Boat inspections start Saturday at Lake Pueblo

Officials at Lake Pueblo State Park will launch a boat-inspection system Saturday to stop the spread of invasive zebra mussels.

The park hired 30 new people and bought new equipment, at a total cost of $1.37 million. Inspections like this have never been done in Colorado before, so boaters may want to pack some extra patience along with the life preservers and cooler when they head to the popular lake this weekend.

All this for something the size of a fingertip.

"We don't want these to spread any further. We at least want to try to slow the spread," said Brad Henley, assistant park manager.

The eastern European mussels were brought to the U.S. by ocean-going ships, and they have spread through much of the Midwest, transported by recreational boaters. They can play havoc with a body of water, driving out native species, leaving beaches covered with sharp shells and clogging water pipes.

Colorado Springs is one of many communities that rely on the lake for drinking water.

When tests confirmed mussels found in November were zebra mussels, it was the first time they had turned up in Colorado. Officials hope to make it the last.

Here's how inspections will work:

A park ranger will greet boaters as they arrive at either the north and south boat ramps, do a quick visual inspection of the boat and give them a card with a time stamp.

As boaters leave, they will pass another checkpoint. If the time stamp shows they were in the water less than 24 hours, they will receive a cursory inspection from a ranger, who will rub his hand on the hull, make sure the water is drained and advise them to clean the hull when they get home.

Boats in the water longer will have to enter a line for a more intense inspection.

Though the reservoir is often crowded - 1,000 boats a day use the two ramps on summer weekends - Henley said delays won't be too lengthy.

"It shouldn't be more than just a couple more minutes to get off the water than it has in the past," Henley said.

The goal is not to keep more mussels from getting in the lake, but to keep them from getting out. While dive teams this winter found no mussels beyond the two discovered last fall, officials know there are larvae in the water, which are impossible to eradicate.

Plans are in the works for inspections at other busy lakes, including Chatfield and Cherry Creek reservoirs and Navajo Lake, where officials will check boats coming into the water. No dates have been set for inspections to begin.

Plus, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources supports a bill in the General Assembly that would give the state the authority to check boats at the Colorado border, said Paul Orbuch, the agency's assistant director.

All boats entering the state would have to stop for inspections. The agency is seeking $7.5 million in next year's budget for the zebra mussel program.

"We're really going after the boats to ensure people bring clean boats into the state and don't spread this stuff all over the place," Orbuch said.

"We're hoping it's a largely cooperative effort, that people want to have clean boats and want to keep them clean."

The bill, introduced April 15, would also let officials quarantine boats and make it a misdemeanor to transport zebra mussels.

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