The recent storms have raised the lake level of Clear Lake. As of Tuesday morning, the level was a minus .85 feet on the Rumsey Gauge and rising. From all indications the lake level will reach zero on the Rumsey Gauge within two weeks. At zero just about all the public boat ramps around the lake will have water deep enough to launch boats. Presently only the Fifth Street ramp in Library Park and the ramp in Clearlake Oaks are public ramps that are open. The Lake County Water Resources Department will check all the public ramps when the lake level reaches zero and will open the ramps that can handle the boats. The past two weeks has seen many of the ramp monitors off work because they have used up their allotted hours. According to the Water Resources coordinator Angela De Palma-Dow, there is an urgent need for ramp monitors. It is a part-time position and she said there are three openings and if a person wants to work only on weekends they can accommodate them. Interested persons can call her at 707-263-2344 for more information.
There had been rumors going around that the ramps would stay closed until mid-March. De Palma said that is not true the ramps will be reopened as soon as boats can be launched safely.
The county passed an ordinance in 2009 that required all motorized boats to be screened or inspected and have a sticker. Kayaks, canoes and nonmotorized cartop boats aren’t required to have a sticker. Out of county boaters require a monthly sticker and Lake County residents must have an annual sticker. The stickers cost $20. There is a fine of up to a $1000 if cited and found guilty of being out on the lake in a boat without a sticker.
According to biologists, Clear Lake has ideal conditions for the mussels to survive and reproduce. The lake is rich in nutrients and calcium which the mussels require. To date, there have been no quagga mussels found in Clear Lake, although they have been found it lakes in Southern California. This is amazing due to the fact that Clear Lake is the largest natural lake in California and thousands of boaters visit the lake each year.
Quagga mussels are not a native species to California or the United States. It is a native of Russia and Eastern Europe. The quagga mussel got its name after an extinct species of an African zebra. It has an average life span of 3 to 5 years. The quagga mussel is a filter feeder. It pulls water into its shell cavity where plankton is removed. Each adult mussel is capable of filtering one or more quarts of water a day. The mussel is a prolific breeder and each female is capable of producing up to a million eggs per year. The larva is called veligers.
Lake County could even go a step further and copy what other states are doing. Many of the states require that all boaters pull the drain plug on their boats when removing them from the water. They are required this to be done while the boat is still on the ramp. It allows all the water from the livewells and the bilges to drain out so that the water won’t be taken to other areas.
Lake County is actually far ahead of the rest of the counties in their mussel prevention program. No other county in the northern part of the state has as strict an inspection program as Lake County. Hopefully the quagga mussel will never find its way into the waters of Clear Lake. They would change the character forever of one of the oldest lakes in the world.
