Hard to believe that despite all the snow coming down, spring run-off and ice-off are right around the corner.
We received some good news this week on the mussel front. The grant application submitted jointly by Swan Valley Connections, Clearwater Resource Council, Blackfoot Challenge and Missoula County Weed District was approved for the full $72,000. This grant from Montana DNRC will provide funding for monitoring, outreach, and prevention from Swan Lake to the north, down the entire Seeley-Swan Valley and east to Coopers and Browns Lakes.
With these funds, we will be monitoring more lakes, more times over a longer period of time: 13 lakes, six times each from May to October. The purpose of monitoring is to detect an introduction early to provide the best chance to contain, control and hopefully eradicate the mussels (or other invasive species) and to take measures to stop the overland transport of the mussels from the affected waters to clean waters.
I use the word ‘clean’ a bit recklessly, I think. No waters, no lakes and no streams are ‘clean’. We should always assume there is something in a waterbody we are leaving that would be harmful to the next waterbody we visit. That’s why it is imperative that we all always Clean, Drain and Dry all our watercraft and gear. Even a small clump of mud may contain pathogens or other aquatic invasive species. We are focused on mussels because they are the worst but the other invasive plants, critters and microbes can be pretty bad, too.
Please, always, clean your watercraft and your gear; drain water from all parts of your boat that may hold pools of water; and thoroughly dry the inside and outside of everything. Visually check your boat AND trailer for unwanted hitchhikers. Plants, even just small fragments of invasive plants, can transplant easily.
For more information or to volunteer to help, contact me at joann@crcmt.org or (406) 210-8453.
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