Montanans know how precious water is. It’s essential for fish and wildlife, boating and angling, irrigating, drinking and creating much of our electricity. When something threatens our water — such as aquatic invasive species — we are on high alert.

The Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Anaconda watercraft inspection station intercepted a boat carrying invasive mussels Monday. The boat was being transported from the Great Lakes area to Bellingham, WA, by a commercial hauler. The boat was last used on Lake Huron and had been in dry dock since October.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has released the 2018 Watercraft Inspection Station Annual Report.   Highlights from the report include:

2018 was a big year for Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks and its aquatic invasive species program with a record number of watercrafts inspected, record number of water samples analyzed and no mussel larvae or adult mussels detected.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks reminds waterfowl hunters that they can help prevent aquatic invasive species from infesting Montana’s wetlands, rivers and lakes.  The three steps of Clean, Drain, Dry greatly minimize the risk of spreading invasive species.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks hosted a meeting of the watercraft inspection station partners in Helena.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announces a $837,000 grant to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to combat invasive mussels in Montana. These grant funds will be used to improve inspection/decontamination stations; provide campsites for inspection staff; purchase inspection and decontamination equipment, materials and supplies, outreach materials, storage sheds, and shelters; and also provide for sampling and analysis.

A Fish, Wildlife & Parks aquatic invasive species monitoring crew has confirmed that invasive faucet snails have been discovered in Lake Frances near Valier.

With the proliferation of adult quagga mussels in Lake Powell, on the border of Utah and Arizona, watercraft from this lake that are entering Montana will be subject to additional measures at watercraft inspection stations to ensure they are free from aquatic invasive species.