Boating check stations open early

Two regional watercraft check stations will open this week.

Station inspectors at Clearwater Junction and Browning will be looking for a variety of aquatic invasive species, particularly invasive zebra and quagga mussels.

The inspection stations previously opened on Memorial Day weekend, but research has shown that the greatest numbers of high-risk boats are transported before them, according to a news release sent Tuesday by the Flathead Basin Commission.

Once introduced, those non-native invasive mussels rapidly blanket all hard surfaces from shorelines to manmade structures. The proliferation of invasive mussels costs millions of dollars annually in the U.S., fouling beaches, clogging dams and boat motors, driving up utility rates and threatening fish and wildlife.

Once introduced, mussels are nearly impossible to eliminate from aquatic ecosystems.

The check stations are opening thanks in part to a donation from Flathead Electric Cooperative and a grant from Conoco-Phillips. Flathead National Forest and Bureau of Reclamation provide additional funding.

Last year, the Browning station — operated in partnership with the Blackfeet Tribe — intercepted 40 percent of all mussel-fouled boats detected in Montana.

In February, the commission obtained permission from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council to operate a third check station on U.S. 93 in Pablo.

However, funding for this station has yet to be secured, and the commission is seeking donations to close the funding gap.

“Since the Highway 93 corridor serves at the primary southern entrance to the Flathead region, obtaining funding for this station is now our highest priority,” commission chairman Tom Smith said in the release.

The Flathead Basin Commission was established by the Montana Legislature in 1983 to protect the water quality of the Flathead River drainage system.

For more information, contact the commission at (406) 240-3453.