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County floating ideas for stemming mussel invasion |
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Thursday, 19 March 2009 |
 The county is in a tight spot, as it has an obligation to keep local waters clear of the highly invasive,and destructive quagga mussels. So, the county must decide whether to close Diaz Lake and Klondike Lake to watercraft altogether, or hire boat inspectors. Either decision will have economic impacts on the county. File photos By Mike Gervais
Register Staff
3-17-2009 Inyo County has an obligation to protect waters it manages from invasive quagga and zebra mussels, but financial barriers have left the Board of Supervisors with minimal options, and none of them are very appealing.
Deputy County Administrator Chuck Hamilton told the board last Tuesday that he has identified five alternatives that will deal with the quagga conundrum that range from breaking the county-wide hiring freeze to bringing on seasonal staff to inspect boats for the mussels before they launch, to closing the boat launch completely, to hiring a concessionaire to manage the operation.
The board leaned towards hiring seasonal staff to meet the county’s short-term needs this year as it looked into the possibility of contracting with a concessionaire to meet its long-term needs. The board also wants help from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
But the supervisors ultimately decided to hold off on making any decisions until after an as-yet unscheduled workshop, where Hamilton will talk about the likelihood of hiring seasonal help to manage campsites in exchange for free camping spaces.
The board told Hamilton to consider incorporating quagga mussel inspections at Diaz Lake into the campsite host program.
“If the mussel invades the recreational waterways of the Owens Valley, the fishing and water recreation activities will suffer and in the most severe situations can disappear all together,” Hamilton told the board.
Quagga mussels originated in Eurasia, and hitch-hiked their way west on cargo ships, eventually landing in the Great Lakes in the late 1980s.
From there the bivalves hitched rides on recreational water equipment and made their way south and west, ending up in Lake Mead.
Once in the U.S., the invasive species began traveling down the California Aqueduct, owned and operated by the Metropolitan Water District, where they began to encrust and build up in pipe systems at dams.
The LADWP has not yet been troubled by the mussels, and hopes to keep it that way by mandating boat inspections on local waters to keep the alien invaders from getting their feet wet here.
Just one quagga mussel can lead to a full blown infestation if it makes its way into any waterway connected with the river.
“An adult female quagga mussel can release 1,000,000 eggs each season,” Hamilton said. “The mussels can multiply and spread rapidly and exhibits a razor-sharp shell that can litter the beach areas of Diaz Lake” should they take root there.
“LADWP’s expectation is that no watercraft is operated on Diaz Lake without first being inspected,” Hamilton said, adding that the department “has requested that the county develop and implement a plan to control the potential spread of the mussel to Diaz Lake.”
The problem with that, Hamilton said, is that “there is a current lack of county park personnel to inspect watercraft and to provide ramp use controls at Diaz Lake.”
The first of the five recommendations presented to the board on Tuesday suggested that the county “do nothing.”
Hamilton said the benefit to that option is that the county would not have to hire any additional help to conduct boat inspections.
On the down side, “LADWP could terminate the lease, then the county is obligated to remove all lessee-owned improvements, structures and personal property and shall leave the premises in a level, graded condition,” Hamilton said, adding that LADWP could, and most likely would, waive that requirement.
Hamilton also said that taking no action on quagga mussels could lead to a full-blown infestation in local waters that would almost surely lead to economic and water quality issues down the road.
Hamilton’s second alternative suggested closing Diaz to all watercraft and allowing only shore fishing, which would prevent the spread of mussels and the necessity of hiring additional staff.
The problem with that route, Hamilton said, is that no one in the community or who visits the area to fish would be happy about seeing Diaz closed to boating.
Hamilton also said that LADWP is considering the possibility of closing Klondike Lake near Big Pine, the only other body of water in the Owens Valley suitable for water skiing and other aquatic sports.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 25 April 2009 )
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