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INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — The effort to keep invasive quagga and zebra mussels out of Lake Tahoe received a $2 million boost Thursday from Congress.
The money is part of a $32.2 billion spending bill for the Interior Department and environmental programs.
Tahoe Regional Planning Agency officials estimate about $800,000 of that $2 million will be used to study how invasive species inspection stations can be moved to roadways instead of at lakeside launch locations.
“We are looking to improve our existing boat inspection program,” said agency Spokesman Dennis Oliver. “It's been quite effective, but we definitely need to take a look at doing the inspections at centralized locations around the basin.”
In July the bi-state agency's governing board discussed moving the inspection locations to roadside locations.
“What we're doing is effective, but its porous,” Douglas County Commissioner Nancy McDermid said at that meeting. “It only takes one slipping through to have an impact we don't want on the lake.”
Determining how to effectively coordinate roadside inspections with the seven counties and two states that surround Lake Tahoe will take many resources, Oliver said.
“The roadside inspection would be quite complicated to implement because you are dealing with different jurisdictions and different counties,” Oliver said. “TRPA may not have jurisdiction over the actual site because it may be best to do it on the other side of the hill.”
TRPA implemented a boat inspection program in 2008 after zebra mussels were found in San Justo Reservoir, about 250 miles away from Lake Tahoe. A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report concluded an infestation of mussels at the lake would mean an economic loss of $22 million a year.
Some of the Congressionally approved money could also be used to fund current lakeside inspection operations, Oliver said.
“Right now we are not sure how the pie is going to be diced up,” he said.
The money is part of a $32.2 billion spending bill for the Interior Department and environmental programs.
Tahoe Regional Planning Agency officials estimate about $800,000 of that $2 million will be used to study how invasive species inspection stations can be moved to roadways instead of at lakeside launch locations.
“We are looking to improve our existing boat inspection program,” said agency Spokesman Dennis Oliver. “It's been quite effective, but we definitely need to take a look at doing the inspections at centralized locations around the basin.”
In July the bi-state agency's governing board discussed moving the inspection locations to roadside locations.
“What we're doing is effective, but its porous,” Douglas County Commissioner Nancy McDermid said at that meeting. “It only takes one slipping through to have an impact we don't want on the lake.”
Determining how to effectively coordinate roadside inspections with the seven counties and two states that surround Lake Tahoe will take many resources, Oliver said.
“The roadside inspection would be quite complicated to implement because you are dealing with different jurisdictions and different counties,” Oliver said. “TRPA may not have jurisdiction over the actual site because it may be best to do it on the other side of the hill.”
TRPA implemented a boat inspection program in 2008 after zebra mussels were found in San Justo Reservoir, about 250 miles away from Lake Tahoe. A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report concluded an infestation of mussels at the lake would mean an economic loss of $22 million a year.
Some of the Congressionally approved money could also be used to fund current lakeside inspection operations, Oliver said.
“Right now we are not sure how the pie is going to be diced up,” he said.
Other Lake Tahoe projects funded by Congress
As part of the $32.2 billion spending bill for the Interior Department and environmental programs, Congress also approved several other programs that affect Lake Tahoe.The Tahoe Rim Trail is set to receive $100,000 for improvements to segments of the trail that need realignment or reconstruction.
Congress also set aside $350,000 to help the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout population.
