During its Tuesday meeting, the Lake County Board of Supervisors (BOS) decided to keep at least two of the four decontamination stations.
The decontamination stations were purchased by the county last year to decontaminate boats suspected of being infested with the quagga mussel before they could be launched into any of the waters in Lake County. Originally the county planned to sell all four of the stations to Los Angeles. However, the Mussel Task Force (a group of citizens appointed by the BOS) recommended that the county keep two of the stations. The task force wants one station to be situated in Lakeport and the other to be located somewhere in the south county. The three public ramps at Library Park in Lakeport are the busiest in the county.
Boats that are suspected of harboring the mussels or their larva or one that has recently traveled to an infested lake would have to go through a decontamination station under the county”s plan. The station supplies hot water (140 degrees), which is sprayed over the boat and through the engine. Experts predict only about 10-15 boats each year are required to be decontaminated.
Two of four decontamination stations staying put
As it now stands, a boat that fails to pass inspection is banned from the lake. When the decontamination stations become operational, that boat could be sprayed with hot water, reinspected and issued a sticker that would allow it to be launched into the lake.
There are a number of people who feel that a suspect boat should be banned from the lake for a period of 30 days. Studies have shown that if a boat is infested with the mussels and is kept out of the water for 15-30 days, the mussels die and are no longer a threat. In fact, that”s what they do in Minnesota and it has proven to be very effective.
Minnesota has been successfully dealing with zebra mussels for years. The zebra mussel is a close relative of the quagga mussel. According to Heidi Wolfe of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota takes a different approach in combating the mussel. The state relies mainly on public education to keep the mussels from spreading to their 10,000 lakes. Wolfe said that only nine lakes have the mussel. In contrast, California currently has 20 bodies of water with quagga mussels. Minnesota has no decontamination stations. Instead, the state has paid monitors at the major boat ramps and they inspect all boats before they are launched. If a boat is suspected of having the mussel, the owner is directed to the nearest car wash where the boat is cleaned and wiped dry. It is then re-inspected.
The ramp monitors also hand out informational pamphlets to all boaters. There is also an extensive media informational policy. Wolfe said Minnesota has had a boat inspection program in place since 1992 and it has proven very successful. Minnesota also has stiff fines for the owner of any boat with mussels attached to it. In fact, just launching a wet boat can cost you $500. The boat traffic to and from the infested lakes is also closely monitored to ensure the mussels aren”t being spread.
It should be noted that Minnesota was one of several states in the Midwest where quagga and zebra mussels were first discovered in 1986.
California takes a different approach to keeping the quagga mussels in check. There is no single statewide program. Each area, such as Lake County, comes up with its own plan. The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) has been tasked with setting up a program, but there is none in place right now. The DFG does not decontaminate boats because of liability issues. Instead, if a boat is found to actually have mussels or its larva are attached to the hull or inside the boat, the DFG is notified and will quarantine the boat for up to 30 days. However, there are a number of lakes that will decontaminate a suspected boat. Lake Tahoe is one of them.
Presently there are no plans for Lake County to have monitors at each ramp, the simple reason being that there are at least 11 public ramps and hundreds of private ramps around the lake. Closing some of the least-used ramps is one possibility. There is also the cost to implement an effective plan. Like all local governments, the county is strapped for cash. Just about everyone agrees that a successful boat inspection and decontamination plan has to be self-supporting.
Lake County should require all boats be clean and dry before entering any body of water in the county. In other words, any boater who launches a wet boat, regardless of where it came from, could be cited. That system works in other states and it would work here also.
