OUTLAW EAGLE MANUFACTURING

[SouthIdahoGary]

Kind of odd-Idaho is rarely in the forefront

And may be coming to a state /province near you.

May 20, 2009
BOISE – Starting in about a month, anyone pulling a boat into Idaho will have to pull over at a port of entry for inspection and possible decontamination in an effort to keep invasive quagga and zebra mussels out of the state.

Top state officials approved emergency measures Tuesday (05/19/09) for nearly a dozen such inspection stations around the state. One will be located at Huetter on Interstate 90 between Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.

The $1.8 million in emergency measures includes a statewide billboard campaign, education and outreach, signs on highways and boat ramps, and monitoring and enforcement.

But most of the money will be spent on inspection and decontamination, to stop the fast-spreading, thumbnail-size shellfish from turning Idaho’s lakes, reservoirs and beaches into shell-encrusted wastelands. That’s been the fate of numerous sites around the Great Lakes in Michigan, and the mussels in the past year have been spotted as far west as Utah and Nevada.

“We’re trying to get some of this put together as soon as we can, before we get too far into the boating season,” Lloyd Knight, administrator of the plant industries division at Idaho’s Department of Agriculture, told the state Board of Examiners on Tuesday.

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, chairman of the Board of Examiners, said the emergency measures are warranted. “The estimate right now is about 92 million bucks if we do nothing and just allow this very aggressive species to come in,” he said.

That’s the estimated cost – annually – to cope with a widespread infestation of the mussels in Idaho. The shellfish can clog irrigation pipes, hydropower plants, water system intakes and more.

“We don’t have a reservoir in the state of Idaho that isn’t somebody’s city water system,” Otter said.

Much of the cost of the programs will be funded by a new invasive species sticker that owners of all boats launched in Idaho must buy. The stickers cost $10 for boats registered in Idaho, $20 for those registered elsewhere, and $5 for nonmotorized boats, including canoes and kayaks, which are exempt from the usual boat registration. Only inflatables shorter than 10 feet are exempt from the sticker requirement.

The penalty for boating in Idaho without the sticker is a $57 fine.

Knight said regulations to match a new state law went into effect May 1, requiring the stickers and allowing the Agriculture Department to “put hold orders on watercraft they suspect is carrying invasive species.”

He said the new check stations will target “routes with a high amount of boat traffic from other states.” However, all watercraft would be required to pull in. Locals wouldn’t be kept long, he said.

Knight said he’ll request proposals from contractors to operate the inspection and decontamination stations, which will clean boats with 140-degree water to kill any invasive quagga or zebra mussels.

The tiny invaders can travel on boats in a microscopic form, if the boat was last in a contaminated body of water. The closest identified one to Idaho, at this point, is a reservoir in Utah.

Knight said of the 10 or more inspection stations statewide, four will be in North Idaho. In addition to the Huetter port of entry on I-90, they’ll include some that may “rove” to test boats traveling into Idaho on I-90 from Montana and possibly on the U.S. Highway 95 corridor. Another will target the Priest Lake and Priest River area.

May 21, 2009
Officials seize mussel-bearing boat -I

It took a tri-state effort to track down a boat covered with illegal, invasive mussels, allegedly speeding north toward the Pacific Northwest.

Acting on a tip, and with the help of Idaho and Utah state officials, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife tracked the vessel to Spokane, taking possession of it Tuesday. The boat will be decontaminated Thursday.

The interception comes as Idaho kicks off an emergency interception program and demonstrates the lengths to which authorities are prepared to go to keep the invasive marine life out of Pacific Northwest waterways.

The Spokane boat owner, who was not identified, had apparently been at Lake Mead in Nevada, said Sgt. Eric Anderson, enforcement director for Washington Fish and Wildlife.
The owner is likely facing a misdemeanor criminal charge for bringing a prohibited species across state lines, Anderson said. The charge carries a maximum fine of up to $3,500, 90 days in jail and possible forfeiture of the boat.

Here is a link to an FAQ-

http://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/invasivespeciesfaq.aspx

and another link to be able to buy one of the infamous stickers-not that this says your boat is clean, it is just a way to extract cash to ostensibly pay for the inspections, enforcement, washing stations but probably just going into the general fund and "we" will have to pay for cleanings, onsite inspections and whatever else "they" deem as necessary (but now I am editorializing.... )

https://www.accessidaho.org/secure/idpr/payport/index.html

EVERY craft that wishes to launch and use Idaho water (and they do not care where you are from) will have to have one of these stickers----even the rafts, kayaks and sailboards.

[east coast idiot]

Zebra mussles invaded the finger lakes in Western NY about 10 years ago. Back then, the state made an effort to stop the spread, but in the end, it was too little, too late.
The affect on the lakes is dramatic. The mussles feed on algea, so the first thing that happens, is the zebra mussle population explodes, and the water clears up. Visibility in the water goes from 5 feet to 50 feet. Then the mussle population exceeds the food supply, and they die off - they detach from the bottom when they die. The prevailing wind blows the dead mussles to the East shore where they rot and smell like death. Henderson Harbor on Lake Ontario had rotting mussles 3 miles deep that stunk so badly, my uncle moved out of town for the summer.
Eventually, the population stabilizes, and new things happen. The water is so clear, that sunlight is able to get to seaweed, and the shorelines get all choked up with weeds. It really sucks for anyone with a jetboat. I have to go to the lake inlet to launch the boat - otherwise the pump plugs up before I can get out of the 5mph speed zone.
Zebra mussles are sharp as razor blades. One step in the lake is worse than walking in a city parking lot. Water shoes are manditory.
Our drinking water supply has come from the lake and still does. After the mussle invasion, I had to re-engineer our water system with filters and back flush features. The ceramic filters are about $500 alone, and I have to dive out to the intake to service them every year. My brother thought that was unnecessary, and his pipes packed shut with the mussles in 4 months. The only way to get them out is to replace the pipe...
But I digress...
Zebra mussles suck, do whatever you can to keep them out.
The only thing worse than zebra mussles is hearing the words "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."
Good luck - eci

[Bald Man]

Yikes,,, That sounds like freaking nasty sheite.
I hope they don't come around here.