Colorado lakes, reservoirs are free of invasive mussels

Boating

Colorado lakes, reservoirs are free of invasive mussels

Courtesy photo / Colorado Parks and Wildlife Invasive species damage Colorado's lands and waters, hurt the economy, ruin recreational opportunities and threaten public health.

More boats found with mussel infestations in 2020

DENVER — More boats requiring decontamination because of infestations of destructive mussels entered Colorado in 2020 compared to previous years; but the statewide inspection program coordinated by Colorado Parks and Wildlife again succeeded in keeping invasive mussels out of the state’s lakes and reservoirs.

Thanks to CPW’s comprehensive Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) prevention program, all waters in the state are now of ficially free of evidence of mussels. In 2017, veligers, the microscopic larval stage of quagga mussels, found at Green Mountain Reservoir showed that mussels might exist there. But three years of subsequent water testing were negative for mussel species.

“Colorado Parks and Wildlife continues to meet the challenge of protecting the state’s waters and infrastructure from aquatic nuisance species,” said Robert Walters, CPW’s ANS program manager.

“But as boating season approaches we continue to ask for help from boat owners in maintaining our mussel-free status.”

Mussels are destructive to aquatic habitat, can seriously damage reservoir infrastructure and cause problems on boats.

As usual, Colorado’s ANS inspectors were plenty busy during 2020. Staff conducted a total of 647,325 inspections and decontaminated 4,771 boats suspected of carrying mussels, other aquatic invasive species or standing water. That was a huge increase of34percent in inspections from 2019 when 81,253 boats were inspected and 2,947 were decontaminated.

Mostconcerning is the contined increasein the number of oats fouled withmussels.In2019, 6 boats werefound to be fouled with invasive musselsand in 2020 hatnumber jumped to 100. Only 6 boats with mussels were found n 2017. Contaminated boats come into oloradofromneighboring states, specially Utah and Arizona ecause of our proximity to Lake Powell which hasbeenmussel-infested for years. Other neighboring states with mussel infestations include Kansas, Nebraska,Oklaoma, Texas and SouthDakota. ost Midwesternand East Coast tates also haveinfestedwaters. Some of the increase in inspecions canbeattributed to thelarge nflux of outdoor recreation Coloado has experienced since the tartofthe pandemic. ColoradoParks and Wildlife nderstands that outdoor recretion is important to everyone’s hysicaland mental healthand the tate made acommitment to keep tate parks open during the panemic. Since CPW’s ANS inspection program

started in 2008, 5.6 million boats have been inspected and 144,000 boats have been decontaminated. The agency is aided in the program by Colorado counties, municipalities, water districts, federal agencies and private companies that also conduct inspections. CPW also works proactively looking for aquatic nuisance species by sampling waters throughout the state. In 2020, crews sampled 175 standing waters and four flowing waters. The National Park Service provided CPW with 14 water samples.

CPW has also been instrumental in establishing the Water Inspection

andDecontamination (WID) protocols which arenow used by states throughout the West. Agency staffalso areactive with the WesternRegional Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species Watercraft Inspection and Decontamination Committee.

Walters said that CPW will always remain vigilant in the fight against mussels.

“Mussels aren’t going away. However,bycontinuingour preventative watercraft inspection program we can keep Colorado’s waters free of invasive mussels.”

Boat ownersare remindedto “clean, drain and dry” boats after

everyuse.

Boaters shouldalso inspect their trailers and look in hard-to-reach spots on boats and engines for evidence of mussels.

Anyone who has used aboat in waters outside of Colorado should tell boat inspectors. Boat owners can also callany statepark or wildlife office if they have questions or concerns.

For moreinformation about aquatic nuisance species and CPW’s program, visit:https:// cpw.state.co.us/aboutus/Pages/ ISP-ANS.aspxorread theBoater’s Guide toANS Inspections.