Mollusk invasion will wreak havoc

Imagine Montana's premier fishing lakes and streams are devoid of fish. Imagine further Montana's water recreation tourist industry has collapsed. Finally, imagine the devastating economic impact these scenarios would have on those Montana businesses that depend on fishing, water recreation and tourism, and the businesses that service them. Unfortunately, these catastrophic events could occur if Montana does not act immediately and boldly to stop the spread of two small aquatic invasive species – Zebra and Quagga Mussels.

If introduced into the waters of Montana, these mussels very quickly will consume available food for other aquatic animal species, including Montana's world-class sport fishery. The ecology of our waters will be forever changed. Colonies of mussels will clog filters, pipes, pumps, boat engines, power plant cooling infrastructure and agricultural irrigation systems. There are no known antidotes for an infestation of these species. Once introduced to a water body it is virtually impossible to remove them.

In the United States, the impacts of these mussels on infrastructure have cost the power industry alone $3.1 billion. With the extended impacts on industries, businesses and communities the costs swell to over $5 billion. It is safe to say that every citizen of Montana will experience increased utility bills, fees and taxes for maintenance, repair and replacement of Montana's commercial and private aquatic infrastructure if these mollusks are introduced to Montana's waters.

Unlike other mollusks, Zebra and Quagga mussels have small "tentacles' that permit attachment to any surface – boats, boat motors, piers, pumps, docks, gravel beaches and any other hard surface to which they are exposed. Thus, boats and other watercraft with mussels or mussel eggs 'veligers' attached, transported from an infested water body to a mussel-free water body, are the primary source of the spread of these harmful species.

These mussels, natives of Russia that hitchhiked in cargo ship bilge water, are now pervasive throughout the Great Lakes, the East Coast, the Midwest and parts of the Southwest and West. Waters of British Columbia and Alberta, Canada have also been infested. In the past two years Nevada, California, Arizona, Utah and Colorado have discovered these species in their waters. Infected boats being transported from Nevada and Utah to lakes in the Northwest have been reported and intercepted traveling through Montana, Idaho and Washington. So far these states have dodged the bullet as far as we know. But the threat to Montana and the Northwest becomes greater every day.

So what can we do to stop the invasion? Prevention is the first, most cost effective means by which to protect our lakes and streams from Zebra and Quagga Mussels. Investment in prevention is far less expensive than the management and maintenance costs resulting from an infestation. For example, Idaho estimates that its $1.8 annual investment in prevention will avoid over $50 million annually in mitigation costs. Boat inspection stations and wash-down facilities at all likely points of entry into Montana from other states is our first line of defense. Comprehensive public education and outreach to anglers and recreational boaters to clean their boats each time they take them out of a water body are also important defensive strategies.

The Montana State Legislature passed, and the Governor signed into law, the Montana Aquatic Invasive Species Act of 2009. The new Montana Aquatic Invasive Species Act provides virtually all the tools we need to prevent an invasion of these species in Montana. Unfortunately, the Act is not adequately funded to include our most effective defensive strategy – border and boat ramp inspection stations.

Our neighboring states of Idaho, Washington and Oregon consider the threat so serious and imminent they have, to varying degrees, taken emergency executive and urgent legislative action, or both, to fund border boat inspections and other prevention strategies. Montana has yet to adequately respond to the urgency of the threat.

The Flathead Basin Commission has facilitated a workgroup of federal and state resource management agencies, local governments, tribal, and NGOs in preparing a Flathead Basin Aquatic Invasive Species Implementation Plan. Armed with this plan, The Flathead Basin Workgroup is 'shovel ready" to prevent the Zebra and Quagga Mussels from entering Flathead Lake and the waters of the Flathead Basin if adequate funding is made available.

Governor Schweitzer has been asked to invoke provisions of the new Aquatic Invasive Species Act that authorizes the Governor to declare an emergency, designate the state a management area, and spend up to $3 million in emergency funds to combat the imminent threat of an invasion. It is reported that Montana enjoys a $400 million budget surplus. The Governor appears to have the resources to address this imminent and growing threat.

I respectfully implore him to do so immediately.

Clinton Whitney is the current Chairman of the Flathead Basin Commission and was a contributor to the drafting and passage of the Montana Aquatic Invasive Species Act of 2009.