Asian-carp threat stirs rethink of century-old feat: Great Lakes states want to effectively undo a historic project and cut link to Mississippi River to fend off invasive fish
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 16, 2010 at 8:03 amNot California-related, but this story is a big deal, and it has a lot of themes in common with California. Like invasive species devastating ecosystems. Like big stakeholders on all sides with something significant to lose. Like no easy answer, especially one where nobody has to take a hit. From the Wall Street Journal:
“CHICAGO—More than a century ago, this city reversed the flow of its eponymous river, connecting the Great Lakes with the Gulf of Mexico and defining itself as the can-do capital of the American heartland.
Today, that engineering feat is coming under growing scrutiny, as scientists and politicians intensify their battle against a voracious flying fish that has been traveling up the Mississippi for 20 years. Amid signs that Asian carp have breached the last defensive barrier, calls are mounting for a massive do-over.
“We know these barriers aren’t working,” said Joel Brammeier, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes and the lead author of a 2008 report that laid out how this project might look. “An ecological separation is the only permanent solution.”
Six Great Lakes states and the Canadian province of Ontario have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to separate the water basins in a last-ditch effort to prevent the Asian carp from decimating the $7 billion Great Lakes fishing industry. The Army Corps of Engineers has launched a $10 million, five-year feasibility study of the idea. And the plan became the focus of a hearing on the Asian carp problem on Capitol Hill last week. … “
Read more from the Wall Street Journal by clicking here.
Tough choices follow in wake of invasive species
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 2, 2010 at 8:11 amFrom the Washington Post (hat tip to the Sisweb):
“Which is worse? Closing two locks on a waterway that’s used to ship millions of dollars’ worth of goods from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi basin? Or allowing a voracious Asian carp to deplete the food supply of native fish sustaining a Midwestern fishing industry that nets $7 billion a year?
And how do you put a price tag on the damage caused by the Burmese python and other constrictor snakes that are strangling the precious ecology of the Everglades?
Invasive species, long the cause of environmental hand-wringing, have been raising more unwelcome questions recently, as the expense of eliminating them is weighed against the mounting liability of leaving them be.
Those questions became more urgent Tuesday when a team of scientists led by the University of Notre Dame disclosed that silver carp dominating stretches of the Mississippi River and its tributaries had infiltrated Lake Michigan. The federal government had spent $22 million on electric barriers in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to keep carp out, but it clearly wasn’t enough. An additional $33 million is going into the effort next year. … “
Read more from the Washington Post by clicking here.
Why the Great Lakes fears the brutal Asian carp: “I feel like I was in a [bleeping] prize fight”
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 15, 2010 at 7:12 amFrom Josh Mogerman at the NRDC Swithcboard blog:
“Folks outside the Midwest might be scratching their heads wondering what all the hubbub is about with these Asian carp… Here on Switchboard, we’ve talked a lot about the ecosystem, legal, and infrastructure issues around the problem. But we haven’t really talked much about their impact on quality of life—that’s the easiest part to show.
I ran into the clip below on the TwentyNow blog’s posting entitled, “Why is this boater wearing a helmet…” That question is answered in the first 90 seconds of this video (but be warned, you might want to turn off your speakers at work or around kids)… I love the “That was like a [bleeping] right cross to the chin!” comment… ”
Read more from Josh Mogerman at the NRDC Switchboard blog by clicking here.
Invasive species threaten US biodiversity: As 2010, the UN’s International Year of Biodiversity, gets underway, a fight against some of the most damaging invasive species in US waterways is heating up
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 5, 2010 at 8:13 amFrom the guardian.co.uk:
“As 2010, the UN’s International Year of Biodiversity, gets underway, a fight against some of the most damaging invasive species in US waterways is heating up.
The UN says some experts put the rate at which species are disappearing at 1,000 times the natural rate, and invasive species – which consume the food or habitat of native species, or the native species themselves – are one factor contributing to this acceleration. Climate change is another major factor.
“Often it will be the combination of climate change and [invasive] pests operating together that will wipe species out,” says Tim Low of the Australia-based Invasive Species Council.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature says that 38% of the 44,838 species catalogued on its Red List are “threatened with extinction” – and at least 40% of all animal extinctions for which the cause is known are the result of invasive species. … “
Read more from guardian.co.uk by clicking here.
Search for Tahoe mussels extends to reservoirs, other lakes
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 4, 2010 at 7:58 amFrom the Reno Gazette-Journal:
“The hunt for invading mussels that could pose an ecological disaster for the region will extend beyond Lake Tahoe to other threatened lakes and reservoirs.
Donner and Independence lakes and Boca, Stampede and Prosser Creek reservoirs will be searched for the possible presence of quagga or zebra mussels. Boats launching into these water bodies could soon be inspected to ensure mussels are not attached to their hulls.
“We want to help these other lakes at risk,” said Kim Boyd, invasive species program manager for the Tahoe Resource Conservation District that has led the 2-year-old boat inspection effort in the Tahoe Basin. … “
Read more from the Reno Gazette-Journal by clicking here.
Beetles on the move; a cure worse than the disease?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 22, 2009 at 8:42 amFrom Arizona Star Reporter Shawn McKinnon’s Waterlogged blog:
“Biologists have found the first tamarisk leaf beetles along the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.
