FWS biologist Nick Rowse helps develop a spill response strategy to protect winged mapleaf habitat along the St. Croix River.

The Minnesota Ecological Services Field Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service helped develop spill response strategies to protect endangered mussels and other sensitive ecological resources on a portion of the St. Croix River bordering Minnesota and Wisconsin.  The Upper Mississippi River Basin Association coordinated the project which included spill response contractors, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  Working closely together, these partners identified where habitat for the winged mapleleaf and other state- and federally-listed mussels, migratory birds, and other natural resources could be impacted in the event of a spill, and then developed site-specific response strategies for each area and resource of concern.  The project was called for by the winged mapleleaf Recovery Plan, and the resulting information is now part of spill response atlases used by emergency responders and natural resource personnel to plan for, and respond to, spills of oil or hazardous substances.  Of even greater value than the reference information are the enhanced working relationships between emergency responders and the natural resource managers which developed from this project to carry over into future spill prevention projects, and as necessary, actual spill events.  The Service’s Environmental Contaminants Program coordinates these types of projects with other Service programs as a high priority to prevent impacts of spills to trust resources in Minnesota.