Utah Department of Wildlife Resources inspects 11K boats for invasive species over Memorial Day weekend

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The Utah Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) said it inspected about 11,000 boats for an invasive species this Memorial Day weekend. DWR said it was looking for quagga mussels and Eurasian watermilfoil.

Quagga mussels can destroy fisheries, damage boats, and even pollute shorelines, DWR reported. Officers say they found about 140 boats with the invasive mollusk.

Eurasian watermilfoil is an invasive plant that has made its way through Utah. It blocks out sunlight, killing native plants and hurting fish. According to DWR, bringing even one piece of watermilfoil to a body of water can start a new population.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said invasive species like mussels and watermilfoil impact everyone in Utah.

“We have pictures that show PVC pipes that are being completely closed off with these growing mussels within a year’s time we can completely close off a 2-inch waterline. So, those costs go to even non-boaters,” Bruce Johnson, Lieutenant of AIS Operations at DNR, told ABC4.com in an interview.

Johnson said that the solution is simple: When you leave the water, clean, drain, and dry your boat. 

“Clean, drain, and dry. That program, that concept works for everything,” Johnson stated. “As soon as a boater pulls out of any water body, pull all the drain plugs, let all the water drain out, let your boat air dry out, and that will prevent so many problems down the line.”

However, it is important to drain and dry a boat at the body of water. Draining into a gutter or a storm drain is “the worst thing you can do,” Johnson said. That can contaminate other bodies of water that the DNR may not be able to track, causing problems and clogging pipes.

According to DWR and DNR, in order to keep Utah’s water bodies healthy, boaters also must stop at an inspection station before going in the water. Inspection stations are found throughout the state. An inspection technician will help you and give you a receipt.

“It is mandatory that while we are open at any of these locations, those boaters are required to pull in and get that inspection,” Johnson told ABC4.com, “and it’s a good thing for them, […] if they are carrying water, we’re preventing that water from being transported from that infested water body and being deposited in a clean water body up here.”

Carly Wasserlein and Nick Butts contributed to this story.