BY MIDWEST REGION 3

Megan Bradley, a mussel propagation specialist at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery in Genoa, Wisconsin, received the Midwest Region recovery champion award for her work with endangered freshwater mussels in the Upper Mississippi River. Megan worked with other agencies, tribes and national and international partners to improve the status of several species of imperiled mussels through her efforts to map suitable habitat, create new populations, monitoring released mussels and planning and implementing programs to raise and release endangered species like the Higgins eye pearlymussel, the winged mapleleaf mussel and the spectaclecase mussel. Megan has been instrumental in establishing the cost of replacing mussels affected by environmental contaminants, enhancing the ability to recover damages and restore these species.

Above: Congratulations to Megan on receiving the Recovery Champion Award! Credit: USFWS