By itself, that could be good news: The beetles eat tamarisk, or salt cedar, an invasive tree species that resource managers have been trying to eradicate along many Western river banks. Let the beetles in and maybe the tamarisk — another non-native import — will die off.
But this isn’t good news. The tamarisk leaf beetle was released in Colorado
several years ago as a biological control agent, a sort of natural weed killer. Biologists said the beetle couldn’t survive the climate south of about Lake Powell.Instead, the beetles have spread downstream on the Colorado and at least one of its tributaries, the Virgin River in southwestern Utah and southern Nevada. The concern now is that the little bugs have started to adapt to different environments.
Most at risk is habitat for the endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher, a migratory songbird that nests and breeds in riparian areas of Arizona and New Mexico. The birds like to make homes in — wait for it — tamarisk trees. …”
Read more from Waterblogged by clicking here.
The high costs of ballast-water stowaways
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 6, 2009 at 7:32 amFrom the San Francisco Chronicle:
“The St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959 to great fanfare. The system of canals connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the five Great Lakes cut a lucrative international trade route through the heartland and gave the United States a refuge and staging ground for ships and submarines in case of war with the Soviet Union.
No one expected the seaway to become the key player in a different war, the invasion of nonnative aquatic species into the Great Lakes, which has dramatically altered ecosystems and costs hundreds of millions of dollars a year. About a third of the 186 invasive species in the Great Lakes are thought to have entered on oceangoing ships in the ballast water they take on for stabilization when carrying little or no cargo.
Zebra and quagga mussels from the Black Sea clog intake structures for municipal water systems and power plants. The mussels also gobble plankton so voraciously that little is left for other organisms. Round gobies and other invasive fish beat out native fish for food supplies, harming the lucrative commercial and sport fishing industries. Ballast is even blamed for the emergence of viral hemorrhagic septicemia, often called “fish ebola,” resulting in large fish kills in the past several years. …”
Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.
Mussel invasion feared at South County lakes; Boats may face inspection next year
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 4, 2009 at 9:16 amFrom the Monterey County Herald:
“This may be the last Labor Day weekend without vessel inspections at two Monterey County-owned lakes that are popular with boaters.
The inspections would be part of an effort to prevent the spread of quagga and zebra mussels, invasive species that can clog water pipelines and screens, reducing pumping capabilities for power and water treatment facilities.
The mussels can move from infested areas to new sites on watercraft such as boats and Jet Skis that are not properly cleaned. They can live out of water for up to a week.
County water officials have given the go-ahead for staff to prepare and implement an invasive species prevention plan, which could include inspections of thousands of boats launching at Lake San Antonio and Lake Nacimiento each year. …”
Read more from the Monterey County Herald by clicking here.
Grant aims at removing invasive plant along Feather River
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 31, 2009 at 12:59 pmFrom the Chico Enterprise Record:
“Invasive weeds are causing big-time problems for resource managers throughout the Sacramento Valley, and the state, nation and globe.
Several weeds are on the hit list for wildlife managers, including Arrundo donax, tamarisk, purple loosestrife and starthistle. Adding to this growing list is red sesbania. A newly acquired grant through the Butte County Resource Conservation District will be used to try and remove it along the Feather River.
Like many weeds, the plant is attractive, which means people have planted it in their yards. Red sesbania is also known as scarlet wisteria and the Latin name sesbania punicea. The fast-growing vine has tentacles that wrap around other vegetation, smothering it. The seed pods are about three inches long and contain many seeds in each pod.
The weed is a problem because it reproduces quickly and the plants form a dense thicket along river banks. …”
Read more from the Chico Enterprise Record by clicking here.
Phil Dirkx: Mussels place Nacimiento pipeline at risk
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 23, 2009 at 9:53 amFrom SanLuisObispo.com, this column by Phil Dirkx:
“A costly menace now threatens the 80-percent-complete Nacimiento pipeline project. It isn’t the menace of lawsuits by disgruntled water-bill payers. It’s the menace of damage by shellfish the size of pats of butter.
They are quagga mussels from Ukraine who sneak rides on boats and ships. They and their smaller cousins, zebra mussels, have done billions of dollars of damage to water-works and hydroelectric plants back East.
Their strength is in numbers. One female produces half a million offspring a year. Swarms of them attach in layers to almost any surface, including the insides of pipes and the outsides of docks. They clog intake screens and boat motors.
They devastate the environment. They eat every little thing. In some water where you could barely see 12 inches down, they clear it to 12 feet down. Nothing remains for other creatures. Quaggas accumulate so much toxic material from the water they become poisonous. Many birds that eat them die. …”
Read more of Phil Dirkx column by clicking here.
War’s on against invasive mussels
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 9, 2009 at 8:04 amFrom the San Diego Union Tribune:
“Release the hounds. Pour the bacteria. Deploy ravenous fish. Doable or doubtful, California and federal officials are sizing up diverse strategies in their frantic campaign to contain trillions of quagga mussels, dime-sized invaders threatening water and power supplies in California and across the Southwest.
“While we and everyone else continue to search for a method of controlling them, we haven’t found the answer yet,” said Curt Brown, director of research and development for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Solutions may be on the horizon, however distant. Most promising and closest to approval is a strain of common bacteria that is safe for humans, but produces a toxin so well disguised that it can sneak past a quagga mussel’s self-defense mechanism of clamming up to protect itself from ingesting anything deadly. …”
Read more from the San Diego Union Tribune by clicking here.
