Rock Island Field Office and Regional Office staff have been working with representatives of Quad Cities Nuclear Generating Station/Exelon on a Habitat Conservation Plan for the potential take of listed mussels due to an increase in their temperature discharge.  The proposed temperature change would increase downstream temperatures no more than five degrees F for no more than 263 hours per year.  The discharge from the nuclear plant is directed down a side channel to avoid direct discharge onto an important mussel bed that contains listed species including Lampsilis higginsi.  To offset the impacts, Quad Cities Nuclear Station proposes to augment the mussel bed by stocking host fish species (walleye) infected with glochidia of L. higginsi or other rare species, and conduct related monitoring.  Stocking efforts will be coordinated through the Quad Cities Nuclear Station Steering Committee composed of representatives from the Service, States of Illinois and Iowa, and other experts and interested parties.  We anticipate the draft plan will be available for public review by December 2008.