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Glacier National Park released the new regulations for launching private motorboats on Lake McDonald last week. Motorboaters who want to launch on Lake McDonald have to have their boat inspected, sealed to the trailer and then go through a 30-day quarantine before being allowed to launch on the lake.

Boaters first need to set up an appointment to have their boat inspected by calling the Apgar Backcountry Permit Center at (406)888-7859. Inspection appointments will be available seven days each week from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in half-hour intervals. All boats must be clean, drained, and dry before they will be inspected.

After passing inspection, the craft will be sealed to their trailer and the date of sealing will be recorded.

After a 30-day quarantine period, sealed watercraft may return to the Lake McDonald inspection station during normal operating hours, where an Park Service inspector will verify the seal is intact, remove it, and open the gate at the boat launch.

After taking their boat off the lake, if a boater wishes to launch again in Lake McDonald at a future date without another 30-day quarantine period, they can request to have their boat resealed by an Park Service inspector and then have that seal verified intact and removed when they want to launch again.

The Park earlier this summer allowed inholders who had their boats dry docked all winter long and went through an inspection to launch on Lake McDonald.

Glacier banned private motorboats and all trailered watercraft last November after invasive zebra mussel were found in Tiber and Canyon Ferry Reservoirs east of the Park. To date, there have been no positive signs of mussels in Glacier Park waters, noted Park spokeswoman Lauren Alley.

Alley said there have been a “core” of motorized boat users who have been asking the Park for a way to launch on Lake McDonald. For some, it’s a favorite lake. She said there is no timetable at this point to allow motorized boats on other Park lakes.

Most local boaters go the Hungry Horse Reservoir, which does not have inspection stations at all.

The theory at Hungry Horse is that a boat from east of the mountains would have to go through an inspection at Browning or along Flathead Lake before it got to the reservoir. Zebra mussels currently are not known to be in waters in the Columbia River Basin.

Glacier has been allowing non-motorized, non-trailered craft on Lake McDonald after they go through an mandatory inspection process. It also allows concession boats on the lake as well.