Flathead Lake and other Montana streams, rivers and lakes are threatened by invasive aquatic species that are introduced from other places. Zebra and Quagga mussels from Europe were inadvertently introduced into the Great Lakes in 1988 and have spread throughout the eastern United States, causing extensive damage to power plants, irrigation intakes and any structures in the water. Congressional researchers estimated that the infestation in the Great Lakes area had an economic impact on the power industry, businesses and communities of more than $5 billion between 1993 and 1999.
These mussels are finger-nail sized, clam-like freshwater creatures that attach themselves to objects submerged in water and reproduce very rapidly by producing larva that quickly grow into adults. Eventually, these mussels can become so dense that they filter the nutrients out of the water and destroy fisheries. They have no natural predators in the United States.
A bill to develop and implement a statewide program to confront the threat of such invasive species has passed the Montana Legislature. Senate Bill 343, sponsored by myself at the request of the Flathead Lakers and carried in the House by Rep. Janna Taylor, R-Dayton, requires that the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks develop and adopt an invasive species strategic plan to include: implementing a public awareness and education campaign including signage at fishing accesses and media; preventing, detecting and eradicating invasive species; and restoring infested areas, if necessary. The program is coordinated by the Department of Agriculture, which has an account to receive gifts, grants, donations, securities, or other assets, public or private, to assist with this program.
Realizing that western Montana is the headwaters of the Flathead and Columbia basins, all legislators in Flathead, Lake, Lincoln and Sanders counties are supporting this program. Meetings related specifically to Flathead Lake and the Clark Fork Basin are being planned for this summer by the Flathead Basin Commission. Legislators and representatives from the Departments of Agriculture and Fish, Wildlife and Parks will be attending.
Preventing the introduction of Zebra and Quagga mussels is far more cost effective than controlling them after they appear. The education program will start this summer with the boating public and will quickly spread throughout the entire state. There have been no live sightings of the mussels in Montana or any states that surround Montana. However, all of the states that border drainages out of the Great Lakes have infestations.
The boating public will likely be the first affected by the Zebra and Quagga mussels. They ruin equipment, clog boat-cooling systems, foul hulls, jam the center board wells under sailboats and degrade fishing success.
These mussels are spread primarily by boats that have been in infested water. The mussels and larvae attached to boats live about 5 days in dry hot weather. Larvae are too small to be seen, but feel like sand paper on the hull of a boat. The bilge of a boat and other wet or damp areas inside the boat can host live mussels and larvae much longer.
The statewide program also includes checking boats at events such as fishing derbies and boats coming into Montana from states that have infestations. If an infestation gets started in Montana, a management area will be set up to prevent it from spreading and measures will be taken to eradicate it.
By far the most effective means of preventing the introduction of mussels will be the educated Montana public. The only sighting of the mussels in Montana was reported by an alert citizen who saw the mussels on a trailered boat and reported the information. Fortunately, the boat never entered Montana water before it was cleaned.
Report potential sightings of mussels to the Department of Agriculture, 406-444-3144 or Fish, Wildlife and Parks, 406-444-2535 before you disturb them if possible. More information and pictures of these mussels can be found on the following Web site: www.dfg.ca.gov/innasives/quaggamussel/
Verdell Jackson is a Republican state senator from Kalispell.