Predators battle bugs, become pests themselves
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 22, 2009 at 7:51 amFrom the Associated Press:
Imported insects have been deployed as foot soldiers in the fight against invasive bugs and plants that cause billions of dollars in damage each year. But some of those imports are proving to be pests themselves that upset the balance of nature and threaten native species.
A weevil released to attack a weed has veered off target and is gobbling up a native plant in Nebraska. A fly that was supposed to kill invasive moths is wiping out native moths in New England. And an insect introduced to combat a pesky weed led to a spike in the population of mice carrying a potentially deadly virus in Montana.
Despite such scattered scientific mishaps, the Associated Press found the federal agency that has approved the importation and release of hundreds of insects over the past three decades seldom tracks their effects on other species and the environment and does not even know whether most of the introduced bugs have died off or thrived unchecked.
It largely leaves the monitoring of bug releases to states and researchers who critics say have little funding or inclination to track impacts that might not show up for decades.
Read more from the Associated Press by clicking here.
Invasive mussels imperil western water system
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 18, 2009 at 12:31 pmFrom the Merced Sun-Star:
Two years after an invasive mussel was first discovered at Lake Mead, the population has firmly established itself and gone on a breeding binge, with numbers soaring into the trillions.
Despite efforts to stop their spread, scientists say it’s only a matter of time before quagga mussels appear throughout the West’s vast system of reservoirs and aqueducts, raising operation and maintenance costs by untold millions.
Water agencies and wildlife managers in California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah have put in place aggressive measures to try to prevent their spread, including mandatory decontamination or quarantine of boats traveling from infested areas or chlorinating some water inlets to try to kill off the mussels. But as their counterparts in the northeast and Great Lakes region have found, eradicating the mussels is virtually impossible. The thumb-sized mollusks attach to almost anything and can clog drains and pipes, freeze up cooling systems, kill off native species and render power boats inoperable.
“Over time, maybe not this decade or the next, I would think eventually they’ll be almost around the country,” said Amy Benson, fishery biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Florida.
Read more from the Merced Sun-Star by clicking here.
Treating ballast water could fight invasive species
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 15, 2009 at 8:02 amFrom NPR’s Morning Edition:
Ships that transport goods around the world are carrying some dangerous stowaways. Tiny organisms travel from port to port in a ship’s ballast water. And some of them have become invasive species, wreaking havoc in waters around the world.
So scientists are testing ways to kill these potential invaders before they can escape.
One place that sort of testing takes place is on the Cape Washington, a 700-foot cargo vessel moored in the Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore.
“The Chesapeake is a perfect place for this work,” says Mario Tamburri, a researcher at the University of Maryland and director of the state’s Maritime Environmental Resource Center. He estimates that at least 150 nonnative species have become residents of the Chesapeake Bay — most probably arriving in ballast water.
Read more from NPR’s Morning Edition by clicking here.
Mussel pain at San Justo; Unbelievable population explosion’ of the species as officials prepare to treat reservoir with potash
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 11, 2009 at 10:01 amFrom the Weekend Pinnacle:
With invasive zebra mussels “flourishing” in the closed-to-the-public San Justo Reservoir, officials are awaiting federal approval to begin an eradication program that, if not started by this fall, would keep the popular fishing and boating spot closed for another year.
The United States Bureau of Reclamation, the San Benito County Water District and the California Department of Fish and Game propose to get ride of the fingernail-sized freshwater mussel by treating the reservoir with potash and chlorine after its yearly water deliveries draw down the basin, located off Union Road.
Water officials around the state are monitoring the San Justo infestation, the only one of its kind in the state, because allowing zebra mussels into the state’s waterways could be devastating.
“We’re terribly concerned about their spread,” said Dana Michaels, spokeswoman for the state Department of Fish and Game. “They can be disastrous if they get throughout the water system and they produce toxins that kill local, native organisms. They reproduce massively and fast so if they get into water pipe systems for drinking water or irrigation, they can clog them up quickly.”
Read more from the Weekend Pinnacle by clicking here.
Zebra mussels hang on while quagga mussels take over
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 15, 2009 at 7:10 amFrom Science Daily:
The zebra mussels that have wreaked ecological havoc on the Great Lakes are harder to find these days — not because they are dying off, but because they are being replaced by a cousin, the quagga mussel. But zebra mussels still dominate in fast-moving streams and rivers.
Research conducted by Suzanne Peyer, a doctoral candidate in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Zoology, shows that physiological differences between the two species might determine which mollusk dominates in either calm or fast-moving waters.
“Zebra mussels quite rapidly colonized rivers close to the Great Lakes right after their introduction, within a year or two,” Peyer explains. “Quagga mussels were introduced in the Great Lakes around 20 years ago, but they are still not found in the rivers or tend to be present in low numbers.”
The mussels are similar in many ways. Their habitats overlap, and both are suspension feeders that filter water to extract their food. But the cousin species are different in many ways, too. Zebra mussels prefer to attach to a hard surface, while quagga mussels can live on soft bottoms, such as sand or silt. Zebra mussels also prefer warmer water temperatures and do not grow as big as quagga mussels.
Read more from Science Daily by clicking here.
