Initial Announcement
Thomas Wilson Invasive Species and Clean-up Project
September 21 -22, 2013 and October 12 - 13, 2013
The GLSPS Thomas Wilson Projects are the last two projects of the
year. These projects are a great way to wind down our season of
projects. We have a lot to do in counting the Zebra and Quagga Mussel
infestation represented on the shipwreck the "Thomas Wilson".
The location of the shipwreck is 1.5 mile N-NE of the Duluth entrance.
There the shipwreck get much of the flowedge from the harbor thus the St
Louis River. The GLSPS monitors the mussel each year and collects the
data and compares the increase or decrease of the mussels
The Thomas Wilson appears to be in an area in which people
use it for a garbage dumping ground. The GLSPS uses this project
opportunity to clean up the trash laying around the perimeter of the
shipwreck.
2012 Thomas Wilson Project
Hardy Crew
2012 Thomas Wilson Project
Bottom to top - Left to right
Bill Wallace, Ken Merryman, Tim Pranke (Project Leader)
Jack Decker, Paul Imsland, Phil Kerber (Boat Captain)
2011 Thomas Wilson Project
Garbage collected from around the Shipwreck
Left to Right - Phil Kerber, Steve Daniel, Corey Daniel, Todd Olson, Joe Musial, Bill Wallace
Zebra and Quagga Mussels
Found on the Thomas Wilson Shipwreck
To see more pictures of the Thomas Wilson Project, Please click on "Photo Page List" on left side of Website
To learn more about the project, please click on this link.
The first project is filled up but we
still have room for 3 more participants on the second Thomas Wilson
Project. If you are interested in joining us, please click on this link
to register for the project.
We hope to see some new (and old) faces joining us for this amazing Project!!
Tim Pranke
Thomas Wilson Project Leader
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Closing Report
1st Weekend
September 21 - 22, 2013
The first weekend we crused to the Thomas Wilson and performed the Monitoring on Quagga and Zebra Mussels. The visablity was only 25 feet and a little harder to navigate. We use wreck reels for guide lines to navigate around the ship.
This year we tried a few new things. One is we re-invented the hoop we use to count the mussels. We devided them both into 4 separate quadrants. It would make it much easier to count the mussels since they have increased substantially..
The second process we changed is how we mark the areas that we monitor each year. This year we marked areas by labeling theareas in which we count the mussels A - L. This process will help us a lot for keeping track of each area into the future of this project.
We also cleaned up the Garbage that seems to collect around the shipwreck. We think most of it is flowing down the river and ending up being caught by the fact that a structure is there for the garbage to hang up on.
We completed counting mussels in all the areas we designated. The results are that we noticed a substantial increase in Quagga Mussels and not so much increase in Zebra mussels.
Please review the date sheet provide to see for your self how much the invasive species have increased on the Thomas Wilson Shipwreck just 1.5 mile out of the Duluth entrance. Here is the link to the results of the project on a Data spread sheet.
Thank you to those that participated in the Thomas Wilson Invasive Species Monitoring and Clean up Project. We hope you dive and join us on next year's project.
Tim Pranke
Thomas Wilson Project Leader
Closing Report
Thomas Wilson Invasive Species Monitoring Project
2nd Project October 12 - 13, 2013
The 2nd Thomas Wilson Project was canceled because of the poor visibility. The first day Saturday, we were weathered of the lake because of high and building winds. The next day, Sunday, the surface weather was much better and we departed the dock at Spirit Lake Marina at 7:00 AM in very calm seas. We cruised the boat and crew out to the dive site, we sent the first dive team down. Within 5 minutes they returned disappointed that the visibility was only about one foot. The dive was called at that time. We returned to the Harbor for a quick tour and then returned to Spirit Lake Marina.
We had a great run of projects this year. The RV Preservation perform very well. The Thomas Wilson Project was the last project of 2013. We will continue with this project every year to collect data on the invasive species the Zebra and Quaga Mussels.
The boat was schedule for haul out when we returned to the Marina. Winterization duties will be performed right after the boat is placed in dry dock for the winter layover.
Thank you to those that joined us on the Thomas Wilson Invasive Species Monitoring Project.
See you next year!
Tim Pranke
Project Leader