SEPTEMBER 2023 VOL.

Waterway Association of Menominee and Shawano Counties

Aquatic Invasive
Species
Introduction
Fall is upon us! Summer may be coming to
an end but always remember to keep an
eye out for aquatic invasive species. IN THIS ISSUE

Aquatic invasive species do not disappear

when summer does and steps for
prevention should be taken year around, INTRODUCTION
even when snow is on the ground!

Faucet Snails
Faucet snails are small invasive snails FAUCET SNAILS
that are dark brown to black in color.
These snails can get up to .5 inches in
length and have 4-6 whorls. The shells NEW ZEALAND
will have circle/spiral marking on it. MUDSNAILS
Faucet snails are located in Shawano
Lake, Shawano Lake Outlet, and South
ATTENTION WATERFOWL
Branch of Embarrass River. Faucet snails
HUNTERS!
spread by attaching to boats, equipment,
gear, and by ingestion of waterfowl. These
SHORELINE PROPERTY
snails outcompete native snails as well as
OWNERS
can clog intake pipes, and infest
municipal water supplies.
 JUNE 2023 VOL. 5

Faucet snails can host exotic trematodes or

New Zealand mudsnails are small in
flukes, which are intestinal parasites for
size and are typically about 4 to 6mm
waterfowl. Because of these parasites
in length. Due to their small size they
75,000-100,000 waterfowl in the Upper
can easily be transferred on equipment
Mississippi Wildlife Refuge since 2002 have
and gear that comes into contact with
died. These snails are impossible to eradicate
water or mud/land. New Zealand
after they have been introduced into a
mudsnails can vary in color from gray
waterbody, so prevention is extremely
to light or dark brown. These snails
important. Make sure to remove any faucet
open on the right hand side and can
snails off of any gear, boats, and equipment.
have 5-8 whorls on their elongated
These snails can be killed by exposure to 125
shell. Currently New Zealand mudsnails
PHOTO BY MARTIN R. SMITH
degree water for five minutes. Fore more
are found in a couple of counties in
information Click Here.
southern Wisconsin, including Dane

Faucet snail (Photo source: and surrounding counties. Although

USGS/Amy Benson)
New Zealand mudsnails might not be in
Shawano yet, keep a look out and take
all the prevention steps to reduce the
spread of invasive species. There is no
effective control method for New
Faucet snail showing the Zealand mudsnails once introduced into
circle/spiral pattern
an ecosystem, so prevention is key. For
more information and proper
decontamination protocol click here

New Zealand
Mudsnails
The New Zealand mudsnail is a small
trapdoor snail that gives birth to live
young. These snails can reproduce
Photo credit: DNR Website
asexually, which means one snail can Photo credit: Paul Skawinski
New Zealand Mudsnails
start a new population.
Photo from the DNR
 JUNE 2023
Attention Waterfowl
Hunters!
Fall is coming up fast! and with that come
waterfowl hunting! Even though summer
may be coming to an end, aquatic invasive
species are still out there. These invaders
can be accidently transported year round so
make sure to keep your eye out for them and
follow all the prevention steps. The
prevention steps all waterfowl hunters
should take when launching into and leaving
a waterbody is as follows:
Inspect waders, boats, trailers, motors
and hunting equipment, including boots,
blinds, and dogs
Remove all plants, animals, and mud to
the best of their ability
Drain all water from decoys, boats,
motors, livewells and other hunting
equipment
Never move plants or live fish away
from a water body
A special consideration for waterfowl
hunters is to remove all seed heads and
roots when using vegetation for duck
blinds.
Remember that even mud can hide seeds,
bulbils of starry stonewort, and the eggs and
larvae of tiny invaders. Check out this video
for a guide of how you can prevent the
spread of aquatic invasive species!
VOL. 5
Shoreline Property
Owners
Do you own property with a shore? If so did
you know that implementing a native
planting can benefit the wildlife, reduce
erosion, improve water quality, and even
reduce the amount of geese on your lawn?
Native plantings can help stabilize the shore
to reduce erosion as their root systems help
hold the shore in place, especially compared
to lawns. Native plantings are also beautiful,
and they provide ample habitat to pollinators
but also other animals such as frogs. Fish
even love natural shorelines! Native planting
also will absorb excess nutrients from
rain/runoff before it reaches the water,
helping to reduce the excess nutrients that
cause algae blooms. There is one animal that
hates native shorelines, which are geese!
Geese do not like taller plants and prefer
nice cut lawns.
 JUNE 2023
If you are interested in implementing a
native planting on your property WAMSCO
can help! WAMSCO will help with
design/planning and even implementation.
WAMSCO will come out and do a site visit
with you, and if your project qualifies we
can even help assist you financially through
a healthy lakes grant. If you are interested
or have questions please send us an email at
wamsco.wcc@gmail.com or call us at (715)
851-7841
Volunteer
Opportunities
Are you interested in learning more about
water quality and monitoring the health of
our streams? Do you live near a stream
that you would like to monitor? or are
curious in how healthy a stream is?
Become a volunteer stream monitor for
Water Action Volunteers (WAV)! Click
HERE for more information.
VOL. 5
This volunteer opportunity does not
require any experience. You will be trained
and supplies will be given to you. Do you
want to become a WAV volunteer or have
any other questions? contact us at
wamsco.wcc@gmail.com or call us at (715)
851-7841.
Stream and rivers not your thing? Do you
live on a lake? or just prefer fishing and
recreation on lakes? We have volunteer
opportunities for you too! The Citizen
Lake Monitoring Network (CLMN) is
looking for volunteers. This program
includes many monitoring projects
including; water clarity, water chemistry,
ice-on/ice-off, aquatic invasive species
(AIS) and more! No experience is needed!
we will train you and provide supplies. For
more information about CLMN click Here.
Want to get involved? Contact us at
wamsco.edu@gmail.com or give us a call
at (715) 851-7840.