They are as small as a finger nail, but they can ravage statewide infrastructure.
Staff at Wyoming’s Game and Fish Department are laser focused on preventing Zebra mussels and quagga mussels, two types of aquatic invasive species (AIS), from reaching Wyoming’s waters, where they are likely to quickly proliferate.
‘It’s nasty’
If these mussels do get into the water here, they can severely damage most water delivery systems, irrigation, power plants, beaches, fisheries, and most other infrastructure that involves water.
Not only would they damage infrastructure, because these mussels are efficient filter feeders, they would kill off swaths of other species by eating the plankton other species up the food chain need to survive. They also have no natural predators, allowing them to proliferate virtually undisturbed.
For Wyomingites, sandy beaches will become covered in sharp dead mussel shells, fisheries will be harmed, power bills could go up due to maintenance on hydropower generation and irrigation pipes could become clogged.
The mollusks could also impact jobs and revenue streams. If a fishing guide, for example, depends on a water source for their job, they could take a hit to their income. And the state’s tourism industry, which Wyoming depends so heavily on for revenue, could be hit as well, explained Wes Gordon, Casper’s regional AIS specialist.
What’s more, there’s almost no hope to be found in eradication, as there have only been successful eradications in small controlled ponds.
“Once they’re there, once they’re established, once there’s enough infestation in the water, you’re not getting them out of there,” Alan Osterland, Wyoming’s chief of fisheries, previously told the Star-Tribune.
And that damage would be swift.
Zebra mussels are “extremely reproductive,” Osterland said. One female can lay up to 1 million eggs per year, and the eggs are microscopic, making them hard to detect in their first year of life.
“It’s gonna touch everyone in one way or another,” Gordon said.
Zebra and quagga mussels were introduced to the U.S. through the Great Lakes from the Caspian and Black sea regions in the 1990s through ship ballast water, which is water that is located in a tank contained in the bottom of watercrafts that helps balance the boat. Today, the mussels are known to inhabit the Great Lakes region, large rivers of the eastern Mississippi drainage, and many more bodies of water across U.S. States.
“A lot of people haven’t seen it first hand. I’ve been to Lake Powell. It’s nasty,” Gordon said.
But Wyoming has so far remained invasive mussel-free.
“I know the attitude ‘Its only a matter of time’ is out there and that might be true, but the way I look at it is, we are going to do everything we can to prevent the introduction if zebra or quagga mussels into Wyoming,” Gordon said in an email. “My hope is that we can hold it off long enough for technology to catch up.”
Testing, testing and more testing
Wyoming Game and Fish started their robust testing program in 2010.
The technicians and specialists test various water sources around the state like the North Platte River, Goldeneye, Seminoe, Pathfinder, Alcova and reservoirs for a number of different aquatic invasive species, but zebra and quagga mussels pose by far the largest threat.
When testing, the Game and Fish staff test the whole water column, whether it’s 170 feet deep or 40 feet deep. At Alcova specifically, Gordon and Mike Keller, an AIS technician, tested the reservoir’s spots of likely introduction — the inlet, the outlet and high use areas.
Because the water temperatures are optimal for the mussels in July through September, the teams of one to three staff test a couple days a week in July and then a couple days a week again in September. The water samples they extract were filled with bouncing zooplankton, a great sign for the health and productivity of the water, that made Gordon smile. These zooplankton would be decimated if zebra or quagga mussels were introduced.
“I really enjoy what I do,” Gordon said. “This kind of my church right here. Where a person can come out and be at peace.”
Once the samples are collected from the water source and they’re brought back to the lab, Game and Fish use a microscope to look at the water samples. If a mussel is detected, the agency will employ what is called environmental DNA technology (eDNA). The tool can be utilized in flowing and standing water to detect whether or not a certain species is present. In fact, the technology is so sensitive that it may produce a positive result even if the species is dead.
If they were to establish, combating their spread would likely cost tens, possibly hundreds of millions of dollars. While still substantial, the 2020 budget of $1.29 million for AIS in Wyoming pales in comparison to what it would take to respond to an infestation.
Quagga mussels — who get their name from the quagga, an extinct relative of the zebra — are similar to zebra mussels in survival methods, size and reproductive abilities, but the quagga mussels are ultimately a more competitive mussel.
Quagga mussels can live and reproduce at lower temperatures, allowing them to better survive at deeper depths and during colder months. Quagga mussels can also adhere to all of the same the hard surfaces that zebra mussels can, like boats, rocks, metals and other mussels, but quagga mussels can also attach to softer sites like plants and sand.
