West of the Mississippi…? In Montana…?
In the last year, I have heard the phrase Clearwater Chain-of-Lakes many times by local residents. I’d never heard it used prior to last year. The phrase is always followed by some superlative like “the biggest in Montana” or the “last west of the Mississippi” or ??? Lots of question marks. Anyone who knows me knows that I do my homework. I won’t repeat such a superlative without first verifying that it’s true.
Since I’m very much in favor of any claim that will help support the special nature of our lakes, I set out to do my homework. Where in the heck do you start? Think of how many lakes there are in Minnesota. Surely some of them are in a chain. And there’s the Thompson Chain of Lakes west of Flathead Lake – in Montana. So much for “last” or “only”. And then I realized, it doesn’t matter. There’s one descriptor we can put on the Clearwater Chain-of-Lakes that no one else can claim or debunk. It is OUR chain of lakes and these lakes are very special to us.
For those of us who have the privilege of living in this valley, the Clearwater Chain-of-Lakes is an ever-present part of our daily lives. They are key to our quality of life. Even for those who never get a toe wet, who don’t fish, water ski, boat, swim or otherwise recreate in the lakes, the quality of their lives in this valley is tied closely to the quality of the lakes. One of the biggest, if not THE biggest, source of income for this valley is tourism. If you work in a restaurant, bar, or motel, your paycheck depends on the visitors who are drawn to our valley by our lakes.
One of, if not THE biggest threat to our lakes is invasion by zebra or quagga mussels. Since the positive findings on Tiber Reservoir in 2016, everyone is stepping up their game to protect their favorite water bodies from a similar fate.
I asked one of the top AIS professionals in the western U.S. what he saw as the way by which one of our lakes would become infested with invasive mussels. His reply was that it would be a single boat, heavily encrusted with mussels that traveled to Montana from mussel-fouled waters, and bypassed all the inspection stations.
So I mulled that over for a while and it makes perfect sense. To colonize, zebra/quagga mussels have to successfully spawn. To be successful, males and females – it takes both sexes to reproduce -- must be within a square foot of each other in relatively still water. So if a boat with some veligers (larval form) in the ballast tanks lets some veligers out into the lake, it is very unlikely those veligers will mature and land within a square foot of each other. I don’t mean to suggest we shouldn’t try to stop these occurrences, we must always try! But, the heavily encrusted boat already has both sexes in close enough proximity to successfully spawn. Launch in one of our lakes and tie up at a dock for a few days. The mussels spawn right from the boat. Remember, the females produce a million eggs each year. In slow to no-flowing water, the veligers mature and now there’s an in-lake population dense enough to be able to spawn again. Game over.
New state laws include mandatory inspections before launching when entering the state, or when crossing the Continental Divide from east to west, and new this year, when entering the Flathead Basin. Even though our lakes are pretty tiny compared to Flathead Lake, the economy of our valley is just as closely linked to our lakes as the economy of the Flathead valley is linked to Flathead Lake. Why such special treatment for Flathead? They asked for it. It’s as simple as that. There are existing laws that allow the creation of AIS management areas either to contain an existing infestation or to prevent a new infestation.
I believe that the Clearwater Chain-of-Lakes deserves this special distinction and deserves special treatment and extra measures of protection. Whether the last or biggest or whatever, they are an unusual hydrological feature, they are the “go to” destination for many vacationers, and they support the way of life for the local residents. They are OUR lakes, not to mention home to endangered species, native trout, et cetera.
I would like to see the creation of an AIS management area for the Clearwater Chain-of-Lakes that would require inspection before launching for all watercraft coming into the area. Local residents who don’t leave the valley would not require an inspection. To ensure that the single, heavily mussel encrusted boat that bypassed all the inspection stations doesn’t launch in our lakes, we must have mechanisms in place at the boat launches to intercept and stop that boat.
It can’t be just me who wants a special AIS management area designation, the community must support such an initiative. So I’d like you all to carefully consider the role of our lakes in your lives and how far we should go to protect them.
State and Federal dollars are pretty available right now but this battle to keep the mussels out will never end, and government dollars won’t be available forever. Will we, as a community, work together to create the prevention program that will keep these unwanted critters out? We must figure out how to make it happen ourselves, without relying on State or Federal funds.
If you would like to participate in developing a long-term, community-based solution to this problem, please contact me at (406) 210-8453 or joann@crcmt.org. Even if you don’t have time to give, your input is also welcome and encouraged. Let me know what you think or what other ideas you have.
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