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Is the threat of quagga mussels entering Lake Tahoe enough to curtail boat launch hours?
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency will tackle that issue, with staff developing a proposed code to require the closure of boat ramps when inspectors are not present.
If it is adopted by TRPA, the challenge will be how to fund extra staff hours for private and public facilities.
Eight boat inspectors were recently added to the 10 inspectors who began work this summer, according to Tahoe Resource Conservation District Invasive Species Program Coordinator Jenny Francis. Inspections will also continue beyond the mid-September date they were originally expected to end, Francis said.
It’ll likely cost around $1 million annually to pay for year- round boat inspectors, Francis said.
“It’s definitely a challenge,” said Hal Paris, parks and recreation director for Incline Village General Improvement District.
IVGID’s Ski Beach private boat launch actually has had better staffing than many other Tahoe boat launches this summer, having inspectors on site seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. TRPA provided inspectors on weekends and IVGID provided inspectors during the weekday, Paris said.
“Fortunately, IVGID has picked up the tab to keep inspectors there when TRPA inspectors are not there,” Paris said.
Yet, if the TRPA Governing Board enacted new rules for boat launches, boats going out early in the morning for fishing, or later in the evening, will be impacted, he said.
“It’s not huge numbers, but certainly there are several (boats going out),” he said.
Ski Beach will also not be staffed once the weather turns sometime in September, Paris said.
Maintaining inspectors at the boat launches becomes a funding question, although the stakes are high to keep mussels out of Tahoe.
During a presentation to the TRPA Governing Board last Thursday evening, TRPA Wildlife Program Manager Ted Thayer said several steps are necessary to prevent an infestation of invasive mussels in Lake Tahoe.
A quagga mussel was discovered on a boat about to launch at South Tahoe’s Tahoe Keys Marina on Aug. 22, and the boat was put into quarantine at least until it is inspected today by California Fish and Game officials, according to Jason Roberts, an environmental scientist with fish and game.
Thayer said local jurisdictions should also pass ordinances which will allow law enforcement officers to respond to an incident where the owner of a contaminated boat insists on launching. Currently, TRPA does not have the legal authority to stop someone from launching a boat, even if it is contaminated with invasive species, Thayer said.
After the presentation, the TRPA Governing Board approved a recommendation by staff to formulate code expected to require the closure of Lake Tahoe’s boat launches when inspectors are not present. The code will be presented to the governing board for possible approval next month.
Publicly operated, high volume boat launches present the “greatest logistical concerns,” Thayer said.
One of those high volume boat launches is the Lake Forest boat ramp in Tahoe City, operated by the Tahoe City Public Utility District.
“We only have staff there three months of the year from Memorial Day to Labor Day,” said Layne Van Noy, TCPUD superintendent of parks and recreation.
He said there is really no way to control boaters from launching from the public facility in off months and off hours.
While the U.S. Coast Guard uses the Lake Forest ramp when maintaining its boats, the reduced hours wouldn’t affect the agency because it always has a boat in the lake, according to Daniel Bennett, officer-in-charge of the Coast Guard.
At Thursday’s TRPA meeting, an Incline Village resident told the board about his concern that invasive mussels could destroy the lake.
“If we lose this battle, we lose Lake Tahoe,” said Leo Schools. “It’s that serious.”
The only way to stop the mussels’ spread is for the governors of California and Nevada to create a commission and appoint a person with enough funding and power to take the measures necessary to stop the spread of the aquatic mussels because “boat inspections are not going to do it,” Schools said.
Governing Board member Nancy McDermid asked Thayer whether a moratorium had been considered on outside boats coming to Lake Tahoe, until the means to prevent mussel infestation had been examined by TRPA staff.
Thayer said it had not, because TRPA was “not sure if a moratorium is necessary.”
TRPA Executive Director John Singlaub said there are solutions to the invasive mussel problem that won’t require “draconian” measures.
Adam Jensen contributed to this report.
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency will tackle that issue, with staff developing a proposed code to require the closure of boat ramps when inspectors are not present.
If it is adopted by TRPA, the challenge will be how to fund extra staff hours for private and public facilities.
Eight boat inspectors were recently added to the 10 inspectors who began work this summer, according to Tahoe Resource Conservation District Invasive Species Program Coordinator Jenny Francis. Inspections will also continue beyond the mid-September date they were originally expected to end, Francis said.
It’ll likely cost around $1 million annually to pay for year- round boat inspectors, Francis said.
“It’s definitely a challenge,” said Hal Paris, parks and recreation director for Incline Village General Improvement District.
IVGID’s Ski Beach private boat launch actually has had better staffing than many other Tahoe boat launches this summer, having inspectors on site seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. TRPA provided inspectors on weekends and IVGID provided inspectors during the weekday, Paris said.
“Fortunately, IVGID has picked up the tab to keep inspectors there when TRPA inspectors are not there,” Paris said.
Yet, if the TRPA Governing Board enacted new rules for boat launches, boats going out early in the morning for fishing, or later in the evening, will be impacted, he said.
“It’s not huge numbers, but certainly there are several (boats going out),” he said.
Ski Beach will also not be staffed once the weather turns sometime in September, Paris said.
Maintaining inspectors at the boat launches becomes a funding question, although the stakes are high to keep mussels out of Tahoe.
During a presentation to the TRPA Governing Board last Thursday evening, TRPA Wildlife Program Manager Ted Thayer said several steps are necessary to prevent an infestation of invasive mussels in Lake Tahoe.
A quagga mussel was discovered on a boat about to launch at South Tahoe’s Tahoe Keys Marina on Aug. 22, and the boat was put into quarantine at least until it is inspected today by California Fish and Game officials, according to Jason Roberts, an environmental scientist with fish and game.
Thayer said local jurisdictions should also pass ordinances which will allow law enforcement officers to respond to an incident where the owner of a contaminated boat insists on launching. Currently, TRPA does not have the legal authority to stop someone from launching a boat, even if it is contaminated with invasive species, Thayer said.
After the presentation, the TRPA Governing Board approved a recommendation by staff to formulate code expected to require the closure of Lake Tahoe’s boat launches when inspectors are not present. The code will be presented to the governing board for possible approval next month.
Publicly operated, high volume boat launches present the “greatest logistical concerns,” Thayer said.
One of those high volume boat launches is the Lake Forest boat ramp in Tahoe City, operated by the Tahoe City Public Utility District.
“We only have staff there three months of the year from Memorial Day to Labor Day,” said Layne Van Noy, TCPUD superintendent of parks and recreation.
He said there is really no way to control boaters from launching from the public facility in off months and off hours.
While the U.S. Coast Guard uses the Lake Forest ramp when maintaining its boats, the reduced hours wouldn’t affect the agency because it always has a boat in the lake, according to Daniel Bennett, officer-in-charge of the Coast Guard.
At Thursday’s TRPA meeting, an Incline Village resident told the board about his concern that invasive mussels could destroy the lake.
“If we lose this battle, we lose Lake Tahoe,” said Leo Schools. “It’s that serious.”
The only way to stop the mussels’ spread is for the governors of California and Nevada to create a commission and appoint a person with enough funding and power to take the measures necessary to stop the spread of the aquatic mussels because “boat inspections are not going to do it,” Schools said.
Governing Board member Nancy McDermid asked Thayer whether a moratorium had been considered on outside boats coming to Lake Tahoe, until the means to prevent mussel infestation had been examined by TRPA staff.
Thayer said it had not, because TRPA was “not sure if a moratorium is necessary.”
TRPA Executive Director John Singlaub said there are solutions to the invasive mussel problem that won’t require “draconian” measures.
Adam Jensen contributed to this report.
