.2 Management

Management actions for the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel involve a multi-jurisdictional approach at all levels of government. Provisions for the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel should be further integrated into existing federal, provincial, regional and municipal planning documents and guidelines. Mussels are included in the Okanagan Region Large Lakes Foreshore Protocol and sampling protocols are given to those who submit applications for marinas, docks, dredging or lakeshore development applications to B.C. MoE (Nield pers. comm. 2009).

2.3.3 Research

There are substantial knowledge gaps for the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel (Section 1.7). Priority research will focus on life history and host fish(s), habitat mapping, clarification of threats to both the species and the host fish(s), and inventory throughout the species range in Canada. Mollusc inventory is needed in the Kootenay, Columbia, Similkameen and lower Thompson River systems. Further inventory on southern Vancouver Island is also needed to confirm absence of the mussel or to confirm the possibility this historic record has likely been traded (a shell dated ~1890 is housed at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology).

While investigating these knowledge gaps, efforts to increase research interest from academics will continue. At present, captive breeding to supplement the wild populations and locations is neither under consideration nor thought necessary for the management of the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel. Captive breeding may take place to gain knowledge regarding this species life history and reproductive capabilities, and this research would need to be done within the watershed the specimens originated. Translocation of specimens within or between watersheds is also not considered a priority, although a decision analysis and discussion paper needs to be researched to determine if this research activity would be beneficial. 

2.3.4 Monitoring and Assessment

Monitoring and assessment actions aim to improve and implement existing standardized population and habitat assessment protocols (e.g. Fish Inventory Data Standards [FIDS]; Conservation Data Centre mollusc reporting forms) to monitor the population(s) throughout the species known range in Canada. Ongoing monitoring is needed in known locations with live Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussels throughout the Okanagan watershed.

2.3.5 Outreach and Communication

Stewardship involves the voluntary cooperation of all Canadians to protect species at risk and the ecosystems they rely on. It is recognized in the Canada - British Columbia Agreement on Species at Risk that: “Stewardship by land and water owners and users is fundamental to preventing species from becoming at risk and in protecting and recovering species that are at risk” and that “cooperative, voluntary measures are the first approach to securing the protection and recovery of species at risk” (Environment Canada, 2009). Stewardship actions include following guidelines or Best Management Practices to support species at risk; voluntarily protecting important areas of habitat; conservation covenants on property titles; ecogifting of property (in whole or in part) to protect certain ecosystems or species at risk; or sale of property for conservation.

Public education and stewardship initiatives will target citizens who will have immediate impact on protecting the species, including those in the sport fishing community, land owners/managers of lake and river shore property adjacent to live mussel colonies, public lands managers (e.g. of beach and recreational properties) and resource professionals working and living within regional districts and municipalities. Outreach and communications strategies aim to complement the protection actions (Section 2.3.1). To this end, the Province of B.C. has extended its distribution and communication to the public regarding the Okanagan Region Large Lakes Foreshore Protocol (Robbins pers. comm. 2009a).

Ongoing outreach includes the distribution of mussel information pamphlets to dive shops, marinas, government (all levels) and resource professionals. Interpretive materials and signs posted at beaches and lakeshore with mussel populations will also be posted, and specifically target those who may dig, bury or displace mussels found in that area.

2.3.6 Restoration

Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel habitat in B.C. primarily includes muddy and soft bottomed substrates overlayed with a mix of cobble, gravel and sand, within the littoral zone of a lakeshore or river way. This same habitat is often not considered favourable by lakeshore recreational properties, and activities such as dredging or beach creation has historically occurred. Restoration of habitat affected by recreational modification (e.g. non-natural sandy beaches), dredging and channelization (e.g. for marinas) is possible though restoration of these habitat types is difficult and involves all levels of government. Restoration initiatives specifically for the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel will likely be a component of larger-scale watershed restoration projects. For example, the Okanagan River Restoration Initiative is a project to re-meander a section of the Okanagan River just north of Oliver. The project involves widening a section of the Okanagan River and increasing the flood plain area, improving riparian and aquatic habitat within this section (Matthews pers. comm. 2008). There is the possibility of translocating live mussels to this area, or (once the host fish is confirmed) translocating fish with glochidia to this area with the goal of establishing a population. The idea of translocating Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussels to this area needs further research and a decision analysis. In 2006/07 this area was surveyed for a number of species, including the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel with no mussels or shells found (Matthews pers. comm. 2008). Yearly monitoring of this site will ideally detect new mussels that may establish within the restored river section.