- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
County seeks volunteers for boat screening program; goal is to protect lake from invasive mussels
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Water Resources Department is looking for community members interested in assisting with monitoring public boat ramps as part of the ongoing effort to protect Clear Lake from damaging invasive mussels.
As quagga and zebra mussels have continued to spread to bodies of water across the Western United States – including a number of Southern California lakes – the county has worked to protect Clear Lake, including putting in place a boat screening and sticker program.
“The county depends on this lake,” said Mark Miller, invasive species program volunteer coordinator. “If we were to lose it to any kind of invasive, the economic impact on the lake would be astronomical.”
With no state or federal funding available to protect the lake – and with lake sales tax measures having failed – Miller said the county has to enlist community help in keeping the water body mussel-free.
It's a big task, said Miller, pointing out that there are more than 600 private and public boat ramps around Lake County.
Last year, he said, the county screened more than 15,000 boats that went out on Clear Lake.
With so many boats on the lake, help from the public is very important, Miller said.
Miller said that his goal for this year is to get at least 30 volunteers – with more being even better – to assist him with the work of monitoring the county's primary public boat launches at locations in Clearlake, Clearlake Oaks, Kelseyville, Lakeport, Lucerne, Nice and elsewhere.
The volunteers will be especially important during major holidays that bring tourists to the lake – including Memorial Day and July 4, as well as the springtime Catfish Derby in Clearlake Oaks, Miller said.
Miller said volunteers will be vital in the information sharing aspect of the program.
“The best tool we’ve found in the whole program is just educating the public,” he said.
Miller said the last thing recreational boaters want to do is infest the lake, but they need the information about protecting it. He explained that it's very simple to clean, drain and dry a boat.
When meeting with boaters, volunteers will check for the county's mussel stickers – which signify that boats have been deemed safe to enter local water bodies – as well as handing out literature to boaters and directing boats, when necessary, to screening stations.
One of the issues that volunteers will help address have arisen from the state of California introducing its own mussel sticker.
That sticker is merely a way to raise money, and doesn't mean that a boat is clear to launch, Miller said.
As a result, he said it's resulted in “mass confusion” for residents and visitors alike. Volunteers, he said, will explain the difference.
He wants the program to offer a positive experience to residents and visitors alike.
The assessment for nonrisk boats is three to five minutes, Miller said, adding that they don't want to inconvenience people.
When screening the boats, the No. 1 thing volunteers look for is where the boats have been in the last 30 days, said Miller.
If the boats have been in a high-risk location – such as a county where there are quagga or zebra mussels – a hands-on inspection is deemed necessary. At that point, Miller said volunteers will direct the boaters to one of 30 screening locations around the lake.
Miller said they don't want to screen at the ramps, as that will create bottlenecks, especially at busy times.
It's unlikely that screeners will find adult mussels, Miller said. Rather, it's the veligers – the mussels' microscopic larva – that is their greatest concern.
If it's determined after a screening that a boat is high-risk, Miller said a decontamination will be carried out.
“It's simple to kill these things,” he said, explaining that hot water – at least 140 degrees – as well as chlorine or salt water can kill the mussels.
Decontaminations take place away from the lake – so there isn't a risk of runoff getting into it – at a county yard in Lakeport on Campbell Lane. There, Miller said they can capture all of the water that comes off the boats; that water then goes into the sanitary treatment plant system.
He said they thoroughly clean the boat, including flushing out the motor and cooling system, which helps prevent mussels destroying the boat motor.
Miller said Water Resources has been doing about 12 to 15 of those decontaminations a year. “To me, that's a success story.”
He said the busiest time of year for decontaminations is in September and October, during the big bass tournaments, as many of those boats come from areas like Lake Mead, which is infested with mussels.
“That’s when I do the majority of my decontaminations,” he said.
Miller said that, so far, he's got about half a dozen volunteers lined up. Once he has a larger group, he'll have a training session.
“We don't have a perfect program,” said Miller, adding that he welcomes input and ideas about how to improve the program both from volunteers and the public at large.
For more information or to apply to become a program volunteer monitor, contact Miller at 707-263-2344 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.