More can be done to prevent spread of mussels
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 27, 2009 at 6:24 amFrom the Lake County Record-Bee:
Lake County started the quagga mussel boat sticker program nearly two years ago and to date it has been a success. Authorities report that nearly 95 percent of all boats launched into Clear Lake have a current quagga mussel sticker.
The way the sticker program works is that every boater who plans on launching a boat in any water within Lake County must first obtain a sticker. The boater fills out a questionnaire, answering questions about where the boat has been housed and if it has recently been at any lake that currently has an infestation of quagga mussels. A screener checks the questionnaire and if he/she determines the boat is safe, then the boater is issued a sticker. The sticker is good indefinitely for county residents and annually for out-of-county residents.
Whereas the initial sticker program has been successful much more needs to be done. As outlined in a recent quagga mussel workshop conducted by the Department of Fish and Game (DFG), Lake County has yet to implement a program where boats can be reinspected after they leave and then return to the county. There is also no program to decontaminate a boat that is suspected of containing mussels.
The county did purchase four decontamination stations last year but they have never been installed and now the county plans to dispose of them. If an inspector actually finds evidence of any mussels attached to a boat, he/she is supposed to call the DFG, which will then quarantine the vessel for 30 days.
Read more from the Lake County Record-Bee by clicking here.
Three more Inland lakes begin inspections for destructive quagga mussels
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 21, 2009 at 7:40 amFrom the Riverside Press-Enterprise:
Operators of at least three more Inland lakes have started inspecting boats and other watercraft this spring to make sure there is no evidence of invasive quagga mussels before allowing them on the water.
Officials at Lake Perris State Recreation Area, Lake Hemet and Silverwood Lake State Recreation Area are making sure vessels and equipment are cleaned, drained and dry, or else visitors will be turned away. The inspections are designed to prevent the spread of the rapidly reproducing quagga and zebra mussels, which can destroy native wildlife, damage boat motors and clog the pipes and pumps that keep water flowing to Southern California homes and businesses.
“We’re trying to protect our resource for today and future generations,” said Lake Perris Superintendent Norb Ruhmke.
Inspections had already been required at other Inland lakes including Lake Skinner, Big Bear Lake and Lake Arrowhead.
Read more from the Press-Enterprise by clicking here.
DFG reminds anglers to “Clean, Drain and Dry” when fishing California waters: Boat inspections occurring around state
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 5, 2009 at 8:13 amFrom the California Department of Fish & Game:
The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) advises anglers to “clean, drain and dry” to avoid being turned away from their favorite lake or reservoir. Many local water authorities have instituted inspection programs to prevent the introduction of Quagga or Zebra mussels into their waters.
“Quagga and Zebra mussels are a serious threat to our aquatic environment and fisheries,” said Donald Koch, DFG Director. “Once in a water body, the mussels can be difficult to impossible to remove. Watercraft are a primary source for spreading the mussels, so anglers can help protect their favorite fishing holes by remembering to clean, drain and dry boats and equipment.”
DFG also urges anglers to check on their destinations to see what launch restrictions may be in place. Requirements vary from water to water, and some locations have instituted a fee to underwrite inspection services. All anglers are encouraged to call ahead and be prepared to have vessels inspected.
In addition to damaging the aquatic environment and fisheries, mussels pose serious problems for boaters and water enthusiasts. They can:
* ruin a boat engine by blocking the cooling system – causing overheating
* increase drag on the bottom of a boat, reducing speed and wasting fuel
* jam boat steering equipment
* require scraping and repainting of boat bottom
* colonize all underwater substrates such as boat ramps, docks, lines and other underwater surfaces, requiring constant cleaning
* potentially require closure of waterways where mussels are present
Invasive mussels put Lake Powell at risk
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 4, 2009 at 6:04 amFrom the Zonie Report:
Can Lake Powell repel the invasion of the dreaded quagga mussel? The answer from federal biologists, tasked with preventing the spread of the highly destructive European bivalve, is a qualified yes.
“I think what they’re doing at Lake Powell is about as best a job as we can do, given the resources we have,” says David Britton, assistant invasive species coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Southwest. “I can’t say it’s 100 percent protected. But I think they have a good shot.”
But others are not so sure. Among them are environmental and sport-fishing advocates, who fear that the quagga mussel could radically alter Lake Powell’s ecology, and decimate the fish populations that draw thousands of boaters to the lake each year.
The mussels, which reproduce with staggering speed, filter nutrients from the water and are credited with doing massive damage to the health of the Great Lakes after their arrival in the 1980s. The mussels are believed to have traveled from Europe in the ballast water of an oceanic freighter.
“Someone needs to step up and provide coordinated leadership to keep mussels out of Lake Powell and the Salt River system,” says Paul Ostapuk, senior board member of Friends of Lake Powell, a non-profit advocacy group. “It’s been a piece-meal effort thus far.”
Read more from the Zonie Report by clicking here.
Santa Barabara County Board of Supervisors rejects plea to ban all boats at Lake Cachuma, raises launch fees instead
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 28, 2009 at 7:06 amFrom the Santa Maria Times:
The fees for boaters at Lake Cachuma will increase 35 to 45 percent beginning at the end of April in order to continue procedures that work to prevent the infestation by a noxious species of mussel. The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors approved the boat-launch fee increases Tuesday in Santa Maria, while rejecting calls from several water agencies to ban all boats.