You found zebra mussels where?!
Staying true to their character as invasive species, the zebra mussels found an alternative route into Wyoming earlier this year by attaching to an unsuspecting source.
Zebra mussels were unexpectedly detected in Wyoming pet stores on marimo moss balls, decorative aquatic plants for fish tanks.
The number one worry for Game and Fish at the time was that Wyoming residents would flush fish tank water down toilets and drains, allowing the invasive mussel to infiltrate water systems, specifically the waste water system.
“It kind of opened our eyes to commercially produced products like that,” Gordon said.
After testing the waste water starting during the first week in March in Laramie, Cheyenne, Casper, Gillette, Rock Springs and Sheridan, all tests have come back negative for zebra mussel DNA. Testing is ongoing, however, and will continue for as long as the Wyoming Department of Health is collecting samples to test for COVID-19, as they share these with Game and Fish.
This scare hammered home how much of a national, multi-level undertaking this effort it is. Gordon and his team can only do so much to protect Wyoming.
“Marimo moss balls was a shot out of left field no one expected,” Gordon said. “It just says that someone was supposed to be inspecting that and they weren’t.” If it’s any indication of how severe of a threat zebra mussels are to the state, Gov. Mark Gordon got involved following this scare. His office formed an “emergency response team” that worked to remove these products from the market and attempt to keep the mussels from spreading beyond the moss balls.
“This is an urgent and serious matter that potentially affects Wyoming’s water infrastructure, lakes and rivers,” Gov. Gordon said in a statement at the time.
Stretched thin
Not only does Game and Fish test the water (and keep an eye on fish tank decor), they also have checkpoints for boats set up outside of bodies of water and the border.
All boats and nonmotorized watercraft have to go through mandatory inspection and possible sanitization before entering Wyoming’s waterways, particularly if the watercraft came from out of state. Once the boat is inspected, people receive a sticker for their boat as proof of inspection.
Game and Fish has inspected 25,578 boats since the end of June 2021 and has detected 14 boats with the invasive mussels — 3 of them had live mussels. Adult mussels can attach themselves to the bottom of boats and survive out of water for up to 30 days, which is particularly hazardous when it comes to traveling with watercraft.
In 2020, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department documented 226 people who failed to stop at AIS checkpoints. Failing to get your boat inspected can result in citations and possible jail time if you are a repeat offender.
Keller, who joined Gordon on a cloudy July day to test Alcova’s waters, wakes up at 4 a.m. to make it to his check station shift. He then stays there, often alone, for 10 hours. Keller explained that when he’s not inspecting and collecting data on boats that come through, he’s reading, listening to audiobooks and doing homework. He says people with watercrafts still blow through his check station.
In Wyoming, there are eight regional specialists and 50 seasonal technicians, according to Gordon. For the undertaking that preventing the mussels from entering the state is, Gordon, Keller, and their colleagues are stretched thin.
“We are limited personnel wise,” Gordon said. “We’re doing all that we can with the resources we have.”
To remedy the lack of manpower, Game and Fish’s effort have had to expand beyond testing and check stations. A number of state agencies have made an effort to increase public awareness through emails, press releases, reward programs, signage and more.
“We are stretched a little bit. To me that is why outreach is such an important tool,” Gordon said.
The pick up from the public is not happening immediately, but Game and Fish feel it’s a lot better than it was a couple years back.“People are naive and don’t really care, but were slowly changing,” Keller said. “We’re getting the word out but its taking some time.”
Your local authorities
There was some semblance of awareness when Gordon and Keller were out testing Alcova on that gloomy July day.
A boat was zooming through Freemont Canyon, a no wake zone, and although Gordon and Keller couldn’t have enforced the rules other than telling the boaters off, the boat slowed down just as they saw Game and Fish’s recognizable deep red shirts.
“What are you guys doing?” the boaters asked. Gordon told them they were testing for AIS.
Whether the boaters were trying to butter-up the guys in the red shirts in their Game and Fish boat, or genuinely wanted to make conversation, is unclear, but they knew what Gordon was talking about.
“Right on! I hope you don’t find any!”
Out in the canyon, it was clear he cares for the state’s waters far beyond work hours. His 21-year-old son had nothing to do this summer, so he got him to inspect boats at check points, while his daughter inspected boats for a couple summers to help pay for college.
“I want my grandkids and great grandkids to enjoy the same things we do,” Gordon said.
These tiny mollusks are no joke.
“Life will change as we know it.”