The 100th Meridian Initiative through the state partners, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Western Regional Advisory Panel to the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force has developed capacity in western states to prevent and respond to zebra/quagga mussel spread since the mid-90s. Representatives from federal, state, and provincial agencies, tribes, universities and stakeholder groups regularly participate on teams to prioritize work assignments and coordinate the collection and organization of data into useful formats for regional and national management actions (recorded at www.100thMeridian.org).

100th Meridian Initiative partners are organized into river basin teams, basic partnership units for collaborative responses to invasive mussels in western North America. Team communications and monitoring information will be shared through two dedicated websites, www.musselmonitoring.com and www.100thmeridian.org. These websites and the Teams will provide the primary network to implement the Early Detection and Monitoring Plan.

Participating microscopy and molecular labs will receive samples from various western locations but will report results through designated state single points-of-contact for appropriate agency distribution and reporting throughout the 100th MI network. Basin Teams are responsible for maintaining up-to-date state contact lists and providing these points-of-contact to participating labs.

• Draft 2009 Interagency Dreissena Monitoring Plan for Western Waters (6/26/2009: 422K Microsoft Word Document)
• Please see our monitoring page for Summarized 2009 Monitoring Activities