MUSSEL MEMORY

Dams have completely altered the species makeup, flows, and habitat of many of our most important river systems. In Alabama, home to some of the greatest biodiversity in the nation, Claiborne and Miller’s Ferry Locks and Dams have prevented migratory fish, like the sturgeon and Alabama Shad, from accessing their historic runs from the Gulf of Mexico up the Alabama River to their spawning grounds in the Cahaba River since they were built in the 1970s. These barriers have also left endangered and threatened mussels unable to reproduce and in peril of dying out. MUSSEL MEMORY explores the significance of reconnecting river systems and protecting Alabama's freshwater mussels, our natural water filtration system. Join scientists, conservationists, engineers and anglers as they fight to restore fish passage along the Alabama and Cahaba Rivers.

A project of this magnitude would culminate in the most ecologically significant river reconnection project in the history of the United States, right here in Alabama.

Contact your congress member and talk to your state legislators about how important this Alabama River fish passage project is to the overall health of our state’s biodiversity and the precious mussels that we might lose if this ecological restoration is not completed!