No additional zebra mussels found in lake

By Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published March 4, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

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No new adult zebra mussels have been found in Lake Pueblo in the past two weeks, but that won't affect the watercraft inspections that will be required at the state park starting this month.

"Not finding adult zebra mussels doesn't mean they are not in Lake Pueblo," said Michael Collins, area manager for the Bureau of Reclamation.

The bureau conducted an underwater investigation of Lake Pueblo for the past two weeks, using remote underwater cameras and divers to search for the mollusk, a brown-striped, thin-shelled critter about the size of a fingertip.

"We're very fortunate that we caught this early so we have an opportunity to minimize the spread through boat inspections," said Harris Sherman, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.

Last November, two adult zebra mussels were found near the North Marina of Lake Pueblo. The monitoring program also tested 159 other Colorado lakes in 2007 but found none.

The zebra mussel caused havoc in the Great Lakes region during the 1980s, with large colonies clogging water conduits and creating expensive problems at dams, power generators and water treatment plants.

It has no native predators, and can also cause environmental damage by undermining the food chain. It is carried on boat hulls and can nearly sterilize a lake. The only sure way to kill it is to drain the lake.

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