OWYHEE RESERVOIR – The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Friends of the Owyhee are sponsoring an invasive aquatic mussels education seminar at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 27.
The session will be at the Indian Creek Boat Dock at Owyhee Reservoir.
Two different types of invasive aquatic mussels are now established in lakes, rivers and reservoirs across the nation. The two types – zebra and quagga mussels – create problems with aquatic ecosystems, hydropower equipment, irrigation pumps and pipelines and boats.
The mussels are often introduced into a specific water ecosystem – such as the Owyhee Reservoir – by boats.
“Originally they came from the Black Sea in ballast water on ships on the Great Lakes,” said Keith DeHart, aquatic invasive species coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Tim Davis, the executive director of the Friends of the Owyhee, said if the mussels were introduced into a waterway such as the Owyhee Reservoir “they would thrive.”
“If it does get here there will be huge economic impacts to our farm industry,” he said.
Clancy Flynn, manager of the Owyhee Irrigation District, said the mussels are “bad news,” if they get into an irrigation system.
“They attach to all of the (water) intake structures. They keep attaching until things get plugged off. The Owyhee (Reservoir) is a really good habitat for them,” he said.
Until last year the Columbia River drainage basin – which includes the Owyhee Reservoir – was free of the mussels.
“Then they were detected near Twin Falls, Idaho, in the Snake River,” said DeHart.
That detection, he said, was a “highly concerning” event.
“The Columbia River was one of the last major holdouts for the detection of mussels,” he said.
DeHart said native fish and wildlife and aquatic plants “depend on ecosystems that are in balance. When these things come in it is a major disruption.”
Once the mussels are established in a body of water they are extremely difficult to destroy because they have no known national predators. The mussels carry the potential to disintegrate aquatic food webs, reducing fish populations.
“From a fisherman’s standpoint, it (mussels) disrupts the food web, the ability of fish to grow and to have their food sources is greatly diminished,” said Hart.
Since the primary source of water contamination by the mussels are boats, check stations sponsored by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Oregon Marine Board are set up in specific areas across the state to detect the pests.
The boat check stations are part of the state’s Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention Program.
News tip? Contact reporter Pat Caldwell at [email protected]
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