Boat-washing program urged to prevent mussel infestation

BOISE – Idaho faces a costly infestation of the invasive quagga and zebra mussels if it doesn’t take action this spring, a North Idaho lawmaker says.

Republican Rep. Eric Anderson, of Priest Lake, said the millions of dollars it will cost to fight the mussels if they become established is too high for the state to do nothing to prevent it.

“I believe we’ll find mussels here if we don’t do something this spring,” Anderson told the Legislature’s Environmental Common Sense Task Force on Thursday.

Idaho Department of Agriculture Director Celia Gould told budget writers this month the cost to keep the mussels out was too high.

Anderson has proposed requiring owners of boats used in Idaho to buy $20 stickers, with the money used to operate a boat-washing program.

The mussels spread rapidly, clogging machinery and water pipes and destroying aquatic ecosystems. Once the mussels become established, they’re nearly impossible to eradicate.

The microscopic larvae of the mussels can be transported into Idaho in the Snake River from Wyoming, and by the Clark Fork from Montana. The larvae also can enter the state attached to waterfowl.