Efforts continue to keep lake clean

POLSON — Vicious invaders are attacking Flathead Lake, but few of us will ever notice them, let alone recognize their danger. These invaders, known as aquatic invasive species (AIS), are animals, plants and fish that thrive in environments free of predators. Although they’re small, they can alter habitats and reduce native species populations irrevocably.

As recently as March 4, Montana investigators caught one such invader trying to hitchhike into the Flathead on the hull of a sailboat. John Wachsmuth, the Regional Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator, and Erik Hanson, a certified mussel inspector, found the exotic quagga mussel during an inspection at Dayton Yacht Harbor on Flathead Lake.

The boat had last sailed in Lake Mead, Utah, and was routinely inspected and decontaminated by the Idaho Department of Transportation on its way to the Flathead. However further investigation by Wachsmuth and Hanson revealed the intact and alive mussel, about the size of a grain of rice.

Officials ordered the boat into dry dock, where it will remain for at least two months. In response to the event, Wachsmuth urged all out of state boaters to ensure that their boats have been decontaminated and inspected by a state agency involved in AIS prevention.

While invasive species present a relentless threat, a number of environmental groups are working tirelessly to stop them and keep the Flathead pristine.

One such group is the Crown Managers Partnership (CMP), a collective that addresses the environmental management challenges in the Crown of the Continent region.

The 28,000 square-mile area that includes the Rocky Mountains and parts of Montana, British Columbia and Alberta, is one of North America’s most ecologically diverse ecosystems.

The CMP holds an annual gathering to share information and explore opportunities for interagency cooperation on important environmental issues. This year’s forum focused on aquatic invasive species, and was held Monday through Wednesday at the KwaTaqNuk resort.

Monday evening’s keynote speaker, Eileen Ryce, the State of Montana AIS Coordinator, presented basic “101” information on invasive species in the Crown of the Continent region.

Ryce emphasized that far from being a remote issue only concerning to scientists, aquatic invasive species have far-reaching, detrimental effects that should concern everyone.

“Regardless of where you live this is an important subject,” she said. “For anyone who uses electricity or enjoys drinking water, this is an issue.”

She described the most effective aquatic invaders as accommodating, hardy, and adaptable, and she warned that once invaders are established, they are almost impossible to get rid of.

“They eat a lot and make a lot of babies. It seems that as soon as we say they won’t survive, they prove us wrong,” she said.

According to Ryce, prevention is the most effective method of fighting invaders, but doing so is far from simple. She likened preventing every aquatic invader to finding a needle in a haystack; to make prevention as effective as possible, everyone in the community must work together she said.

Ryce highlighted education as an important component of prevention. She used watercraft inspections as one example of an opportunity to teach the public about aquatic invaders.

“The goal is for Bob to go to the bar and tell his buddies what he learned during his boat inspection,” Ryce said. “That’s priceless. That’s worth more than any billboard.”

Ryce encouraged the public to be vigilant and to report any suspicious-looking organisms to a Montana authority.