The Division of Wildlife Resources has released a new website to help boaters gauge how busy the quagga mussel inspection stations are around the state. The DWR and Utah State Parks staff have performed 181,958 inspections and 3,289 decontaminations so far this year and sometimes the lines are more than boaters anticipated. “This dashboard is a great resource for the boating public to see which inspection stations are open and actively performing inspections and decontaminations for quagga mussels,” shares DWR Aquatic Invasive Species Lt. Bruce Johnson. “The webpage also shows boaters which waterbodies receive the most boat traffic and which inspection stations are the busiest, so they know what to expect before making a trip. That information is important, especially this year when we have had staffing shortages at many of our stations.” A Uintah County reservoir provides a great example of how important these inspection stations are. Since the detection program began in 2008, there have been cases of quagga or zebra mussels identified in waterbodies in the state. One such instance was at Red Fleet Reservoir. After years of control and containment measures Red Fleet was cleared and at present, Lake Powell is the only waterbody in Utah known to have quagga mussels. Visit the new site at https://stdofthesea.utah.gov/ais/species-stats/.
