Waterbaby
Escalante-Class Member
https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/wes...cle_9e5905b6-2439-11e8-8aa7-10604b9ffe60.html
Mar 10, 2018
Invasive mussel species is knocking at our door
Even after dousing with 140-degree water, followed by high-pressure blasts of the same hot water, quagga mussels clung stubbornly to the propellers of a cabin cruiser that until recently was moored in Lake Powell.
An invasive-species specialist with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Robert Walters, did the dirty work Friday of scouring mussels from the props, intakes, hull and other parts of the boat.
"These props would not ever turn, they're so jammed up with mussels," Walters said.
Colorado has no known quagga infestation and Walters' labors were intended to prevent one, while demonstrating how the mussels can clog up a motor, or a waterway, and how difficult they can be to remove.
"That's what makes them of concern," CPW spokesman Mike Porras said as Walters sprayed sheet after sheet of hot, high-pressure water, on the mussels-bound motor, peeling them off layer by layer. "They're extremely hardy."
The boat's owner surrendered the cruiser on Thursday to CPW officials after Utah officials reported that it was being hauled to Grand Junction from Bullfrog, Utah.
No charges were immediately filed, but an investigation is continuing. Colorado law prohibits the importation of invasive species such as the mussels.
Authorities took the boat to Highline Lake, where there are decontamination facilities.
Colorado law requires that watercraft be clear of invasive species, such as the mussels, before they can ply state waters, such as those of Highline and other state parks.
The mussels are the reason that such craft are prohibited at Harvey Gap State Park, where the agency doesn't have the funding to inspect and remove them.
The threat of an infestation — for which there is no known method of reversal — is what drives the state to keep a high priority on inspections, Porras said.
Quagga mussels can survive for 30 days outside of water and their larval forms, veligers, can survive in small amounts of water.
That why the agency urges watercraft owners to clean, drain and dry their boats, as well as other materials, such as ropes, buoys and anchors.
"Clean, drain and dry" should be the mantra of water users, Porras said.
Simply blasting them with pressurized water will do little and could expand their foothold without the killing high temperature — at least 140 degrees, Porras said.
The infested boat treated at Highline Lake is the second so far of this young boating season, Walters said. Another was found earlier in Denver.
Law enforcement officials who spot such infestations can intervene and residents who are aware of it should contact CPW, Porras said.
As the cabin-cruiser infestation demonstrates, quagga mussels could choke off waterworks, hindering irrigation, flood control and electricity-generating equipment, with no simple answer, Porras said.
"Once these get hold of a waterway," he said, "We're done."
Mar 10, 2018
Invasive mussel species is knocking at our door
- GARY HARMON
Even after dousing with 140-degree water, followed by high-pressure blasts of the same hot water, quagga mussels clung stubbornly to the propellers of a cabin cruiser that until recently was moored in Lake Powell.
An invasive-species specialist with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Robert Walters, did the dirty work Friday of scouring mussels from the props, intakes, hull and other parts of the boat.
"These props would not ever turn, they're so jammed up with mussels," Walters said.
Colorado has no known quagga infestation and Walters' labors were intended to prevent one, while demonstrating how the mussels can clog up a motor, or a waterway, and how difficult they can be to remove.
"That's what makes them of concern," CPW spokesman Mike Porras said as Walters sprayed sheet after sheet of hot, high-pressure water, on the mussels-bound motor, peeling them off layer by layer. "They're extremely hardy."
The boat's owner surrendered the cruiser on Thursday to CPW officials after Utah officials reported that it was being hauled to Grand Junction from Bullfrog, Utah.
No charges were immediately filed, but an investigation is continuing. Colorado law prohibits the importation of invasive species such as the mussels.
Authorities took the boat to Highline Lake, where there are decontamination facilities.
Colorado law requires that watercraft be clear of invasive species, such as the mussels, before they can ply state waters, such as those of Highline and other state parks.
The mussels are the reason that such craft are prohibited at Harvey Gap State Park, where the agency doesn't have the funding to inspect and remove them.
The threat of an infestation — for which there is no known method of reversal — is what drives the state to keep a high priority on inspections, Porras said.
Quagga mussels can survive for 30 days outside of water and their larval forms, veligers, can survive in small amounts of water.
That why the agency urges watercraft owners to clean, drain and dry their boats, as well as other materials, such as ropes, buoys and anchors.
"Clean, drain and dry" should be the mantra of water users, Porras said.
Simply blasting them with pressurized water will do little and could expand their foothold without the killing high temperature — at least 140 degrees, Porras said.
The infested boat treated at Highline Lake is the second so far of this young boating season, Walters said. Another was found earlier in Denver.
Law enforcement officials who spot such infestations can intervene and residents who are aware of it should contact CPW, Porras said.
As the cabin-cruiser infestation demonstrates, quagga mussels could choke off waterworks, hindering irrigation, flood control and electricity-generating equipment, with no simple answer, Porras said.
"Once these get hold of a waterway," he said, "We're done."
