Quagga Mussels on a rope.
photo/u.s. forest service
M y t i M e A s A g O v e r n M e n t A g e n t , s e A r c h i n g fO r i n v A s i v e s p ec i e s by Wi l l i Am Al bri g HT
AmericA is being invAded by Aliens!
I’m not talking about foreign children crossing our southern border or malevolent beings from outer space. This is an invasion of tiny plants and animals from around the world that threaten our waterways and even our way of life. I should know. I was a boat inspector in the front lines of the war against aquatic invasive species. I saw the job posting last winter as I was considering what to do for the summer. The idea of hanging out on a boat ramp by a mountain lake was very appealing. I applied for and got a job with the Truckee Regional Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention Program—TRAISPP. TRAISPP covers several reservoirs in the Truckee River Watershed, including Boca, Prosser and Stampede—water bodies popular with boaters wanting to avoid the hassle and expense of launching at Lake Tahoe. Last year, the program was voluntary for boaters, so being a boat inspector was more about education than enforcement. We would normally be on station at first light to ensure thorough screening of OPINION
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all vessels before they launched. Only a few hardy fishermen would already be afloat. Mornings can be quite cold until the lake fog burns off, and the boaters begin to arrive. Until then, deer, eagles and the occasional hot air balloon rule the dawn. When the boaters arrived, I would direct them to a coned-off area and hand them a clip board with a screening application for them to fill out. While they were completing it, I would ask them a few casual questions to determine if their boats required an actual inspection, decontamination or even the extreme measure of quarantine. Most often a screening application was all that was needed, so I would explain about aquatic invasive species and how to guard against them. At that point, I would issue the vessel a sticker for the season, good throughout the watershed and at Donner Lake, which has its own inspectors. During training, a lot of emphasis was placed on dealing with difficult boaters, but it is my experience that most boaters were at least patient with the process, and many expressed sincere gratitude that we were there to protect their water.
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In hundreds of encounters, I only had one negative experience and that was with a boater who irrationally thought the information we were collecting would be used by the government to track his movements.
Alien Origin Whatever you may think about the merits of globalization, one thing is certain: All that global trade is helping transport foreign plants and animals to places where they don’t belong. Quagga mussels are one of the greatest threats to North American waters. They are no threat to their native Ukrainian lakes and rivers, thanks to natural predators and other factors, but having no such restraints here, they are free to multiply without constraint. Scientists believe quaggas made their way to North America in the ballast tanks of ocean-going ships headed for ports in the Great Lakes. Quaggas were first spotted in Lake Erie in 1989.
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THIS WEEK
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MISCELLANY
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AUGUST 21, 2014
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“Alien invAsiOn” conTinued on pAge 14
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