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Glacier National Park Thursday announced it was closing all of its waters to boating, including both motorized and non-motorized craft.
The closure comes after water samples from Tiber Reservoir east of Shelby tested positive for the larvae of aquatic invasive mussels, with similar tests from Canyon Ferry Reservoir near Helena showing “suspect” or inconclusive results, according to officials at Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
The Park’s aquatic invasive plan of 2014 calls for an immediate closure when invasive mussels are detected within a waterway in the state of Montana.
The Park will begin an assessment period to conduct testing, inspect park boats, and evaluate the risk boats pose to park waters and waters downstream from the unintended introduction of invasive mussels. The assessment will likely include the evaluation of further tests of waters across the state during the summer of 2017, the Park said Thursday.
The closure will remain in place during the assessment period, which will extend until the nature of the threat is better understood. There is no timeline at this point, said Park spokeswoman Lauren Alley, as the Park Service works with state agencies to collect data on the threat.
“Park scientists will work diligently with the state of Montana and other water quality experts to understand the scope of this threat, and identify steps the park will take to further protect our waters in the Crown of the Continent,” said park superintendent Jeff Mow in a release on Thursday.
Few people boat in the Park in the wintertime. Glacier biologists test its waterways for invasive mussels in the first couple of weeks of August, when the water is warmest. Glacier also requires that all boats entering the Park be tested before entering the water. Last year, no boats tested positive for mussels through the Park’s testing program, Alley noted, though some were intercepted at a check station near Browning and the west side of Flathead Lake.
In the North Fork of the Flathead, where the park boundary splits the waterway in half, there will not be a closure on the river, Alley said.
The Middle Fork of the Flathead is outside of the Park. The high water mark is the Park boundary.
Park rangers were posting notices near the waters Thursday. The closure does not include wading fishermen.
People caught boating in the Park could face misdemeanor charges, which carry fines up to $5,000 and six months in jail.