Snake River Quagga Contamination

[Wandering Sagebrush]

This news broke a few weeks ago, something I feared was going to happen. I don’t know if it will be possible to stop the spread into the Columbia River system.

Sad is an understatement.

https://www.eastidahonews.com/2023/12/fish-and-game-amends-closure-in-snake-river-following-presence-of-quagga-mussel-larvae/

 

[AWG_Pics]

They claim to have stopped this occurrence. Tested for veligers and did not find any. I think they also did some e-DNA sampling and did not find any trace of the mussels downstream. Good for them if they got it. The copper treatment was pre-approved years ago, despite toxicity to aquatic organisms.

Fingers crossed!

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

They claim to have stopped this occurrence. Tested for veligers and did not find any. I think they also did some e-DNA sampling and did not find any trace of the mussels downstream. Good for them if they got it. The copper treatment was pre-approved years ago, despite toxicity to aquatic organisms.

Fingers crossed!

Tony, I read that last week, but the linked article didn’t seem as optimistic. Hopefully, the earlier report is accurate. Definitely fingers crossed!

 

[AWG_Pics]

Steve,

It will be a major problem if/when the quaggas get established in the Columbia Basin.

 

[JWL]

I have not heard of the Quagga Muscle, we now have the Zebra Muscle in our local lake and are “hoping” it does not spread into our river. Looking up these things I see that they are similar but the Quagga is more aggressive. I think maybe we need to adopt the cleaning stations around here, make that everywhere that has them!

 

[ski3pin]

This news broke a few weeks ago, something I feared was going to happen. I don’t know if it will be possible to stop the spread into the Columbia River system.

Sad is an understatement.

https://www.eastidahonews.com/2023/12/fish-and-game-amends-closure-in-snake-river-following-presence-of-quagga-mussel-larvae/

Frightening is an understatement also. Maybe someday we'll realize that the majority of problems we face are ones that we've created. Our stewardship of this planet has been abysmal and we are past the point of no return. Enjoy what's left while we can..................................

 

[AWG_Pics]

Maybe someday we'll realize that the majority of problems we face are ones that we've created. Our stewardship of this planet has been abysmal and we are past the point of no return. Enjoy what's left while we can..................................

Beginning in the late 1980's I worked to reverse the damage done to nature by humans. Until retiring about 4 years ago I kept moving into positions with more influence and more $ to apply to the problems. It was never enough to do more than local improvements. Not nearly enough to reverse the flood of harm.

Quagga mussels are an order of magnitude worse and will force dam operators, irrigation entities, cities and other water conveyance authorities to spend their discretionary funds on cleaning and replacing quagga mussel infested infrastructure. I have often referred to this as 'a retreat to the concrete', because those mussels love concrete substrates to attach to. Any $ for habitat restoration will be pulled toward quagga mussel responses, but the funds will not be sufficient. Imagine just the cost of repeated cleaning/replacing water intakes for a hydropower turbine, or the effect on migrating fish of fish ladders being infested with millions of razor sharp mussel shells.

Yeah, this is an abysmal outcome.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I have not heard of the Quagga Muscle, we now have the Zebra Muscle in our local lake and are “hoping” it does not spread into our river. Looking up these things I see that they are similar but the Quagga is more aggressive. I think maybe we need to adopt the cleaning stations around here, make that everywhere that has them!

If they’re in the lake, they will soon be in the streams if not already.

Frightening is an understatement also. Maybe someday we'll realize that the majority of problems we face are ones that we've created. Our stewardship of this planet has been abysmal and we are past the point of no return. Enjoy what's left while we can..................................

I used sad as a euphemism for the long stream of profanity that was coursing through my thoughts. Pogo was right.