LAKEPORT — The Water Resources Department Tuesday updated the Lake County Board of Supervisors (BOS) on the current quagga mussel prevention program, focusing on its deficiencies, pending revisions and additional options.
Water Resources Director Scott De Leon gave a 40-minute PowerPoint presentation outlining the issues during Tuesday”s regular BOS meeting at the Lake County Courthouse.
Inconsistency at screening locations, conflicting signage, uncontrolled ramps and an uninformed public were the primary deficiencies with the current program, according to De Leon.
“We need to have people at the ramps,” he told the BOS.
In order to address some deficiencies, De Leon listed a number of pending revisions to the prevention program, which relies heavily on volunteers and knowledgeable boaters.
Planned changes include updating signage, increasing public outreach and offering additional training for screeners and inspectors.
De Leon said county staff is also modifying the local regulations to create a “much more workable and enforceable ordinance.” The amendments, which would be designed to assist police and prosecutors in enforcing the laws, would be brought to the BOS for consideration at a meeting later this year, he said.
Additionally, De Leon described some current program needs and associated costs.
Among the no-cost solutions would be more volunteer training to standardize the system, resident testing, developing “pre-screen” questions to divert at-risk vessels directly to inspection and drafting a private launch ramp ordinance.
Potential actions requiring some cost would be giving stipends to volunteers, reducing the number of public ramps, creating a rapid response program and developing “efficient and effective decontamination systems,” De Leon said.
The county could also introduce any of a wide range of future prevention options, according to De Leon.
One significant-cost option would be to build and staff roadside checkpoints at the five main entrances into Lake County.
Though operating costs for each station would be high, with estimates at $250,000 to $500,000 for initial construction plus $60,000 per employee and $50,000 in overhead annually, the checkpoints would intercept all boats if staffed 24 hours a day, De Leon said.
Potential issues with checkpoints at county entrances include obtaining encroachment permits from Caltrans or private landowners.
Developing ramp controls would be another option, according to De Leon. “Without controls at the ramps into Clear Lake, it will always be possible for boats to be launched that have not been screened,” he said.
Ramp controls could be implemented by limiting access to public ramps either through manual opening and closing or an electronic system.
De Leon said ramp controls could be used with the current program or along with another concept, “quagga stations.” The stations would be county-operated, located in several places around the lake and tasked with performing screenings, decontaminations and issuing stickers.
“Quagga stations” coupled with ramp controls would allow all boats to be intercepted, according to De Leon, who listed adding the “quagga stations” and reducing the number of publicly accessible boat ramps on his “wish list” for the prevention program.
Implementation costs would be among the issues with either of those concepts, De Leon said.
More extreme options the county could consider would be instituting mandatory quarantines or complete bans of all visiting boats, which would “virtually eliminate at-risk boats” and create “opportunity for local businesses to provide rental boats” but the resulting “negative press would likely destroy tourism,” according to De Leon.
The BOS took no action regarding De Leon”s presentation.
For more information on the current mussel prevention program, visit www.nomussels.com.
