Strategy for battling the zebra mussel invasion in Colorado starts to shift

Now that Colorado's zebra mussel problem has been confirmed in the Colorado River, the strategy for fighting the invasion has started to shift. Colorado Parks and Wildlife said it won't try chemical treatments on the river as they've done in the past with Highline Lake, one of the first spots CPW found the mussels. It believes the risks that could bring to native fish, along with the sheer scale of the waterway make that impossible. Instead, the focus now is on containing the spread and keeping mussels out of other lakes and reservoirs.

Colorado wildlife experts know the stakes are big. Zebra mussels clog pipes, choke irrigation systems and threaten crops like Palisade peaches and vineyards that rely on that water, according to CPW's Rachael Gonzales. Part of the problem is the zebra mussel's reproduction rate; a single female can release up to a million eggs every year, making this a problem that can spiral out of control.

"It sucks," Madeline Baker, Invasive Species Specialist with CPW said, grabbing an adult mussel off the side of West-East Lake near Grand Junction. "It's a very unfortunate realization for us to come to, and it shows us that this population is already well-established in this body of water."

For boaters and anglers or anyone on the water, the message is simple: Clean, Drain, and Dry your gear. Zebra mussels can't move upstream on their own; they hitch rides with us to new locations, so it's on Coloradans to stop the spread.

Even as more and more bodies of water are recognized as infested, Gonzales said this is a fight that is worth paying attention to, falling short of calling it a crisis, but demanding that Coloradans stay vigilant.

"We are not going to give up," Baker said.