CHEYENNE – For more than a decade the Wyoming Game and Fish Department has prioritized keeping aquatic invasive species (AIS) out of the state’s lakes and reservoirs. But, as the threat of zebra and quagga mussels grow, Game and Fish is taking extra precautions to prepare.
The department is now rolling out rapid response plans to help act quickly if AIS are discovered.
The department also wants feedback on these plans from the public. Game and Fish is taking public comments until May 16 on 22 proposed plans for lakes and reservoirs throughout the state. Plans and an online feedback form are available on the AIS website, https://tinyurl.com/ykf78xak.
If AIS like zebra or quagga mussels are discovered in a Wyoming water body, these plans shift AIS management to contain the mussels while preventing further spread in Wyoming and across the West.
Rapid response plans were drafted for the bodies of water in Wyoming based on the high likelihood for zebra or quagga mussel introduction.
Those criteria include high boater use, particularly by out-of-state boaters, and water with chemical and physical characteristics that favor zebra or quagga mussel survival and colonization.
In all, Game and Fish will have 23 rapid response plans. Flaming Gorge Reservoir was the first of the series, released earlier in 2021.
Kevin Gelwicks, Game and Fish assistant fisheries management coordinator, said department fisheries biologists have spent a considerable amount of time drafting these plans, which detail the equipment, personnel and other resources that will need to be put in place to combat a mussel detection.
April 24, 2021 at 01:12AM
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Game and Fish seeks feedback on aquatic invasive species rapid response plans - Wyoming Tribune
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