New Blackfeet check station finds zebra mussels

A new check station set up on U.S. 2 near Browning in the Blackfeet Indian Reservation is credited with stopping a boat from Minnesota bearing adult zebra mussels headed for Whitefish Lake.

Browning inspectors Jay Monroe and Rick Hoyt spotted the aquatic invaders attached to the boat’s motor.

“The owner was extremely cooperative in terms of delaying his launch and undergoing a decontamination process,” Monroe said.

The boat will be decontaminated by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks before being allowed to continue.

“It was a great find on the part of our inspectors and demonstrates the need for stations to be open early in the season,” Blackfeet Fish and Wildlife director Billy Little Plume said.

The new aquatic invasive species check station is the result of a unique partnership formed early this year between the Blackfeet Nation and the Flathead Basin Commission.

AIS include plants and animals that disturb native species through competition, predation, displacement, hybridization, and the spread of disease and parasites. They ultimately can cause extinction of many valued organisms and cause adverse impacts to commercial, agricultural, aquacultural and recreational activities that depend on water resources.

“Once AIS establish a presence, it’s nearly impossible to completely eradicate them,” Hungry Horse Dam facility manager Dennis Philmon said. “Certain species, such as zebra mussels, quagga mussels and Eurasian watermilfoil, for example, create unique problems for hydro generation and irrigation facilities.”

An AIS watercraft inspection station was set up on U.S. 2 outside of Coram during the 2013 and 2014 field seasons. Funding for the station included the Flathead Basin Commission, Flathead National Forest, Bureau of Reclamation, Lake County, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, city of Whitefish, Whitefish Water and Sewer District and the Flathead Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

“The station was a team effort undertaken by stakeholders and agencies in the Flathead Basin to fill a gap in the watershed’s perimeter defense plan,” FBC executive director Caryn Miske said.

The perimeter defense plan, however, originally called for a broader, regional approach. The Blackfeet Tribe and the FBC commenced discussions in January to determine if a station could be operated in Browning under Tribal authority.

“The Tribe’s response was simply incredible,” former FBC chairman Chas Cartwright said. “Their willingness and desire to take on this resource issue paved the way for our early success.”

The Blackfeet adopted an ordinance to protect its resources from AIS. The most protective in the region, the ordinance requires all boaters to obtain a certificate of inspection prior to launching on tribal waters. The Blackfeet also adopted a memorandum of understanding establishing a partnership between the FBC and the Tribe.

The Browning check station also flagged a boat carrying “unidentified biological material” in late April.

“I conducted a follow-up inspection, and we found it to be carrying freshwater bryozoans, also called a moss animal, capable of transporting AIS,” said Heidi Sedivy, the FBC program coordinator for the Blackfeet AIS prevention effort.

Sedivy said she decontaminated the boat and it was free to launch.

“The boat owner was very cooperative and actually offered to pay for the decon,” she said.

Sedivy said she declined payment but found the boater’s commitment to keeping the waters free of AIS gratifying.