Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful (KTnRB) will host its 2nd annual ‘Tennessee River Watershed Mussel Fest®’ on Saturday, June 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Seven Islands State Birding Park, located at 2809 Kelly Lane, Kodak, Tenn.
At the free festival, visitors will have the opportunity to:
- engage in hands-on activities about freshwater mussels
- explore Adoption Spotlights from our Adopt a Mussel program
- hear lectures from scientists speaking about mussels
- see the impact of mussel filtration in our waterways in a display of freshwater mussels from the Tennessee River at work
- snorkel with freshwater naturalists (bring your own snorkel!) during their onsite exploration of concrete silos used to shelter juvenile mussels, among other activities
- enjoy drinks, snacks, and lunch available for purchase at food trucks
The festival is a component in the nonprofit’s five-part Tennessee River Mussel Movement Initiative®, is a collaboration with advisement from the University of Tennessee (UT) Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, and is funded by local and regional sponsors including Coca Cola Consolidated, Defenders of Wildlife, and The Wilderness Society.
Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful started the Mussel Movement Initiative as an effort to both raise awareness around and bolster freshwater mussels, a threatened species that filters pollutants and bacteria from our waterways. They are also considered a cornerstone species in that the very structure of the ecosystem in the seven-state Tennessee River watershed depends on the abundance of mussels.
In fact, a recent graduate study at the University of Tennessee conducted in 2023 proved that local freshwater mussels help to filter out microplastics from the Tennessee River watershed, the most bio-diverse ecosystem in North America. The study further proved the vital role of freshwater mussels on local waterways in a time when their populations have been rapidly declining.
“The Mussel Movement Initiative has been a long time coming on KTnRB’s part and the enthusiastic, collaborative support we’ve received from UT and local scientific community is a sure sign of our region’s potential to have impact on this front,” said Kathleen Gibi, Executive Director for Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful. “The decline of freshwater mussels is an alarm bell that we need to listen to for the sake of our river, the very foundation of our community, our health, our culture, and the region’s economy.”
The Mussel Movement Initiative has a tagline of ‘Conserve. Inspire. Educate. Document. Value.’ with an action word associated with each of its five components:
- Conserve – Adopt a Mussel program
A program in which juvenile mussels provided by the Cumberland River Aquatic Center, a facility of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) are placed in concrete silos that provide protection as they mature. Adoptees pay a fee to adopt a mussel, name it, and receive updates on the mussel’s progress until it is released into the river at a more robust state. To date, 27 mussels have been adopted. These 27 mussels have filtered 20,544 gallons of water since their adoptions took place. - Inspire – Tennessee River Watershed Mussel Fest
A festival that engages the public with freshwater mussels and will be held in different parts of the Tennessee River watershed, potentially multiple locations a year. The festival also includes the release of mussels into the river and placement of Adopt a Mussel silos. Next Saturday, June 27th, will mark the 2nd annual Mussel Fest at Seven Islands State Birding Park. - Educate – Education Lectures
KTnRB’s new Education & Outreach Coordinator will soon be giving lectures to educate youth about the importance of our river system’s filtering cornerstone species. - Document – Mussel Shell Inventory
As KTnRB has the unique task of hosting volunteer river cleanups (and scouting for those cleanups) in remote coves of all seven states within the Tennessee River watershed, the crew is taking photos of mussel shells that they find on the shorelines to document the presence of different mussel species within the watershed and with mussel identification oversight by the state of Tennessee’s Mollusk Conservation Coordinator who specializes in studies of freshwater mussels. In just a year of the program, KTnRB crews have already documented almost 20 freshwater mussel species in 13 bodies of water within the Tennessee River watershed. - Value – ‘A Mussel’s Worth’ Study
A single adult freshwater mussel can filter between ten to 20 gallons of water a day from the Tennessee River watershed, the drinking source for communities within the Tennessee Valley. Additionally, many other species’ survival depends on freshwater mussels, such as fish, birds, and mammals like raccoons and otters. Not only does the river’s ecosystem depend on mussels, but, by extension, so do massive industries such as fishing and outdoor tourism. KTnRB is collaborating with UT professor Dr. Michael McKinney to determine the dollar value of freshwater mussels on the Tennessee River watershed.
With a career specializing in the study of freshwater mussels, Dr. Michael McKinney, who serves as Director of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Environmental Sciences program in the Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, is advising KTnRB on their Mussel Movement Initiative along with Dana Mills, Graduate Teaching Assistant.
“Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful has really helped to breathe new life into the energy around freshwater mussels in our region. I’ve never seen anything like it!” says McKinney. “From the perspective of a researcher and professor, they provide the expertise and time to coordinate these awareness and communication efforts that I would never otherwise have available.”
KTnRB first sought to pursue work around freshwater mussels after attending a 2019 Keep America Beautiful national conference and witnessing the work of the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore, a nonprofit that maintains an Adopt an Oyster program in the Chesapeake Bay. Several years later, Dr. McKinney attended a meeting with KTnRB staff, and the KTnRB team had finally found an advisor to pursue a program promoting freshwater mussel conservation and awareness. The Tennessee River Mussel Movement Initiative has grown out of an effort to pursue an Adopt a Mussel program, a freshwater approach to follow the work being done on the waterfront in Baltimore. It has now grown into the innovative and impactful five-part initiative in operation today.
For more information on KTnRB’s Mussel Fest on Saturday, June 27, 2026, in the Knoxville, Tenn. area, the river cleanup prior to the Mussel Fest, or for information on participating in the new Adopt a Mussel program or any other part of the Tennessee River Mussel Movement Initiative, please visit www.KeepTNRiverBeautiful.org.
