New laws crack down on invasive critters

Come January, new bills approved by the Oregon Legislature will put some teeth into a 5-year-old program to keep invasive species out of Oregon's waterways.

Details on the bills were among the topics discussed last week when a group that has worked on Diamond Lake's infestation problem met to discuss the future of the Aquatic Invasive Species program.

Mitten crabs, hydrilla and quagga and zebra mussels will find it harder to secure a foothold in the state next year, when boaters are charged with footing the bill to invest in mobile cleaning stations and educational campaigns. A member of the Oregon State Marine Board said imposing the fee is the best option available at this point.

“It's not the way we would like to have this fee imposed, but it's crucial,” said Randy Henry, speaking at Thursday's gathering at the Umpqua National Forest headquarters in Roseburg. “The analogy we have used is, these (species) are like slow-motion forest fires.”

Umpqua National Forest hydrologist Mikael Jones agreed that it was important that Oregon get in front of infestations that can degrade water quality and crash fisheries, and that have plagued places such as Lake Mead, at the Nevada/Arizona border.

“We still have a chance in Oregon,” Jones said. “There are still a lot of waterways that don't have aquatic invasive species.”

House Bill 2220 will add a $5 surcharge to motorized boat registration every two years. Nonlicensed craft, such as manual and paddle boats, will need to buy annual permits costing $5. Out-of-state boaters will pay $20.

The fine for ignoring the law will be about $90.

For the past five years, the Oregon State Marine Board and other public agencies have worked a mostly grant-funded educational campaign under such slogans as “clean, drain, dry”, “never launch a dirty boat” and “don't move a mussel.”

The program has met with minimal success.

“They're in a hurry to get fishing, but the survey goes pretty quick,” said Tim Ballard, a contracted employee through Partnership for Umpqua Rivers, funded by the U.S. Forest Service. Ballard ran a boat cleaning station and surveyed boaters on boat cleaning during summer weekends at Diamond Lake.

State and federal employees identified factors that get people to pay attention to information on invasive species — an effect on pocketbooks, possible fines and potential damage to the equipment.

Henry said the Legislature also approved other bills that would fine people found to have brought new plants or fish into clean lakes. Penalties include $125,000 in fines or the cost to rehabilitate the lake.

For more information on the programs, visit www.boatoregon.com.

Shiner removal still underway

Douglas County is no stranger to pests – from weeds along roads to fish infestations in Diamond and Lemolo lakes.

Invasive species in water bodies can degrade water quality, wreak havoc on natural fisheries and have a big financial impact on outdoor recreation businesses. A Diamond Lake Resort employee reported that tui chub, algae blooms and lake closures crippled business prior to 2006, forcing the resort to rely on winter recreation.

Tui chub in Diamond Lake were eradicated with rotenone, a chemical treatment, in 2006, only to have golden shiners appear in 2008. Lemolo Lake is still dealing with tui chub and algae.

Laura Jackson, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife fish biologist, gave the Diamond Lake committee an update Thursday on electrofishing efforts to eliminate the golden shiners this summer.

Jackson said a crew worked the night shift from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. throughout the summer.

Most shiners were found on the lake's west side and in weed beds. But Jackson said counts on the east side of the lake might be skewed because work with the loud boat had to be completed by the 10 p.m. noise curfew at the resort and campgrounds.

Jackson said the efforts netted about 17.5 shiners per effort compared with 29 in 2008. Later in the summer, one recapture netted hundreds in an hour near the Diamond Lake Marina.

The crew caught 2,813 shiners in the summer and about 1,500 in the fall. Fish were saved to compare with last summer's catch, she said.

Officials still don't know how the shiners arrived.

“Testing could not detect that fish came from another water body or even if they came from the same bait stock,” she said. “Where those shiners came from is still a nebulous thing.”

It was confirmed that the fish are less than 2 years old and are not survivors from the rotenone treatment.

Two types of fish have also been introduced to Diamond Lake in hopes that they will eat the shiners. But Jackson said the predacious fish had plenty of other food sources, and ODFW found little evidence of success.

“We did find one fish that had eaten a fish,” she said.

To see the 2009 Diamond Lake management plan, go to http://tinyurl.com/ygkvr4h.



• You can reach reporter DD Bixby by phone at 957-4211 or by e-mail at dbixby@nrtoday.com.