TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Quagga mussels have been found in the Snake River near Twin Falls for the fourth consecutive year, prompting Idaho agriculture officials to prepare another treatment plan expected to be released this week.
HEAR from ISDA about what comes next in the fight against quagga:
Idaho State Department of Agriculture Director Chanel Tewalt said the most recent detection involved eight veligers and seven adult mussels. She said treatment over the past year reduced the presence of adult quagga mussels and larval veligers by 77%.
"We have definitely seen a reduction of the population, so that's not in dispute. We've gone from having a plume below Shoshone Falls - a hotspot, if you will - that hotspot is gone," Tewalt said.
The upcoming treatment plan will be less far-reaching than previous efforts. Chelated copper used in past treatments will return, along with sulfurized copper intended to better penetrate the rocky region 20 to 40 feet deep that provides a sheltered environment where quagga veligers can survive broader river treatments.
Treatment will concentrate on two main areas: above Shoshone Falls and above Twin Falls Dam. Officials said detecting quagga mussels earlier this year than in previous years gives them optimism that beginning treatment while the water is warmer will catch more of the mussels in active states.
When asked whether copper treatments in the river should be expected every September going forward, Tewalt said there is no established precedent to measure the project against.
"There's no proven example of this occurring anywhere else in the US to our knowledge, so it's not as if we have a metric by which to compare our project," Tewalt said.
Tewalt acknowledged the challenge of pushing an invasive species toward eradication.
"The hard part about any eradication program - it doesn't matter if we're talking about bugs or obnoxious weeds or animal disease - the closer you get to zero, the harder it is to find; it's hard to treat early. We see a shrinking in the population, that is worth noting, but it doesn't mean that we stop looking, and it means that we're all very, very precise about how we plan a treatment," Tewalt said.
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