. . . until today. Today employees of EnviroScience, an ecological consulting service, moved all the endangered Eastern Pondmussels it found in the area around the Harvey Redmond bridge by Fred Fuller Park. The bridge will soon be replaced, and the mussels needed to be moved to protect them from construction activities.
Marty Huehner, project manager at EnviroScience, said about twenty of the bivalves were moved 50 yards upstream to the nearest pondmussel-friendly habitat. Throughout the morning, divers searched for mussels with snorkels and wetsuits, following a grid pattern to ensure complete coverage. A floating compressor supplied air to the divers in deeper water. At first, only fatmucket and giant floater mussels were found, measured, and returned to the river.
After noting high water in the Cuyahoga River by the bridge early today, John Idone, Kent Parks and Recreation director, asked the City of Akron to slow the flow of water out of Lake Rockwell. This allowed the divers to move more easily, and will make work easier during Saturday's river cleanup.