Water fight
Local groups band together to fight aquatic invaders
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Flathead Lake is the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi, but two of the greatest threats to its health are scarcely larger than a fingernail. And the public — whether boating, fishing or just swimming — is the first line of defense against the invaders.
Zebra and quagga mussels are two of the most feared aquatic invasive species present in the United States, and Montana is one of the few places left where the creatures haven’t spread. The mussels clog filters and water intake pipes and pumps, coat boat propellers and steal nutrients from native invertebrates, fish and wildlife. Both types of mussels reproduce rapidly and can wreak havoc on the ecosystem of infested waters.
According to the United States Geological Survey, zebra and quagga mussels were introduced to the United States in the late 1980s, when one commercial cargo ship traveling from the Black Sea (the native home of both mussel species) to the Great Lakes released larval zebra mussels during a ballast exchange. The tenacious creatures then quickly spread through connecting waterways via boat hulls and drifting while in the larval stage. In the Great Lakes Basin alone, the two types of non-native mussels have caused more than $5 billion in damage, the USGS estimates.
And that’s the sort of damage the Flathead Basin Commission, along with several other organizations in Northwest Montana, is trying to prevent.
Last year, the Montana legislature passed Senate Bill 343, also known as the Montana Aquatic Invasive Species Act, establishing guidelines for prevention and control of invaders like zebra and quagga mussels, two of the species that pose the greatest threat to life as it’s now known in Montana’s lakes and rivers. The bill allocated $333,000 annually to running a statewide defense against invaders, but funding to launch an all-out war against invasive species just isn’t available through the state, Flathead Basin Commission Executive Director Caryn Miske explained.
So the FBC, in conjunction with several other local organizations like the conservationist group Flathead Lakers, Flathead Lake Biological Station, Flathead National Forest, Lake, Missoula and Sanders Counties and the Clark Fork Task Force, to name just a few, developed an aquatic invasive species prevention plan that’s available for public review until July 15. The plan is posted at www.flatheadbasincommission.org and www.flatheadlakers.org.
“We’re not looking to duplicate (the state plan) … if we’re going to have effective prevention, we’re going to have to go above and beyond what the state is doing,” Miske said. “We are basically going to have to keep our house in order at the local level.”
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are also developing their own aquatic invasive species strategic prevention plan for the Flathead Reservation, wetlands conservation coordinator Clint Folden said. The tribal plan will mesh with the state’s ANS (aquatic nuisance species) plan and the Flathead Basin Commission plan, with the only major differences addressing tribal cultural issues, he added.
“It’ll follow the (Flathead Basin Commission) and state plans pretty closely … We need something down here (on the Flathead Reservation) as well, but I think the FBC plan is super well-written,” Folden said. “Hopefully I’ll have the first draft of the plan done by fall.”
Once Folden completes his first draft, the CSKT Fish, Wildlife, Recreation and Conservation department heads will review it and submit the draft to the Tribal Council, and depending on how quickly the plan is approved, it could be in place by the beginning of next year.
Folden also included a request for funding for a boat wash unit in a federal grant application for the tribes’ wetlands and conservation program, so it’s possible the Flathead Reservation could get its own mobile wash station.
“The only problem with that is (funding) somebody to man (the wash unit),” Folden said.
Folden also noted that CSKT personnel involved with the Mack Days fishing derby were trained to recognize several types of aquatic invasive species and to educate fishermen on cleaning their boats after use — a crucial component of preventing the mussels’ spread. Boats should be carefully inspected and cleaned with a bleach solution or left in the sun for several days to make sure no attached mussel larvae can survive, Miske noted. All water reservoirs in the boat should be drained and dried completely, as mussels can survive in live wells for weeks and out of water for up to five days. Fishing equipment like waders and nets should also either be disinfected or left in full sun for a few days.
“No matter where you go, when you leave a water body and before you launch, you have to wash your boat,” Miske emphasized. “The nice thing is if you take your boat out on Sunday (and) drain it, it’ll be ready to go on Friday.”
And you don’t have to be fishing or boating to help stop the invaders.
“Folks on the ground can also help with early detection,” Miske said.
Just taking a look at dock pilings while launching a boat or picking up rocks on the beach during a walk could be key to stopping the spread of invasive mussels, she explained. Native mussels don’t attach to things, so “if there’s something attached to a rock, there’s a problem,” Miske said.
While zebra mussel larvae are too small to see with the naked eye, they feel like sandpaper on smooth surfaces, so running a hand over a boat hull or smooth rock can reveal hidden threats. Juveniles are the size of peppercorns, and the brown or black-striped adults are typically 3/4 of an inch long, although they can grow up to 2 inches long.
Quaggas are slightly larger with a more rounded shell than zebra mussels, and while still striped, tend to be lighter in color than zebras.
Miske emphasized that any possible finds of invasive mussels should be reported to the state ANS coordinator Eileen Ryce immediately. Ryce can be reached at 444-2448.
“We would much rather have a false alarm than not reporting it,” Miske said. “In other states, (they) have found mussels, and the locals will say ‘Oh yeah, we saw that two years ago.’”
When people ask Miske why she and so many others would devote so much time and energy to fighting what sometimes seems like the inevitable, she points out that Montana simply cannot afford to let invasive mussels into its waters. A mussel infestation would be devastating to everything from fishing to irrigation to hydropower, she explained.
“For every year you keep these (invasive species) out, you save millions of dollars,” Miske said. “It’s not just the boating community or the fishing community (that are affected) … Even things like walking on the beach become problematic because the (mussel) shells are sharp and stinky.”
While the task may seem overwhelming, preventing a mussel invasion is certainly possible, she added.
“(Invasive mussels are) clearly spreading. But with that said, look at Lake Tahoe … it’s surrounded virtually by zebra and quagga mussels, and (Lake Tahoe has) managed to stay clear,” Miske said.
“If an aquatic invasive … like the zebra mussel were to get in our lake, it could be real devastating to basically everybody,” Folden explained. “And there just isn’t the money in this part of the region to fight (an infestation).”
One noticeable difference between the FBC’s AIS plan and the state ANS plan is in the name — while the state plan targets aquatic nuisance species, the FBC labeled its strategy the aquatic invasive species plan.
“This is not a nuisance,” Miske explained. “This is an invader, and it’s far more than a nuisance.”
And she hopes Montanans realize the gravity of the situation before it’s too late. With boating season well underway and no mandatory boat inspections in place, it’s up to the public to keep Montana’s waters free of invaders.
“What we really have to hope for is that our luck holds,” Miske said. “Ultimately, the success or failure of this effort will rest on the folks coming in and out of the (Flathead) Basin.”
