When we first visited this site in 1995 we found both slender winter stoneflies and broad-backed stoneflies. Then from 1996-1998, each year we found only one individual stonefly. We plan to monitor this site next January when hopefully we ll see the stoneflies have returned. We also didn t find stoneflies in Traver Creek at Broadway where we d found one family the three other years we ve monitored. South Ore Creek at Bauer and Portage Creek at Unadilla were added to the stonefly monitoring only last year when we found one family at each site, this year we were unable to find any.
Shells are an indicator that the mussels exist in the system.
Many times you can't find live mussels, but you find the shells. When qualitative studies are done, shells are usually included in the species list, even if you don't find anything live. When looking for endangered species many times this is the only thing we can find, especially if the species is rare. This species is threatened in Iowa. While this mussel is common in Missouri and Ohio it is uncommon to rare in other states and it s a species of special concern in Illinois.