Lake Cachuma serves as a major water supply for areas in the South Coast as well as communities downstream on the Santa Ynez River. An infestation of the voracious quagga mussel could quickly destroy the lake’s ecosystem, clog water pipes and damage other equipment, according to officials.
The annual senior-citizen launch fee was amended Tuesday to jump $30, as opposed to the proposed $45 because of changes implemented by the board.
The seniors annual launch fee will increase to $85 from $55; the regular annual launch fee would increase to $125 from $65; and the daily boat launch fee would rise to $13 from $8.
Read more from the Santa Maria Times by clicking here.
Scientists keep a close eye on beetle experiment with satellite imagery; and, does tamarisk deserve it’s bad water-sucking reputation?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 11, 2009 at 8:51 pmFrom the Salt Lake Tribune:
Millions of imported beetles have been deployed across the West to fight a tenacious Eurasian tree that clogs river banks and crowds out native vegetation.
The beetle appears to be doing its job — diligently munching leaves as a way to eventually kill the nonnative trees — but there’s no comprehensive program to keep an eye on the bug’s spread and make sure it’s not unleashing unintended, large-scale environmental consequences, according to University of Utah researchers.
The scientists say they think satellite technology can be harnessed for that job, especially for tracking progress in many of the West’s remote waterways where tamarisk, or salt cedar, has taken hold. “It’s a cheap way to do it over large areas,” said Philip Dennison, an assistant professor of geography and a lead author of a study looking at ways to track the battle between the beetles and the tamarisk.
Tamarisk arrived in North America in the late 1800s and was used for windbreaks, erosion control and as landscape decoration, according to the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. But since then, it has flourished out of control in some places, especially along rivers and streams where it sucks water and out-competes many native species.
In 2001, scientists began experimental releases of the tamarisk leaf beetle, a quarter-inch bug that evolved in Eurasia and only feeds on tamarisk. The idea? Release the beetles into areas infested with tamarisk, let them feast on the leaves and, over time, hopefully the trees would die.
It’s been tried in at least 14 states with federal approval in recent years, and has been most successful in parts of Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming, said Dan Bean, an entomologist with the Colorado Department of Agriculture.
“The beetles are doing what they’re supposed to,” Bean said.
More from the Salt Lake Tribune by clicking here.
The satellite photos are also refuting a long-held belief that tamarisk were transpiring a significant amount of water, says the LA Times Greenspace blog:
Conventional wisdom says a single tamarisk, also known as saltcedar, can gulp 200 gallons of water a day from riverbanks. The real figure may be a tenth of that, says Philip Dennison, a University of Utah assistant professor of geography who is monitoring the effects of a recently introduced bug that attacks tamarisk.
The saltcedar leaf beetle munches away the tree’s wispy foliage. As part of a study to be published online this month in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment, Dennison and fellow researchers are mapping the leaf loss with satellite imagery.
Since leaf area is linked to a plant’s water use, the images are also an index of saltcedar’s water consumption, which Dennison says has been confirmed with on-the-ground sap flow measurements. “There’s not any good scientific evidence” for the 200-gallon figure, Dennison said. It’s more like 20.
Read more from the Greenspace blog by clicking here.
More information from the Environment News Service by clicking here.
Great Lakes scourge infects West: Quagga mussels are clogging Hoover Dam, colonizing lakes, rivers
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 22, 2009 at 8:12 amHere is a great read from the Milwaukee Sentinel-Journal:
It took some of America’s best engineers, thousands of laborers and two years of around-the-clock concrete pouring to build the 726-foot-high Hoover Dam back in the 1930s. It took less time than that for the tiny, brainless quagga mussel to bring operators of this modern wonder of the world to their knees.
While federal lawmakers continue to squabble over how to stop overseas ships from dumping unwanted organisms into the world’s largest freshwater system, the Great Lakes’ most vexing invasive-species problem has gone national.
And so is the pressure to change the way the lakes’ shrinking overseas shipping industry operates. An average of fewer than two ocean ships per day now arrive in the Great Lakes during the nine-month shipping season, yet the industry is still responsible for most of the invasive species introductions into the lakes since the St. Lawrence Seaway opened 50 years ago.
“Some people think we just have a handful of ships coming in and that it’s just a Great Lakes problem, but it’s not,” says Jennifer Nalbone of the conservation group Great Lakes United. “Our invasions are spreading like wildfire across the continent.”
This article is filled with a lot of interesting details, including the impact that the quagga mussels are having on Hoover Dam:
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation researcher Leonard Willett works in the lower intestines of Hoover Dam, in a windowless office converted into a war room to beat back the clustering mussels with chemicals, heat and even bacteria. He says common sense tells him this little speck of a critter shouldn’t be a threat to something as grand as this concrete dam, which is thicker than the lengths of two football fields.
Yet Willett is in a nonstop fight against a foe that is clogging the dam’s cooling pipes like plaque in the arteries of a heart-diseased patient.
If he loses, the generators will overheat, and a power plant that can supply electricity to half a million homes will shut down.
“You wouldn’t think that a little fingernail-sized mollusk could stop or slow down a dam this size, but when you see what these little critters can do, it is amazing,” he says. “They can quickly start shutting down even the largest infrastructures.”
