The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Big changes coming
Starting May 8, motor boaters heading to Blue Mesa Reservoir are going to find some severely restricted access and a new set of rules that are all part of an increased effort to keep some of the smallest invasive species from taking over the state’s largest lake.
Starting May 8, motor boaters heading to Blue Mesa Reservoir are going to find some severely restricted access and a new set of rules that are all part of an increased effort to keep some of the smallest invasive species from taking over the state’s largest lake.
In a meeting with the Gunnison Board of County Commissioners Tuesday, April 28, Connie Rudd, superintendent of the Curecanti National Recreation Area, which surrounds the reservoir, said the measures will be strict, but they are necessary.
Zebra and quagga mussels both originated in European waters and made their way to the U.S. in the late 80s, where they began wreaking havoc on fisheries, industries and municipal water systems.
Their arrival in Colorado was first noted in Lake Pueblo in 2008 and several other reservoirs since.
“The National Park Service is going to make some dramatic changes to operations at Blue Mesa Reservoir so that we can prevent the spread of [zebra and quagga mussels]. I really have it in my head that on my watch we’re going to avoid mussels,” said Rudd. “People keep saying it’s not if, but when and the horror of that possibility is coming closer.”
The possibility that quagga mussels have already invaded the reservoir took a step closer to reality for Rudd and her staff in March when an analysis of water samples came back from two separate laboratories indicating that there was genetic material from a mussel in one of the samples.
“That could mean anything. It could mean that you had a dead immature young larval quagga mussel. So there is nothing to indicate that we’re infested with a breeding population in the reservoir,” said Ken Stahlnecker, chief of resource stewardship at the park. “But they did pick up enough of an indication that something was there at the time when the water was sampled.”
He said the Park Service would do very intensive water testing this summer, since the sample to test positive was taken very early in the summer last year. All of the samples were taken after the suspect sample tested negative for any genetic or visual evidence of mussels.
Rudd said, “This has thrown us into an entirely different operation of both prevention and potential containment. We’re going to behave as if we’re containing a mussel infestation although the state has agreed that we’re not there yet.”
The sample didn’t meet the regulatory requirements to classify the reservoir as “positive” for mussels, so the state decided to classify Blue Mesa as “suspect waters.” Blue Mesa is the only reservoir in the state with that classification.
Last year, the NPS instituted a self-certification program that allowed people to check their own boats and wash them if they had been in mussel-infested water. With an increased presence of mussels in neighboring reservoirs, the plan was to increase the pressure to require inspection before entering the water this year.
Now the Park Service has nearly doubled the man-power dedicated to boat inspections to eight park rangers and an additional six inspectors from the state. Inspections will also be required as boats leave the water.
The number of points where people can launch their boats is also being decreased to three, including Stevens Creek, Elk Creek and Lake Fork launch areas, which will all have inspection stations open between 5:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. All other launch areas will be closed to motorized boats.
Non-motorized vessels will not be subject to the launch restrictions or inspection requirements.
“There is only so much we can do. Non-motorized boats, like kayaks, tend not to sit in the water, when they could collect mussels. They also don’t have the space to store standing water that could transport larvae,” said Stahlnecker. “So we’re focusing our resources on the boats that pose the greatest risk.”
For more information on the changes in rules and access points at Blue Mesa Reservoir, visit www.nps.gov/cure or call (970) 641-2337.
