Pablo to get AIS inspection station
On March 2, 2016, two of the Flathead Region’s Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) inspection stations – Browning and Clearwater Junction – opened for business. “Unfortunately, the Highway 93 watercraft inspection station at Pablo did not originally come together as planned,” said Caryn Miske, Executive Director of the Flathead Basin Commission. “No pun intended, but this left a hole in our perimeter defense big enough to drive a truck through,” said Miske. Fortunately, the last piece in the Basin’s AIS perimeter defense plan has come together. With financial support from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Foundation and the Flathead National Forest, funding has been provided to open the Station on March 30. The Station location has been shifted from Ravalli to Pablo to increase programmatic effectiveness and efficiency. “The beauty of operating the station at Pablo is that we can inspect boats heading both north and south on Highway 93,” said Tom Smith, Chair of the Flathead Basin Commission. Station inspectors will be looking for a variety of invasive species that could harm both the local economy and the aquatic environment, including illegally transported bait and fish, as well as invasive zebra and quagga mussels.
When asked about the benefits of opening the station so early in the season, Heidi Sedivy, Program Manager for the FBC, pointed out that “Oregon has already intercepted a mussel fouled boat, and that many of the highest risk boats coming from the southwest begin traveling back to Montana well before Memorial Day.” Jay Monroe, Site Supervisor at the Browning Station said, “although boat traffic has been relatively slow, high risk boats are starting to trickle into the region.”
The FBC will operate the Highway 93 station with the full support of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council, and has obtained permission from the Salish Kootenai College to operate the station at the intersection of Highway 93 and Division Street – located on the College campus. Virgil Dupuis, Extension Director, Salish Kootenai College, was instrumental in working with the FBC to launch the Highway 93 station. Dupuis noted, “we believe that Tribal entities need to take a greater leadership role in the AIS prevention effort, and with Caryn’s persistence and hard work. This is a good step in that direction.”
Most stations in Montana generally opened Memorial Day weekend. However, since 2013 the Flathead Basin Commission (FBC) and the Flathead AIS Work Group have been working to ensure that stations in the Flathead are open earlier in the season. Research has consistently shown that the greatest numbers of high risk boats are transported prior to Memorial Day weekend.
Therefore, the need to operate stations early in the season is critical to keeping invasive mussels out of the Flathead. Operating stations early in the season will allow us to intercept snowbirds as they return from places like Lake Mead, which are heavily infested with invasive mussels. Erik Hanson, consultant for the Flathead Basin AIS Work Group and the FBC said, “the perimeter defense plan now in place for the Flathead region is one of the best in the Country, and should go a long way in preventing an unwanted mussel introduction.”
The FBC was established by the Montana Legislature in 1983 to protect the water quality of the Flathead River drainage system.