TWIN FALLS, Idaho — The Idaho State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) is awaiting the results of its latest chemical treatment in a $3 million effort to eradicate invasive quagga mussels from the Snake River.
First detected in September 2023, the quagga mussel has prompted a massive response from the state. Over the last two and a half years, the ISDA has conducted three copper-based chemical treatments.
WATCH: Idaho continues its $3 million effort to eradicate invasive quagga mussels from the Snake River, awaiting summer water samples to measure success.
Last fall, the ISDA announced a 50% reduction in the quagga footprint, with the invasive species only detected above Shoshone Falls to the Twin Falls Reservoir.
"Every single year that we treat the Snake River, it is with full eradication in mind. This is not a band-aid; we don't want to come back the next year. We are there to try and get the job done," said Chanel Tewalt, the Director of ISDA.
RELATED | ISDA starts 3rd round of Quagga treatment in the Snake River
Tewalt said the agency is still waiting for results following the third treatment in October. The agency needs warmer water for the quagga reproduction cycle to take place before they can measure success.
"The easiest, fastest way to find new mussels is through their larva. When a mussel reproduces, they send free floating larva out into the water, little villagers. That late summer period is a really vital monitoring time," explained Tewalt.
While the agency waits for summer samples, neighbors are doing their part to prevent the spread. Mandatory hot-wash stations are set up at Centennial Park, Shoshone Falls, and the Twin Falls Reservoir.
Twin Falls resident Jordan Wigen regularly uses the stations to clean her equipment.
"It's really silly. I put it on top of my roof, and I kind of hold it, and I go around the corner over there. They hot-wash it for me, I dry it off, roll it up, put it in my bag, and we're good to go," Wigen said.
"It makes it a lot easier for me to not have to do it, and they provide it here. So I'm not putting something that I could potentially forget about to rinse off when I get home. I'm not putting something that could possibly have something into my car. I'm just getting it done here, one stop shop and getting out," Wigen said.
Idaho's full eradication approach is drawing attention from other states dealing with similar invasive species.
About 18 months ago, California detected golden mussels in the Port of Stockton area.
ISDA officials were invited to California to provide insight, but California officials left the treatment to private canal companies.
"In California, it is a band-aid approach to having a canal company alone try to treat. But they're not going to be able to treat the whole system. That canal company's treatment, to the best of our knowledge, is the same cost or more than the state of Idaho's annual treatment," Tewalt said.
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