LAKE COUNTY ? Whether to keep two of the county”s four quagga mussel wash stations was the focus of a workshop the Lake County Board of Supervisors held Tuesday.
The board decided last week to wait on selling all four stations to Los Angeles County. Two of the stations were surplussed last year, the other two in February. The county was prepared to take more than a $20,000 loss on the machines until Lakeport City Councilwoman Suzanne Lyons asked the board to donate one to the city.
Because the possibility of a decision to donate a station to the city wasn”t on the agenda, the board agreed to bring the discussion back at a date to be announced.
“If we”re going to bring back the possibility of a donation to a public entity, I can only support that with that public entity telling us exactly when they”re going to put it to work, how they are going to put a plan of work in place, or else I will not support it,” Supervisor Jim Comstock said.
Pam Francis, deputy director of the Water Resources Division of the county”s Public Works Department, said the machines weren”t necessary to decontaminate suspect boats.
“We now know that there are other options that are less expensive. We could have them at numerous locations throughout the county instead of two city locations,” Francis said.
She recommended using Hudson sprayers and small pressure sprayers, citing the use for quagga and zebra mussel decontamination in the Lake Tahoe area.
The state Department of Fish and Game (DFG) has the authority to quarantine boats found to contain the mussel. Francis said the DFG won”t quarantine a wet boat if the mussels or their larvae aren”t physically found, even if the boat comes from infested or suspect waters.
Almost everyone who spoke, both on the board and from the public, had a different idea about how to prevent infestation. Two common threads were evident: frustration with the current program.
“One of the things that really bothers me about this is it seems that anytime we try to step up and do anything, there is some reason why we can”t do that thing, even if it was what was recommended the last time we asked,” Lyons said.
Lyons continued, “I”m hearing now that these inexpensive pressure washers will do it. Well, it was the Department of Public Works that told us when Paul Brunig wanted to order one of those, I was down at his shop when he did it, and we were told by your Department of Public Works that those weren”t good enough and they wouldn”t work.”
Officials and members of the public expressed frustration with the county”s current prevention efforts, citing a lack of leadership and conflicting messages about what was the best action to take.
“I”m really frustrated. We”ve been at this now for a couple of years” time. I don”t think it”s a lack of good ideas ? and I don”t think it”s a lack of caring. I do think it”s somewhat a lack of money, but it”s also a lack of leadership. I think this board, and the Quagga Task Force in particular needs to take on that,” Chairwoman Denise Rushing said.
University of California Extension Advisor Greg Giusti said the Quagga Mussel Task Force voted 6-3 last week in favor of keeping the stations because there were no other choices offered.
“We have to do something,” Giusti said. “Our reward for being successful ? is we never stop trying to keep the mussels out of this lake. There is no finish line in this race.”
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
