Seven Islands hosts Tennessee River Watershed Mussel Fest
By Ken Lay
Kodak — Freshwater mussels took center stage recently at the second annual Tennessee River Watershed Mussel Fest.
The event, which was held at Seven Islands State Birding Park on Saturday, June 27, gave the park’s visitors the opportunity to snorkel with a scientist as the professionals tracked the recently released mussels from Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful’s Adopt-a-Mussel program.
The Mussel Fest also provided visitors the opportunity to learn about mussels and their ecological role in cleaning the Tennessee River on an educational trail.
Visitors were treated to classic rock music that played over a public address system as they entered the park, and they could enjoy food from a pair of local food trucks.
Amanda Edmondson, the assistant manager of Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies, was at a table for Ripley’s and discussed the importance of mussels to water filtration and keeping water clean.
She often hosts school field trips. And while there were plenty of activities for children, she said that there was plenty to keep adults interested at the event that began during the midmorning hours and concluded during the early afternoon.
“We don’t have any mussels at the aquarium right now,” Edmonson said. “We have in the past but right now, we have some of their relatives. The closest relative that we have to them right now is the octopus.
“We have field trips and (schools) come to us. Today, we’re just kind of here to promote the mussels and we’re here to give some more information and make it interesting to the adults.”
Ijams Nature Center was also on hand at the event to discuss the mussels and their role in nature.
“We’re here mostly to talk about mussels and what they provide and the role that they play in water filtration, actively,” said Ijams lead teacher naturalist Joey Terlizzi.
Mussels once thrived in the region in both the French Broad and Tennessee Rivers, but their population has dwindled due to dam construction, pollution and historical overharvesting.
The organization released 200 mussels near Seven Islands in 2025 and on Friday, June 26, scientists conducted a survey of how many of them survived and how those have grown over the last year.
Most of the species of mussels are endangered, according to University of Tennessee Ph.D. candidate Dana Mills.
“We have about 300 species of mussels in the whole Tennessee River Watershed and about 75 percent of them are threatened or endangered,” said Mills, who opened the Mussel Fest with a discussion about reproduction. “Dam construction has been a factor, not so much the dam, but the sediment and other things.
“We even saw some effects from Hurricane Helene.”
The organization had a freshwater mussel release last year but didn’t release mussels at its most recent Mussel Fest.
“This is my second year here,” Edmonson said. “They had a release last year, but unfortunately, they weren’t able to have one this year.”
Despite going mostly unnoticed, mussels play a vital role in the river’s system.
“One mussel can filter about a liter in an hour and no other animal can do that in our water system,” Mills said.
