Earth Notes: Springsnail Conservation Strategy

• News & Highlights

There’s a new conservation plan for springsnails in Nevada and Utah. It’s aimed at protecting these strictly aquatic snails that depend entirely on springs for their existence.

More than 100 species of springsnails are known in the two states. Some of these unique gastropods are about the size of a match head, others are microscopic. They have names like the Rocky Mountain duskysnail, Green River pebblesnail and Grand Wash springsnail.

Some are highly adapted to only one spring complex and are found nowhere else in the world. Springsnails are also indicator species – their presence says water quality and springs are in good health. If their numbers are low, or they are absent altogether, that could be a signal that their habitats need help.

The Springs Stewardship Institute at the Museum of Northern Arizona worked with the Springsnail Conservation Team to develop the plan, along with the Nature Conservancy, federal agencies and other groups. Over the course of ten years, the team wants to identify threats, restore habitat, conduct outreach and education and compile a single comprehensive database of all the species.