In an article it picked up from the Milwaukee Sentinel, the Petoskey News has an interesting story about a surprise discovery near Sleeping Bear Dunes is changing how how scientists fight invasive mussels in Lake Michigan. In 2015, researchers scraped mussels off a rocky reef—and nearly a decade later, they haven’t come back. That’s sparked new efforts to control zebra and quagga mussels using tarps, carbon dioxide, and even a 1,100-pound “mussel masher.” The invasive mussels wreak havoc on the lake’s food chain—but now, there’s a glimmer of hope they can be pushed back in key areas. That’s unless cuts to Federal programs shut down the efforts.

The full story is in the Petoskey News at this link: https://www.petoskeynews.com/story/news/2025/06/09/scientists-find-ways-to-remove-zebra-quagga-mussels-in-lake-michigan/84070661007/.

There’s more information about the fight at the Invasive Mussel Collaborative web site: https://invasivemusselcollaborative.net/