[dallasdb]

They need to lobby to have the CPW included in the general fund. From what I understand they get very little if any funding from the state budget. The CPW budget is comprised of the funds from the lottery, revenue from licenses and revenue from the parks.

CPW should get some of the taxes from the marijuana industry considering people buy weed then go to the parks and smoke it!!!

Here is a thread with budget information for CPW: http://www.coloradofisherman.com/forum/3-colorado-fishing/139153-colorado-parks-wildlife-financial-report-fy-14-15-2016-eight-year-forecast.html

 

[dallasdb]

Ed,
Are you saying the zebra mussel fear is propaganda?

Does it harm the fisheries or the man made water systems and structure?

If it is mainly the latter, I can understand why they would want you to believe the zebra mussel is such a problem. Water rights are a BIG deal and BIG money.

 

[dallasdb]

Whomever invents some kind of coating that the mussels can't attach to will be a millionaire.

 

[dallasdb]

CPW should do what corporations have done when they need more manpower and not enough in the budget to hire... INTERNS!!!

A well managed internship program with college students studying biology or something like that... I may be on to something.

Plus it could be touted as a fast track to getting hired as a park ranger or some other position within CPW.

 

[dallasdb]

BM,

There has to be locals looking to get hired on by CPW. The internship could be open to non-college students as well.

The problem would be to make sure the interns aren't dicking around and they're actually taking their job seriously. The simplest way to ensure they did a good job would be to look at CPW's employee turnover and hire from the intern pool. With the hope of a job at the end of the internship... I think it could work.

 

[dallasdb]

It would be interesting to look at the trade-off between prevention vs eradication.

In other words, what would it look like if ANS inspections ceased and the boat ramps were essentially open at all hours that the parks were open and that funding went towards cleaning infected areas and scraping pipes and eradication.

If birds and potentially other wildlife can transport the ANS anyways... shift the focus to some form of eradication rather than prevention.

Main issue is what does eradication look like?

Some ANS filtering system in the areas that have a high probability of ANS living?

Just some more thoughts to fill that warehouse Goldie has for my ideas!

 

[dallasdb]

And I have never seen a reliable source suggest that quagga or zebra mussels can be spread by birds.

I can't remember where I read that... but it was on the internet so it has to be true!

 

[dallasdb]

Goldie,

I have another idea for you. A zebra mussel attractant!

I had wasps hanging around my porch so I put up one of these away from the house:

It attracts them and kills them. So you attract the mussels then change out the traps. If you can figure it out to keep the population from growing and hopefully eventually virtually eradicate them.

Find out what material they easily attach to or are attracted to and put a bunch of it in high traffic mussel areas. Remove and destroy every so often.

BOOM! Another idea for the warehouse.

 

[dallasdb]

Those yellow jacket traps dont work for ish...

Maybe you don't have very many yellow jackets. A few summers ago mine was so full they weren't drowning anymore because there were so many dead wasps the water was full so the newly trapped wasps were staying alive from standing on the bodies of their fallen comrades!