And here’s another thing I didn’t know: the shells are very sharp:
It’s already pretty bad for marina dock worker John Koeller, who figures he cuts himself 10 to 15 times a day because anything he plucks from the water “is like grabbing something that’s covered in broken glass.”
The worst is when hot weather hits – which is, of course, much of the year – and he can’t wear a protective wetsuit while working in the water.
His thumb freshly sliced up from a morning’s work on a dock truss, Koeller lifts his T-shirt to reveal arms scored by mussel shell scars. He says there are some days he comes out of the water so bloody “it looks like you’ve been attacked by a shark.”
Good reporting! An interesting and comprehensive article on the quagga and zebra mussel problem, well worth clicking here to read.
California Invasive Species Council announced at World Ag Expo
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 13, 2009 at 8:08 amFrom the Western Farm Press:
California officials today announced a coordinated effort to prevent and control harmful invasive species infestations throughout the state. The California Invasive Species Council will assist in minimizing the negative effects of non-native species on the state’s agriculture, lands, natural resources, and waterways in rural and urban environments.
“The Invasive Species Council will protect California’s consumers and our environment from destructive pests, plants and diseases that also threaten our food supply,” said Secretary A.G. Kawamura of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, chairman of the council.
The newly formed council will be chaired by Secretary Kawamura and vice-chaired by Mike Chrisman, Secretary for the California Natural Resources Agency. Also serving on the council will be Secretary Linda Adams of California’s Environmental Protection Agency; Secretary Dale Bonner from the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency; Secretary Kim Belshe from the California Health and Human Services Agency; and Matt Bettenhausen, Acting Secretary of the California Emergency Management Agency.
“Coordinating California’s resources will maximize our opportunities to protect against harmful non-native species that will destroy our forests, scenic wildlands and waterways,” said Secretary Chrisman.
Read more from the Western Farm Press by clicking here.
Mussels munching on pipe pulled from Lake Mead
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 9, 2009 at 6:09 amFrom the Las Vegas Review Journal:
Only one item is on the menu, but you don’t get to be an invasive pest by being finicky.
It took just two months for quagga mussels to find and colonize a piece of pipe that was submerged in Lake Mead as part of a test by the regional Clean Water Coalition. The 15-foot-long pipe was pristine when it was sunk in about 110 feet of water in November. When it was pulled from Boulder Basin late last month, it already was speckled inside and out with juvenile quaggas no bigger than a grain of sand. In places, the infestation resembled a coarse layer of stucco.
The results of the taste test were unequivocal. “They like the material,” said Doug Karafa, general manager of the Clean Water Coalition.
The pipe has been returned to the deep, where it will remain until it is rechecked at the six-month mark and again after one year in the water.
The goal is to determine how quickly quagga mussels will collect on the type of polyethylene pipe the coalition plans to use for its new sewage outfall system at Lake Mead.
Construction is slated to begin this summer on the $150 million project. When it is finished, most likely in late 2012 or early 2013, it will carry up to 200 million gallons of treated effluent to the bottom of Lake Mead, where it will be released into the water through a network of emitters.
Read more from the Las Vegas Review Journal by clicking here.
Quaggas on the Big Bear Municipal Water District agenda
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 7, 2009 at 5:42 amIt’s about to get a lot harder to launch your boat at Big Bear Lake, according to this article from the Big Bear Grizzly:
The Big Bear Municipal Water District is going on the attack, and quagga mussels are the ultimate target.
Protecting Big Bear Lake from the invasive species means regulating boat launch ramps. There are more than a dozen private launch ramps, six commercial marinas, two public launch ramps and a couple of homeowner association ramps that will likely require improvements before the 2009 boating season.
The fresh-water quagga mussel spread across the United States infesting waterways and closing the use of many lakes. An infestation of quagga mussels can result in boats overheating, destruction of fisheries and catastrophic damage to the watershed.
At the MWD meeting Thursday, Feb. 5, the MWD board members are expected to pass a resolution adopting launch ramp management regulations. If approved, private launch ramp owners will be required to install a lockable, physical barrier to unauthorized launch use no later than May 22.
Read more from the Big Bear Grizzly by clicking here.
Seminar in Riverside will focus on preventing spread of quagga mussels
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 3, 2009 at 4:57 amFrom Riverside’s Press-Enterprise:
State boating and wildlife officials hope to enlist Inland boaters in their battle against invasive Quagga and zebra mussels that harm native aquatic life and clog pipes and pumps needed to keep water flowing to Southern California.
Boaters can help by making sure they don’t inadvertently carry mussels or their microscopic larvae, called veligers, as they move their boats through waterways. The state has scheduled a seminar this week in Riverside to get across the message.
“We want them to clean, drain and dry their boats,” said Dan Schrimsher, a wildlife biologist for the California Department of Fish and Game.
Read more from the Press-Enterprise by clicking here.
Climate change’s impact on invasive plants in Western US may create restoration opportunities
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 28, 2009 at 6:12 amFrom EuerkAlert:
A new study by researchers at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs has found that global climate change may lead to the retreat of some invasive plant species in the western United States, which could create unprecedented ecological restoration opportunities across millions of acres throughout America. At the same time, global warming may enable other invasive plants to spread more widely.
