Park Service to increase boat inspections for 2012 season

Aquatic invasive species still a concern at Blue Mesa

The fight against invasive zebra and quagga mussels in Blue Mesa Reservoir is set to continue, and even ramp up a little, this year. The National Park Service will be following the state’s regulations for invasive species containment more closely as they try to maintain the state’s largest water body’s relatively clean bill of health.

 “We currently have a prevention and containment program that we manage here at Blue Mesa,” Curecanti Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) program coordinator Erin Warrem says. “We’re just going to be more consistent with what’s going on statewide.”
For the past few summers, motorboats heading into Blue Mesa had to go through one of several checkpoints set up at launch areas to make sure they weren’t carrying any invasive species. Dry boats, drained of all water, could continue on after a quick check, while others needed a more thorough inspection and the occasional cleaning. Non-motorized boats could carry on largely unimpeded.
But this year, as soon as the ice melts, some of that will change. While people have been hand-launching boats from trailers at beaches around the reservoir in the past, no boat trailers will be allowed on the beaches anymore.
“What we’ve found is that some of the sailboats that are launching from the beaches are on trailers and could carry a substantial amount of standing water, just because they have enclosed compartments,” Warrem  says.
 “The intention is not to impact users. It’s to prevent mussels getting into Blue Mesa. The measures will be unpopular with some user groups that will be impacted, but the Park Service felt it needed to take care of [the concerns].”
Warrem says the Park Service will post signs at likely places to let people know where the beaches start, and where trailers will not be allowed. The only watercraft people are allowed to hand-launch are non-motorized boats like rafts, kayaks, belly boats and float tubes, canoes, wind surfer boats, sail boards, inner tubes or kite boards. Pretty much everything else has to be inspected.
With a trailer’s potential to carry contaminated water in—and out—of the reservoir, Warrem says, it’s important that trailers and the boats they carry are checked to make sure no mussels are on board.
Right now, Blue Mesa is classified as “suspect” after water samples taken in March 2009 came back from two separate laboratories indicating that there was genetic material from a mussel in one of the samples. Water bodies aren’t considered positive until several water samples show evidence of the mussels.
And water bodies on all sides of Curecanti have tested positive for mussels, raising the alarm that the mussels’ numbers could be on the rise and heading for Blue Mesa.
The concern is that the mussels, which reproduce exponentially and can attach themselves to nearly smooth surfaces, will work their way into infrastructures associated with reservoirs like municipal water intakes. Once inside they could layer on top of one another and eventually shut the system down or at least cause costly damage.
However, Warrem says, no adult zebra or quagga mussels have been found in Colorado. The key to preserving the integrity of Colorado’s water bodies, she says, is to keep it that way.
“It’s common sense that if we found veligers [immature mussels] that they came from adult mussels,” Warrem says.
Additionally, Warrem says, Lake Powell, which was feared to harbor a population of mussels that could expand to other reservoirs, has been given a clean bill of health.
“I think the program is very effective because the risk factors would be standing water and people coming in with mussels on their boats,” she says. “The program is effective in addressing both of those concerns. That’s why we’re going to enforce the regulations.”
The change in the inspection policy at Blue Mesa isn’t going to be popular with everyone, and will impact a small, but important, group of boaters. But Warrem says the inspections are focused on stopping the mussels, not the boaters.
“We’re hoping for public feedback,” Warrem says. “We’re trying to find a way to balance recreational use and resource management to meet both needs. Unfortunately, change is unavoidable. It’s really a delicate balance.”
Boat inspections at Blue Mesa will work just like they did last summer at Elk Creek, Lake Fork, Steven’s Creek, Iola and Ponderosa boat ramps starting Friday, May 25.