Volunteers…the Alabama Division of Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries NEEDS YOUR HELP!

There is an infestation of the non-native Island Apple Snail within the Three Mile Creek watershed in the City of Mobile.  These snails have the capability to strip native vegetation from a body of water and they reproduce at an alarming rate.  Currently, most of the lower watershed (8 miles) from Langan Municipal Lake to the mouth near the Mobile River ship channel has been infested.  This puts these animals less than 2 miles from the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.  Our main goal is to prevent further spread of these snails outside Three Mile Creek.

We need your assistance.  What we need are people, trucks (especially 4-wheel drive with winches), and small motorized (electric or gas) boats.  Kayaks or canoes are also welcome as this creek has areas that are inaccessible by motor boat.  Three Mile Creek runs through the City of Mobile and is an urbanized body of water with several road and street crossings.
 
Wildlife and Fisheries have a plan to kill these snails using an EPA-approved chemical treatment of copper sulfate, a common herbicide used to kill algae and some aquatic plants.  Alabama Department of Conservation staff certified to apply this chemical will administer this portion of the treatment.  However, copper sulfate will not kill eggs which are laid in masses on hanging vegetation, stumps, rocks, or any solid surface.  Typically, adults crawl onto these surfaces at night and lay their eggs aerially on a solid surface.  The eggs hatch several days later where the young snails fall into the water, grow to adult size, and begin the cycle again.  

The second segment of treatment includes removal of snail egg masses.  We need people to scrape these eggs off all surfaces and remove them.  Eggs will be collected into buckets and dropped into dry ice containers at designated stations.  This work actually has to be done before, during, and after chemical treatments.  You may be responsible for assisting other volunteers that want to help but don’t have access to a boat, kayak or canoe.  Or, you may be assisting Department of Conservation staff members that have access to a boat.  Many of these volunteers are students from local universities, concerned citizens, members of environmental groups, or various sporting clubs.

The first scheduled egg scraping event will take place Saturday, October 3 beginning at 8:30 a.m.  Volunteers will meet in the parking lot at the bridge by the boardwalk at Langan Park.  If you are interested and want to volunteer, please call Tammy Herrington of Mobile Baykeeper at (251) 433-4229 or email at tamherrington@mobilebaykeeper.org.  For further details about this project, please contact Dave Armstrong at (251) 626-5153 or email at david.armstrong@dncr.alabama.gov.