After discovery of invasive zebra mussel veligers (larvae) in Black Bay of Voyageurs National Park's Rainy Lake late last year, park staff is starting a containment and prevention program that involves educational activities as well as new management operations related to Kettle Falls and Gold Portage areas.
Beginning May 13, Voyageurs management will require all vessels crossing the Kettle Falls Portage from Rainy Lake to Namakan Lake to be decontaminated by trained staff. Visitors may experience delays when portaging at this area. In addition, transporting vessels at Gold Portage will be allowed from Kabetogama Lake to Black Bay of Rainy Lake only.
When crossing from Rainy Lake to Namakan Lake at Kettle Falls, boaters will be required to drain bait containers, live wells, ballast tanks, bilge areas, and any other water holds on vessels and equipment.
You'll be expected to transport caught fish on ice from one lake to another. You'll also need a plan to maintain bait once bait containers are drained.
Trained staff will decontaminate all boats (including canoes and kayaks) with a washer using water heated to 140° F.
When crossing from Namakan Lake to Rainy Lake boaters will be required to drain bait containers, live wells, ballast tanks, bilge areas, and any other water holds on vessels and equipment. You'll need to be prepared to transport caught fish on ice from one lake to another, and have a plan to maintain bait once bait containers are drained.
Operation of the decontamination unit at Kettle Falls will be dependent on park staff and concession staffing. At the time of this press release, an operational schedule has not been developed. Details will be shared in early May prior to Kettle Falls operations resuming with a follow-up press release.
These operational changes are being implemented to minimize the risk of human activities further transporting zebra mussels upstream within the Rainy Lake Watershed. It is recognized that zebra mussels can significantly harm aquatic ecosystems by reducing the health and populations of native fish and native mussels, cause considerable economic loss resulting from clogged water intake systems, fouled boat motors, and reduce waterfront property values.
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"Operation of the decontamination unit at Kettle Falls will be dependent on park staff and concession staffing"...
.... won't stop or prevent infection. It's too late. Both bodies of water are certainly infected already. We just haven't seen them in both. This happens when the mussels are seen in one body of water when boats routinely go from one to the other without sterilization. The only way to stop infection from invading an uninfected lake/river is to ban all unwashed/unsterilized boats, and to do so with 27/7 launch monitoring and enforcement.
I am a member of the Skaneateles Lake Association... one of the Finger Lakes in upstate NY... and we know what harm zebra and quagga mussels do to a fresh clean AA rated body of water. Don't be surprised if cyanobacteria (Hazardous Algae Blooms) appear in the next few years. Zebra mussels are now thought to feed on good algae and eject HABs forming cyanobacteria, allowing even cold and clean bodies of water to have HABs.... Its a nightmare.