Freshwater Mussels of the Pacific Northwest
This combination of classroom and field learning will provide participants with knowledge of the ecology, habitat needs, and conservation status of freshwater mussels in the Pacific Northwest, and enable them to survey for and identify native and invasive freshwater mussel species. This course will enable participants to understand, manage, and protect one of our most
vulnerable and threatened groups of native wildlife.
Students will learn the ecological roles of freshwater mussels, their importance as ecosystem engineers, their life history and relationship to native fishes, their cultural importance, their conservation status, and how to identify northwestern
taxa. Mussel sampling techniques and data analysis methods will be described. This class will enable participants to better understand, manage, survey for, and conserve native freshwater mussels.
The classroom part of the workshop will consist of recorded lectures with slides by the instructor provided in advance of a virtual classroom meeting on Day 1 and field trips on Days 2 and 3. Students will meet at designated field sites in the
Portland/Vancouver area to implement mussel survey techniques in still and moving water.
- Duration: 2.5 days
- Available Professional Credit: 1.4 CEU, 14 PDH