New Boat Tax for Evergreen Lake

that's the beauty of this boat fee...it is targeted directly at the people who use the lake for boating.....as opposed to raising the Rec Center mill levy for everyone.

Are the mussels edible? If so, we could start a new regulated food industry in Evergreen.

I don't know...I am still trying to find out why mussels are bad on the Colorado State Wildlife site.

residenttroll wrote: Are the mussels edible? If so, we could start a new regulated food industry in Evergreen.

I don't know...I am still trying to find out why mussels are bad on the Colorado State Wildlife site.

try google, there is plenty of information out there. Whenever you introduce a non-native species to a lake there are consequences to the ecosystem, to the recreation in that lake, and to fishing. But hey, unless you plan to use Evergreen Lake I am doubting you care much either way. Zebra mussels are tenacious little things, and nearly impossible to get rid of once they invade a lake.

They might be edible. Maybe we can tax the restaurants that serve Evergreen Lake Mussels. And issue special fishing licenses for those who catch them. And tax the trucks that transport them from the lake. Lots of possibilities.

I have heard the mussels are not edible, thanks to the mass amounts of pollutants they filter. I'm more aware of them due to the efforts at Lake Powell to keep them out. They are extremely serious, and will completely eliminate all the fish in a lake. They also clog up any pipes, including all those on dams. They make beaches worthless due to their extremely sharp shells.

Once they are in, there is no going back. That is why I support any efforts to stop them from any lake. We can change the fee if in a few years we have figured out exactly where they can survive, but for now, we must do all we can. There are no do-overs. It is also a problem because once in an upstream lake, they will work their way down to all downstream reservoirs.

Bear...you and I agree on a lot. If they are just charging a fee, and not actually checking for mussels, I would support removing the fee, or using it for mussel prevention. A tax just for the heck of it is ridiculous.

That is why I support any efforts to stop them from any lake.

Well it does sound serious. But it depends on the efforts too, if it is $4 per boat and pays a minimum wage summer job to some teenager to conduct random safety inspections on kayaks and canoes, does that make you feel much safer? And why not find a way to fund this within the existing budget?

Joe wrote:

That is why I support any efforts to stop them from any lake.

Well it does sound serious. But it depends on the efforts too, if it is $4 per boat and pays a minimum wage summer job to some teenager to conduct random safety inspections on kayaks and canoes, does that make you feel much safer? And why not find a way to fund this within the existing budget?

Powell charges for any boat on it's lake, as do most lakes in Colorado. Maybe an overall "mussel" pass for all Colorado lakes would do it. I don't know exactly. The fees we pay for Colorado state parks pays for those inspections. It takes $$ to inspect, and the people I've seen around the country aren't "minimum wage". Most have been forest service or ranger interns. They care, because that is their career. If the mussels make it into all the lakes in the country, many will be out of jobs. No fish/few visitors/few rangers.

They are extremely serious, and will completely eliminate all the fish in a lake.

The mussels are quite serious - but they will not eliminate fish in a lake. The areas of the US where they have the proper habitat - places back east (notrheast) they have the proper conditions to cause alot of damage by cloging water piping systems. Fish find them to be quite tasty though - and snack on them all the time.

People do not find that they have much meat on um - so they don't serve them in resturants. They can concentrate pollutants if the water they are living in has pollutants in it.

Each mussel has the capability of filtering 1 quart of water per day. They have only been shown to populate in enough numbers to cause damage in areas where the habitat is favorable. They need all these favorable conditions;

1. Warm water
2. Calcuim rich water
3. Nutrient rich water
4. They prefer water that is moving pretty fast - about 6 ft/sec. in order to effectively process the nutrients

The only areas where these mussels have been able to breed and spread to enough numbers to cause real problems is where all 4 of the conditions are met. (mostly in the northeast and great lakes areas)

They need a minumim temprature of 54 degrees for the duration of fertilization process to spawn, and a maximum of about 80 degrees.

There is only one body of water where these conditions are fully met - and that's Pueblo. No-where else in the state have they been known to be able to reproduce in large numbers. The larve have been found in a few large bodies of water in Colorado - but only in pueblo have they been able to spread in any large numbers.

There is not - and never was - any indication that the vast majority of waters in Colorado can provide the necessary habitat for the species to become a problem.

Evergreen lake has none of the 4 optimum conditions for these mussels - in fact it is very likely that even if it were introduced here (not likely)- it would not likely survive at all. It is usually transferred by larger boats that have been in the water for extended periods of time - enough time for them to attach to the hull of a boat or get transferred by the bilge water. Evergreen does not even allow these kinds of boats on the lake.

Evergreen is not even really a lake - more like a pond compared to the waters where this species has been detected in Colorado.

This issue has been a hot one for a few years now - and much of the science involved is panic driven hysteria. It's quite akin to the global warming issue with regard to the amount of our money the state and local governments want to spend on it.

If it ever proves to in fact - pose a problem, then I will be the first to advocate that money be spend to address the problem - but right now there is no problem.

As I have stated - I am not opposed to testing for the larve - or screening for adults, just don't tax my kayak to do it.

Having recently walked one of my old haunts on Lake Ontario, there were many Zebra shells washing ashore and they did not pose a hazard due to sharp shells. The water is much clearer than before the mussels arrived (all that filtering) and there are more fish in the lake than when I grew up there. Many lakes in Northern NY have become contaminated via sea plane ( a person could not get there with a boat) - so boats are not the only vector. Zebra mussels change the environment as do other foreign species - they do not lay waste to the lakes they inhabit. Some species will benefit, others will suffer. Read about the ups and downs here (and references to the effects of other non-native species) for Lake Ontario:

http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/27072.html

Some fish like those Zebra mussels larva....

conjecture here...but i would imagine a large lake like Lake Ontario would be less affected than a small lake like Evergreen. No comparison actually.