DENTRY: With mussels flexing, boating rules quiver

By Ed Dentry, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 10, 2008 at 8:54 p.m.

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The jigsaw puzzle of boating restrictions aimed at controlling zebra mussels grows more complex by the day.

To the mishmash of rules water providers and state and federal agencies have concocted to keep the invasive mollusks from spreading, add a ban on motorboats at Jefferson Lake.

One of the few high lakes in Colorado that you can drive to, Jefferson - at 10,687 feet elevation northwest of Kenosha Pass in Park County - is popular for a bounty of stocker rainbow trout, plus wild brook and lake trout in a subalpine setting.

Jefferson Lake is open, although a bit of ice remains. But the city of Aurora, which stores water there, has joined with the U.S. Forest Service in ordering boats with gasoline motors to stay off the lake, at least temporarily.

The rule allows hand-carried vessels, including kayaks, canoes, belly boats and small aluminum boats, but no trailered craft. Electric trolling motors are OK, if they have 55 pounds of thrust or less.

Nonmotorized boats are allowed because they have no bilge, livewell or water-cooling systems, which can trap and transport mussel larvae.

The Forest Service also has closed Rampart Reservoir, which stores water for Colorado Springs, to motorized craft.

Sara Mayben, Pike National Forest district ranger, said the Forest Service wants to resume motorized boating. But a long-term strategy must be developed first, to prevent the destructive mussels from invading waters.

Zebra mussels made their Colorado debut last year, when researchers found three adult, fingernail-size mussels and some of their microscopic larvae at Pueblo Reservoir.

Water providers especially have been alarmed because the tiny European mollusks spread quickly and can clog water- supply systems.

A slapdash array of boating- inspection rules is scattered throughout diverse agencies that are in the early stages of zebra-mussel control. Some entities even have different rules from one reservoir to the next.

For example, boat inspections are mandatory before boats can launch at Elevenmile or Spinney state parks. But Lake Pueblo State Park conducts inspections of boats leaving the lake.

Denver Water allows only hand-powered craft at Antero and Williams Fork reservoirs, but it has opened Dillon Reservoir to motorboats and sailboats that launch at Dillon or Frisco marinas.

Denver Water's zebra mussel- prevention rules can be found at DenverWater.org. Click on "Zebra Mussel Update."

Aurora inspects boats upon entering Quincy and Aurora reservoirs. When leaving, it seals them with tags to their trailers. If the seal is broken on the return trip, the boat must be inspected again.

Blue Mesa Reservoir, which is managed by the National Park Service, requires boat owners to wash their craft at one of three self-serve cleaning stations, but there are no routine boat inspections.

The toughest rules are in force at Standley Lake, which stores water for Westminster, Thornton and Northglenn.

At Standley, clean boats are inspected and tagged, as they are at Aurora. But if they have traveled to other lakes, they must be quarantined for five to 10 days before they are allowed in.

Ironing out the hodgepodge of rules could be more difficult than keeping zebra mussels from spreading.

In order to mold some kind of standardized boat-inspection rules, agencies as diverse as the Division of Wildlife, State Parks, water providers, national forests and the Bureau of Reclamation must get organized.

It should help that the state legislature this spring established an Aquatic Nuisance Species Fund, which will channel $6 million in general funds to zebra-mussel prevention.

The DOW and State Parks will split the money and presumably start developing a plan that boaters - but not zebra mussels - can live with.

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