What is being done

to prevent the spread

of invasive species?

Invasive species can be transferred from lake to lake on boats, trailers, personal watercraft, boat lifts, weeds and/or water.

Many area lake associations applied for aquatic invasive species grants, including the Pelican Lakes Property Owners Association, Whitefish Area Property Owners Association, Gull Chain of Lakes Association, Friends of Lower Hay Lake Association and North Long Lake Association, among others.

"They're concerned about the movement of invasive species and they're doing something about it, so that's good," said Dan Swanson, invasive species specialist with the DNR in Brainerd.

The DNR has a watercraft inspection program, where students are hired to educate boaters at public accesses about the need to drain their live wells and empty their bait buckets, as well as wash their boats and trailers so they're not transporting invasive species down the road to another lake.

"The main thing is to prevent aquatic hitchhikers - determine what the pathways are, and make sure people who own boats that move from lake to lake are conscientious and are cleaning equipment and not transporting water from lake to lake," Swanson said.

Area lakes where the watercraft inspection program is taking place this summer include Gull, Leech, Pine Mountain, Woman, Baby and Ten Mile in Cass County, and Clamshell, Cross, Edward, Hubert, Lower Hay, North Long, Ossawinnamakee, Pelican, Round, Upper Hay, Upper Mission and Whitefish in Crow Wing County, among others.

Lake associations that received watercraft inspection program prevention grants for 2009 include Gull Chain of Lakes, North Long Lake, Pelican Lakes Property Owners, Whitefish Area Property Owners and Friends of Lower Hay Lake.

The Pelican Lakes Property Owners Association received the same grant last year, and at seven boat landings received a sampling of who was coming to the lake, where they were coming from, and how knowledgeable those people were about invasive species concerns.

"We found that of the Pelican Lake visitors we sampled, we had 37 who either came from or were going to zebra mussel infected waters," said Clyde Clement of Pequot Lakes, who is with the Brainerd Lakes Area Aquatic Invasive Species Task Force.

"You can make the assumption that if they came out of Pelican Lake and they're going to Ossawinnamakee, they probably came to Ossawinnamakee to start with or go back and forth quite frequently," Clement said, voicing the fear of many that zebra mussels will invade Pelican because the lakes are so close to each other.

Of those surveyed last year, 7 percent weren't knowledgeable about zebra mussels.

"That says to me that we're not very effective in getting to the public that's using the lake," Clement said.

Clement also cited the growth in population of zebra mussels in affected bodies of water.

"When you transfer water from Ossawinnamakee, Mille Lacs Lake or the Mississippi River, more than likely there is a high risk that there are zebra mussel egg veligers (the microscopic larval stage) being transferred in that water," he said. "A minnow bucket, a live well from those waters will more than likely contain more than one zebra mussel microscopic egg veliger that could create a new infestation. That's pretty concerning.

"Additionally, if you carry weeds from those lakes and introduce them to another lake, more than likely there's going to be an adult zebra mussel on those weeds.

"So our lakes are really in jeopardy because of that increased population," Clement said.

Last year, the DNR installed a boat cleaning and water draining station with instructional signage at the Lake Ossawinnamakee boat landing, instructing boaters to clean their boats, and Clement said that is effective.

Again this year, the task force conducted educational seminars about invasive species for professionals who work in the lakes, like dock installers, those who sell and transfer boat lifts, landscapers, fishing guides and those who store boats.

Billboards and signs also warn people heading to lakes to take care to prevent the transfer of invasive species. Along the lines of the "Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers" billboards, new signs say "Clean, Drain, Dry."

Unfortunately, once an invasive species finds its way into a lake, it's usually there to stay.

"Once you get an invasive species, you're managing it. In most situations, eradication is not in our vocabulary," Swanson said.

The good news is that the number of species-free lakes outnumber those that have invasive species.

Steps to take

Boaters can help prevent further spread of zebra mussles and other invasive species by taking a few simple extra precautions according to the DNR.

Under Minnesota law it is a misdemeanor to transport water or prohibited invasive species from designated infested waters.

Status of invasive species in Minnesota 2008

Aquatic plants

Wild animals

(Source: DNR's Annual Report 2008 on Invasive Species of Aquatic Plants and Wild Animals in Minnesota.)