The 1998 Carleton College mussel survey in the Cannon River Watershed was a follow-up to a study published by Mike Davis of Iowa State University in 1988. 10 of Davis' sites at various Cannon River tributaries and on the Cannon itself were selected for study. Using the same sites we could directly compare our results with Davis' baseline data from 10 years ago and hopefully evaluate the status of the mussel populations.
Our work in the Superior National Forest was the first of its kind. Until this summer mussels had never been sampled quantitatively in northern Minnesota. Our purpose was to create efficient sampling techniques and get baseline data that could be used in comparison with future studies in the area.