[Scyry]

Why are we thinking of new ways to tax people? This is not a money problem its a how we choose to deal with it problem. Most every lake I fish in TX has zebra mussels and the water intakes are good and the fishing is as good as ever and you can launch a boat whenever you want anywhere you want.

Zebras and quaggas affect every lake differently. Warm lakes get hit harder with the mussels being able to breed constantly. As far as fishing goes, again every lake is different. Lake Havasu is crystal clear now as the mussels are filtering all the algae and plankton out of the water. Red Ear, aka shell crackers, are thriving from feeding off the mussels.

A lake like Granby would be hit hard if the mussels took hold and had explosive growth, but with the cold water they might not be an issue. If the mussels did though, Kokes would have another organism to compete with in a low nutrient lake.

Lakes like Chatty and Pueblo could see at least a short term benefit. Shad would have competition for food, so there would likely be some decline in their population. Less food, more hungry fish that are easier to catch.

I've inspected San Justo Reservoir in California which is infested with Zebras. They had just drawn down the reservoir 10 feet and the entire shore was completely black. Think an ocean pier pile covered in mussels, but for miles of shore. They were attached to rocks, submerged trees and even the dirt. It stank and you were unable to walk the shore. As deep as I could see into the water, crystal clear at least 30 feet, all I could see was mussels.

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

Lots of research going on there. USBR's big hope was a coating that had copper in it, because copper kills them quickly. Research found the villagers (larval mussels) kept attaching until there was a layer of dead mussels that shielded the new mussels from the coating. At that point the mussels took off.

Most of the problems caused for water municipalities is in the delivery systems and not the large gates and outletworks. You have to treat the water immediately because they will attach inside your pipes. You then have to filter the villagers out before they travel down the pipe even if they are dead. Any pipe under 12" dia. is very susceptible to clogging or too much loss in flow. This really causes problems in power plants and pumping plants. Raw water is used for cooling and mechanical seal water.

Only places having issues on larger outlets are places like Havasu. The mussels are growing so fast they clog trashracks and gate slots. Most places the mussels can just be knocked off by moving the gates, but they are so prolific at Havasu that they can plug a 12" wide guide.

So in my personal experience, it is worth protecting our lakes, but CPW needs to do a better job of allowing access.

 

[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.

 

[Bionic Man]

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.

Interesting idea, but I am not sure how practical it is. Pretty easy to hire an intern for a corporation in Denver. Not as easy to hire an intern and require them to move and spend a summer in South Park. Or Sterling. Or North Park. Or Rifle. Or, you get the idea....

 

[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.

 

[golden rod]

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.

I'm sure we could fill warehouse with things you think could work. Focus on catching fish, Dallasdb

 

[Bionic Man]

I don't think interns would do any worse than our current crop of ans inspectors. I have been using my wake boat and not the fishing boat most summer. Only once have they asked for me to empty my ballast tanks. And that time my blower came on before I could turn on my pumps and they said "good to go".

And all lakes I have been to so far this year have been infected with something.....


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[crankn101]

" I can't imagine what it will cost the state/feds (which tax payers pay for) to keep the outtake pipes clean."

But its ok to pay the govt minions to grant us permission to fish at certain times...

 

[kirbydog]

To me it all boils down to whether or not an inspection program can stop zebra mussels from getting into a body of water.

The advantage we have here is most lakes have just one boat ramp, maybe two-so you can inspect every boat entering the lake-but I'm not sure that is enough to stop their
spread.

I'm on good terms with all the inspectors at Pueblo-without exception they're good people

 

[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!

 

[Scyry]

Here is eradication programs being considered by USBR:

http://www.usbr.gov/mussels/docs/MusselManagementOptions.pdf

 

[Bionic Man]

I've never heard of anything being done for eradication.

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


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[Scyry]

There is no eradication for entire systems, just treatment for portions of the system. Example water delivery system and cooling water.

 

[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!

 

[Bionic Man]

There is no eradication for entire systems, just treatment for portions of the system. Example water delivery system and cooling water.

Which does nothing to help boat owners who leave their boats in the lake for any length of time...


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[snagged up]

My II Cents

Do a search for a map of the infestation movement across the US.
It's not if but when IMO.
All it takes is one infested item to start the process.

 

[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.

 

[jkaboom]

Do a search for a map of the infestation movement across the US.
It's not if but when IMO.
All it takes is one infested item to start the process.

I thought this site was a pretty good resource:
http://www.100thmeridian.org/

Honestly I have a pretty clean boat and do my part and I think many of us could say the same. Is the problem as bad as the hype, I don't know but if it is then the appropriate resources need to be allocated if it really is. This has been a pretty good thread; thanks

 

[Zman]

Those yellow jacket traps dont work for ish...

 

[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!