Brook Floater Mussel Faces 95% Loss in Fight for Protection

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Environmental groups sued the Trump administration on April 17, 2025, to force protection of the brook floater mussel under the Endangered Species Act after a 15-year fight.

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Brook floater mussels have vanished from Rhode Island, Delaware, and DC, with some populations dropping by a shocking 50-95% across their former range from Canada to Georgia.

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Brook floater mussels work tirelessly day after day to clean the waters that we all rely on," said Tierra Curry, senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity.

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These natural water filters consume algae and bacteria, creating cleaner streams for other wildlife and potentially improving water quality for human use downstream.

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Dams, pollution, and climate change threaten these mussels, which depend on specific fish like brook trout to complete their unusual reproductive cycle.

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The lawsuit challenges a 2019 decision that denied protection, one of many species "wrongly denied during the first Trump administration," according to the Center.

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State agencies and conservation organizations continue research and protection efforts while the fight for federal protection moves through the courts.

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The Center for Biological Diversity has won similar lawsuits for wolverines, eastern hellbenders, and Kirtland's snakes previously denied protection.

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