Click the link to read the article on The Denver Post website (Elise Schmelzer). Here’s an excerpt:
July 18, 2024
An invasive species capable of wiping out entire aquatic ecosystems and causing millions of dollars in damage to infrastructure has been found for the first time in the Colorado River, the most important river in the American Southwest. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials on Tuesday announced the discovery of zebra mussel larvae in the river east of Grand Junction. The mussels are nearly impossible to remove and pose an extreme risk to the critical river, its wildlife and its infrastructure, experts and state officials said. The discovery of the mussels so far upstream on the 1,450-mile river means the species could easily spread downstream and take over large swaths of the Colorado, said Reuben Keller, a professor who studies aquatic invasive species in the School of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola University Chicago. There is no effective way to remove the mussels from a river once they are established, he said…
CREDIT: BRENT GARDNER-SMITH/ASPEN JOURNALISM
Colorado Parks and Wildlife found the first zebra mussel larva — called a veliger — on July 1 during routine testing in the Government Highline Canal, which is diverted from the Colorado River just east of Grand Junction. On July 8, CPW staff collected samples from two locations upstream of the canal diversion. They found a single veliger in each sample. CPW staff have not yet found adult mussels, but they plan to conduct increased sampling. Slower sections of water, like pools and eddies, are more susceptible to mussel infestation, according to the agency. Anyone who uses the river or surrounding waters needs to clean, drain and dry any watercraft or equipment, CPW spokesman Rachael Gonzales said.
“We’re looking at what’s next,” she said. “It’s going to be very difficult — if not impossible — to remove and eradicate them in a system as large and complex as the Colorado River.”
While the zebra mussel is new to the river, the closely related and equally pernicious quagga mussel has established a population further downstream. Large infestations have taken root in the system’s largest reservoirs — Lake Mead and Lake Powell — and caused millions of dollars in damage to dam infrastructure.