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Riding Mountain National Park - Manitoba
Over the winter of 2022/23 Parks Canada staff learned about the presence of zebra mussel eDNA in Clear Lake.
While no zebra mussels have been found, staff have increased monitoring and sampling of lake water.
Park staff have been working with members of the Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation.
This is what that work has looked like…
Arrive bright and early!
Time to get packed up
Gear has been specially cleaned
Partners from Keeseekoowenin are supporting the work
Shelters are used to keep equipment from freezing up
Drilling the hole to collect the samples
Equipment must be kept very clean
Reviewing today's sites
A Kemmerer is used to collect water samples
A weight is used to close the sampler
Samples are collected in sterile bags and transported to the lab
An ultra-clean lab space has been set up
Pumps are set up to filter the samples
DNA in the water is collected on filters
The filtering process
A used filter (left) compared to a new filter (right)
Filters are preserved for different kinds of tests
A lab in Winnipeg tests filters for zebra mussel DNA
When one site is complete, on to the next!
So far no other evidence of zebra mussels has been detected.
Parks Canada staff will continue to work hard to prevent zebra mussels - or any other invasive species - from becoming established in
Riding Mountain National Park
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