New Mexico on Alert To Battle Invasive Mussels
Posted on: Monday, 12 May 2008, 12:00 CDT
By JOHN FLECK Journal Staff Writer
State and federal officials are gearing up for battle to keep invasive quagga and zebra mussels from reaching New Mexico's waterways.
The small clamlike creatures, which can foul up water systems, usually arrive by hitchhiking on boats. None has been found in New Mexico, officials say, but the recent discovery of zebra mussels in a reservoir outside Pueblo, Colo., has set off alarm bells.
"We have contaminated waters that are very close to us," said Bob Pitman, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Pittman's biggest fear is that someone might bring a contaminated boat to Navajo Reservoir, on the San Juan River in northwest New Mexico. Navajo is popular with boaters who also use reservoirs on the Colorado River, including Lake Mead, according to Pittman.
Quagga mussels have been found on the Lower Colorado River and in Lake Mead.
The discovery of zebra mussels in Colorado opens a second front in the New Mexico war against mussels.
In New Mexico, a number of state and federal agencies are preparing a coordinated plan for long-term battle with the mussels, which officials fear could make their first appearance here this year.
In the short term, plans are being made for a communication out reach effort to boaters beginning later this month, said Mickey Porter, a biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The mussels can hitchhike in their larval stage from one lake to the next. The key to fighting their spread, Porter said, is to make sure your boat is clean and dry before leaving a lake after boating.
"It only takes one person not doing that," Porter said.
(c) 2008 Albuquerque Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Albuquerque Journal
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