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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

More milfoil funds sought

Betsy Z. Russell Staff writer

BOISE – Idaho is reporting major progress on clearing out invasive milfoil that’s been choking its lakes and waterways.

State Agriculture Director Celia Gould told lawmakers Thursday that an aggressive eradication program has resulted in “a significant reduction in Eurasian water milfoil populations statewide.”

The state spent $4 million on fighting milfoil this past year and $4 million the year before. Gould is seeking another $4 million in the coming year to wrap up the three-year push, and Gov. Butch Otter is supporting the proposal.

“In the past two seasons, all known lake populations in Idaho have been aggressively treated,” Gould told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. In Cocolalla Lake, for example, 80 acres were treated in 2006 and 2007, and surveys afterward found no further infestation. In Hayden Lake, 300 acres were treated, and now the infestation there is down to 7 acres. Lake Pend Oreille, she said, remains a work in progress.

“Funding is requested to continue the fight against this aggressive invader and to continue the successful eradication effort,” Gould said.

State Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, said the continued funding is key.

“They have made tremendous progress,” he said.

Gould said, “It’s such an aggressive problem that we really have to keep after it – we’ve got to get that one under control so we can start addressing quagga mussels and whatever hits us next.”

Quagga mussels are fast-spreading, thumbnail-size mussels that have choked waterways and destroyed landscapes on the East Coast. They haven’t shown up in Idaho yet, but they’re spreading quickly into Western states.

Surrounding states have enacted strict laws; Washington, for instance, can intercept boats at the border and order mandatory cleanings and fines.

“Idaho is instituting an outreach plan and an early detection monitoring network in an effort to keep Idaho free of the quagga mussel,” Gould told legislative budget writers.

“Quaggas threaten natural resources, agriculture, recreation and power generation.”

The department isn’t proposing any legislation at this point, Gould said, but some lawmakers are looking at it. “We’re certainly going to help out however we can with any technical assistance,” she said.

Anderson said the mussel has been found in five reservoirs in California, as well as in lakes in Nevada and Arizona. “I think we’re out of time,” he said. “We’ve got to keep ‘em out.”

Anderson, who’s been a high-profile advocate for addressing milfoil in Idaho lakes, said the threat from quagga mussels is so great that it “makes milfoil look like a dinner salad.”

Power-washing boats with hot water before launching them into Idaho lakes is an important preventive step, he said.