The study, “Climate change and plant invasions: restoration opportunities ahead?”, was co-authored by Bethany Bradley, a biogeographer, Michael Oppenheimer, a geoscientist, and David Wilcove, a conservation biologist, at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School, and is published in the journal Global Change Biology.
The article is accessible online at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121521769/abstract.
The researchers assessed the relationship between climate change and the distribution of five prominent invasive plants in the western United States – known colloquially as the “kudzus of the West” – cheatgrass; spotted knapweed; yellow starthistle; tamarisk; and leafy spurge. Such plants are defined as invasive because they were brought into this country from other lands and now dominate and alter ecosystems in ways that threaten native wildlife, agriculture, and ranching. All have greatly expanded their ranges in recent decades in the western U.S., causing millions of dollars in damage to farmlands and rangelands. Invasive plants are increasingly expensive to control, and it is widely believed that global warming will make the problem worse.
But Bradley and her co-authors find that global warming may also reduce the competitiveness of some invasive plants if conditions become climatically unsuitable to the weeds, “creating opportunities for restoration in areas currently dominated by intractable invasive species,” according to the study.
Read more from EurekAlert by clicking here.
Diane Feinstein calls for ‘comprehensive regulatory approach to the Delta’; sends letters to officials addressing Sacramento wastewater treatment plant & invasive species
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on December 19, 2008 at 1:56 pmDiane Feinstein, in two letters sent to officials this week, called for a comprehensive regulatory approach to the Delta.
In a letter addressed to the California Department of Fish & Game, Ms. Feinstein writes “regulatory actions must be taken to address all points of stress on the Delta, including not just the State and federal water projects, but also ammonia discharges from wastewater treatment plants, the predation of native fish by striped bass and other non-native species, invasive species, lack of sufficient habitat, pyrethroids and other pesticides, other toxics and other problems”.
Ms. Feinstein further urges the Department of Fish & Game to take action on those stressors on the Delta that fall under the agencies regulatory responsibilities. You can read the full text of this letter from Diane Feinstein to the Department of Fish & Game by clicking here.
In a second letter sent earlier in the week, Ms. Feinstein addresses the State Water Resources Control Board and the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board regarding Sacramento’s wastewater treatment plant facilities discharges, which contain substantial amounts of ammonia. Noting that recent research has shown that ammonia may be having detrimental effects on the ecosystem and inhibiting phytoplankton, Ms. Feinstein notes that 10 out of 11 wastewater treatment facilities located in the Delta have implemented (or are in the process of implementing) new treatment methods to eliminate ammonia. The only wastewater treatment plant not in the process of upgrading is the facility for the Sacramento area, which is also the largest.
Ms. Feinstein also notes that the permit for Sacramento’s wastewater treatment plant is operating under an expired permit and the Central Valley Regional Water Control Board has been processing the new application. She writes “I understand that such permit renewals are complex matters in the face of differing views and science which is inevitably imperfect. But the ecosystem is in nothing short of a crisis. The main water supply that fuels the state’s economy is in jeopary. Delaying action is simply not an option.”
She continues, “The State Water Resouces Control Board and its Central Valley Regional Board have an ogbligation to protect the Delta and to uphold its policies that seek to limit resource degradation by under-treated wastewater discharge and other threats.”
You can read the full text of this letter from Diane Feinstein by clicking here.
I found this on Matt Weiser’s twitter feed: https://twitter.com/sacbee_delta
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Scientists say they’ve found bacteria that will fight invasive mussels, But germ can’t be used on wide scale, so its utility is limited, they warn
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2008 at 7:15 amFrom the Chicago Tribune:
Researchers seeking to slow the spread of invasive zebra and quagga mussels in American lakes and rivers have found a bacterium that appears to be fatal to the problematic species without affecting native mussels or freshwater fish.
The bacterium, Pseudomonas fluorescens, offers some hope for controlling the troublesome bivalves that are wreaking ecological and economic havoc in North American waters from the Colorado River to Vermont, and especially in the Great Lakes.
But more testing remains to be done, and the bacteria could be used effectively only on a limited scale, said Daniel Molloy, the New York State Museum researcher who discovered the possible new use for P. fluorescens.
It would be impossible to use the bacteria to wipe out all the invasive mussels in a Great Lake because they would be quickly replenished, he said. “It’s too big,” Molloy said of the mussel invasion.
Read more from the Chicago Tribune by clicking here.
Exotic mussels confirmed in Utah waters
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 20, 2008 at 5:46 amFrom the Salt Lake Tribune:
It was only a matter of time. The long-feared, but expected, arrival of exotic freshwater mussels has been confirmed. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) announced late Tuesday that two DNA samples tested positive for the presence of zebra mussels at Electric Lake in Emery County.
The invaders are prolific breeders and can multiply in numbers big enough to clog pipes in dams, power plants and irrigation lines, invade nooks and crannies in boats, destroy fisheries and litter beaches with stinking shells. The potential economic impact is daunting: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates the potential cost of mussel infestation in just the Great Lakes region from 2000 to 2010 will be $5 billion.
“Life becomes miserable for a water user with these mussels,” said Larry Dalton, aquatic invasive species coordinator for the DWR. “The [Electric Lake] fishery is in jeopardy.”
DWR is awaiting confirmation from other waters where initial tests indicated the presence of mussels, Dalton said.
Read more from the Salt Lake Tribune by clicking here.
