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POE inspectors help prevent mussels build-up

ITD’s Ports of Entry, guardians of commercial vehicles and highway safety, usually aren’t located Idaho’s rivers or lakes. But inspectors are playing a big role in protecting those resources from outside invasion.

Inspectors who check drivers’ log books, illegal weights and deficient equipment also give special attention to large boats entering the state. They look for stowaways attached to boat hulls that could infect Idaho waters with invasive species, most notably mussels.

A recent report by the Idaho State Department of Agriculture acknowledges the invaluable service Port of Entry inspectors play.

Commercially hauled boats are considered a high-risk pathway, according to the report. More than half of the mussel-fouled boats intercepted in Idaho last year were commercially hauled.

“ISDA partnered with the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) to initiate an education and outreach campaign for oversized load haulers that bring boats through (and to) Idaho. Through the oversized load permitting process, ITD notifies ISDA when an oversized watercraft is destined for Idaho.”

ISDA contacts the boat transporter directly to inform the hauler of state laws related to possessing and transporting invasive species in Idaho.

Idaho’s Ports-of-Entry (POE) employees are trained to inspect oversized load boats when they scale through a POE. Fourteen mussel-fouled boats were intercepted at Idaho POEs during 2012.

As part of its information and enforcement campaign, ISDA facilitated more than a dozen Watercraft Inspection Trainings (WIT) for more than 300 individuals in Boise, Caldwell, Glenns Ferry, Redfish Lake, Bruneau, Twin Falls, Pocatello, Malad, Island Park, Lewiston, Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene.

Idaho’s watercraft inspectors distributed outreach “packets” at all state inspection stations. The packets included “Zap the Zebra” brochures, Idaho-specific Invasive Species Prevention Sticker Rules information, stickers and other locally important material related to invasive species.

Posters targeting the traveling public were placed at highway visitor’s centers.

Thanks in part to ITD inspectors, fewer rivers and lakes are subject to an epidemic spread of invasive species.