Combing the rocky shoreline of northern Lake Huron, my son plucked a faded white shell from wave-smoothed pebbles. He was excited with his find, but I was not. The shell belonged to a quagga mussel and no matter what body of water you find yourself on this summer, these are not the shells you want your kids collecting. We’re on vacation at my family’s cabin and, although 1,800 miles separate Kalispell and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the threat of aquatic invasive species (AIS) isn’t limited to the Great Lakes.
Growing up near lakes Michigan and Huron, the ecological devastation wrought by AIS and pollution was a familiar refrain. It’s taken decades upon decades of public outcry to clean up the Great Lakes, and although there’s been progress in combating the lakes’ greatest threat, the effect of AIS and pollution has caused irrevocable damage.
Our world is more interconnected than ever and clever, feisty AIS know they can find newer waters by hitchhiking in bilges or clinging to props. What happened to the Great Lakes will hopefully not be repeated thanks to Montana’s AIS prevention program, led by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Zebra and quagga mussels are the Great Lakes’ most notorious invaders and in 2021, FWP stopped 61 mussel-fouled boats in Montnana. Without these inspection stations across the state, I shudder to think about the devastation that could occur in Flathead Lake or elsewhere if those mussels had escaped detection. More than 100,000 boats, including kayaks, were inspected across the state last year.
Unfortunately, the word “conservation” gets a bad rap these days, stigmatized and politicized, typically by corporate extraction-type industries. But Montana’s AIS program demonstrates the kinds of measures that are needed to mitigate ecological disaster. The impacts of AIS are daunting, dangerous and costly. These invaders displace native species, clog waterways, negatively impact irrigation and power systems, degrade ecosystems, threaten our cherished recreational opportunities and pose serious health risks to both humans and wildlife. In 2016, quagga and zebra mussel larvae were discovered in the Tiber Reservoir, which, thankfully, prompted a dramatic increase in monitoring and watercraft inspection.
The threats continue to mount. But we – despite our cowardly politicians denying climate change and failing to enact measures to curb pollution – take collective action and demand a cleaner, healthier planet. Action plans like Montana’s requirement of watercraft inspections will hopefully spare our lakes from disaster.
We belong to shared waterways, despite the distance between the largest freshwater system in the world and the Crown of the Continent. The FWP program, in partnership with tribes, conservation districts, local, state and federal agencies is a great example of a democratic government at work. Good results can happen when we use experts in the field and the public demands critical action.
My son elected to keep the quagga shells, placing them in his nature box alongside the other treasures gathered in the Upper Peninsula like part of a beaver’s jaw, colorful rocks, and a bird nest. Like all children who innately understand that all of life is connected, my son is able to hold the tension between devastation and repair. He’s teaching me that our home waters are shared waters.
Maggie Doherty is the owner of Kalispell Brewing Company on Main Street.