Mud snail crops up in four more North Coast watersheds
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 6, 2008 at 3:37 pmFrom the Eureka Times-Standard:
A prolific invasive snail has now been found in four coastal watersheds, raising the possibility that it will infest a larger part of Humboldt County in the near future.
The New Zealand mud snail, first found locally in Big Lagoon in September, has since been confirmed as present in Lake Earl, Tillas Slough off the Smith River, in the lower Klamath River and in the Russian River east of Hopland.
Other watersheds infested with the invasive snail have been devastated by their presence. It was first found in the Snake River in Idaho in the 1980s, and now is present in 10 states. Without natural predators, the snails consume algae and plant and animal debris, altering the food chain — affecting protected salmon, steelhead and other species.
While the state is launching an educational campaign to let boaters and fishermen know how to prevent the spread of the tiny snail, it’s clear it will not be easy, if even possible. To date, there is no way to eradicate the snail, either. ”There’s not a whole lot you can do once they get in there,” said Fish and Game district watershed biologist Michelle Gilroy.
Read more from the Eureka Times-Standard by clicking here.
Tahoe inspections target invasive mussels
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 6, 2008 at 5:29 amFrom the San Francisco Chronicle:
The regionwide effort to stop the spread of invasive foreign quagga mussels has extended to Lake Tahoe, with a new inspection program ordered this week by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. The agency has also established info centers at (888) 824-6267 and protecttahoe.org for any changes in the program due to storms, said agency spokesman Dennis Oliver.
“These mollusks have the potential to unleash serious environmental and economic harm,” Oliver said. “They are carried between water bodies via watercraft that are not adequately cleaned, drained and dried.”
Two of Tahoe’s public ramps, Cave Rock and Lake Forest, will be staffed with inspectors from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. this winter. Inspectors will occasionally be stationed at Obexer’s Marina near Homewood, Tahoe Keys Marina in South Lake Tahoe, Sierra Boat Company and Ski Beach in Incline Village. Check with the individual facilities for hours.
Ramps with no inspectors will be gated and locked, Oliver said.
Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.
Study finds silver lining for maligned saltcedars; UA research shows that the non-native “invader” isn’t as bad as as first thought
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 30, 2008 at 6:18 amFrom the University of Arizona:
There is nothing neutral about saltcedar. Imported to America’s East Coast from Eurasia as a nursery plant in the early 1800s, the hardy shrub’s popularity grew beyond ornamental purposes in the early 1900s, when thousands were planted out West to stabilize irrigation canals and control erosion along elevated Southern Pacific rail lines. Satisfaction turned to alarm when the eight imported species of saltcedar, also called tamarisk, escaped cultivation and spread too fast.
Dense thickets of the drought-and salt-tolerant species Tamarix ramossisima today cover vast tracts of the West and Southwest, especially in riparian areas once filled with native willows and cottonwoods. Blamed for guzzling too much water, out-competing native plants and destroying wildlife habitats, saltcedar has been the focus of 25 years of aggressive abatement efforts. To many, the only way to control it is to kill and remove it.
“The longstanding idea is that getting rid of saltcedar would improve the ecology and save water,” said Ed Glenn, a senior research scientist in the Environmental Research Laboratory, part of The University of Arizona’s department of soil, water and environmental science. Yet eradication measures are costly, time-consuming and labor intensive and may not, as new research shows, be entirely necessary.
Glenn and a team of scientists from the UA, the U.S. Geological Survey and other institutions have spent 10 years comparing saltcedar and native plant water use, and assessing riparian zone ecology along the Lower Colorado River, which stretches from the Grand Canyon to the delta in Mexico. Those studies have yielded surprising results.
“What we’ve found using remote sensors calibrated with ground measurements is that saltcedar only uses three feet of water per year, which is less than your backyard lawn, and even less than the native trees,” Glenn said. “In comparison, farmers apply seven to nine feet to their alfalfa fields, of which the plants use about six feet, and the rest is lost to runoff or deep infiltration.”
Read more from the University of Arizona by clicking here.
Pipe-clogging mussels arrive in Arizona’s water
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 30, 2008 at 5:06 amFrom the Arizona Republic:
The discovery of quagga mussels in a water-diversion channel east of Mesa raises the risk that the invasive mollusk could use the Valley’s network of canals to spread farther into Arizona and possibly damage water-treatment plants. The canals supply water for most Valley communities, at least two power plants, more than a dozen urban lakes and thousands of customers of farm and residential irrigation.
Salt River Project workers found 11 quagga mussels earlier this month and four more Wednesday on monitoring lines near Granite Reef Dam, where water is diverted into the canals.
Just one female quagga can produce 40,000 eggs in a breeding cycle and up to 1 million eggs in a year. The thumbnail-size mussels pose no health risk to drinking water, but they can clog pipes, jam mechanical equipment, increase maintenance costs on water-distribution systems and alter riparian ecosystems.
How many mussels have made their way into the diversion channel or downstream is unknown, but finding even a few on a monitoring block is significant. The four found Wednesday had attached themselves since the block was last checked about two weeks ago.
“It means they are able to settle in our canals,” said Lesly Swanson, an environmental scientist for SRP. “We knew they had been coming in from the (Central Arizona Project Canal) for a while. It’s really a question of why we haven’t found them sooner.”
More from the Arizona Republic by clicking here.
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