The Northwest Power and Conservation Council was told last week that it needs to get more involved itself, and use its influence to stir up others, if the Columbia River basin is to dodge the looming threat of invasive quagga mussels.

Idaho state Rep. Eric Anderson admits to borrowing a phrase when he said a quagga mussel invasion is a "biological wildfire" just waiting to happen.

"This is a raging wildfire on its borders," Anderson said of the quaggas' spread, which has yet to reach Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington, the states represented on the Council.

"I want this thing nipped in the bud," he said. "Nothing is going to save the salmon if this gets in." The Council is among the many entities engaged in activities aimed at boosting fish and wildlife species. The 13 Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead stocks added to the Endangered Species Act since 1991 are often a focus of that work.

"All of the mitigation work we've doing for all these years is at threat," Anderson said.

He and the Council's own mainstem program manager, Jim Ruff, said the mussels' potential for damaging the Northwest environment and its hydro and water delivery systems, as well as other infrastructure, warrant more attention and effort to beat back any invasion, and need more financial support.

"We ought to be concerned and taking actions to prevent their spread," Ruff said. "They totally change an ecosystem once they are in."

The tiny invasive mollusks and their cousins, zebra mussels, have shown they can quickly colonize a water body and multiply at a stupendous rate to cause flow restrictions or blockage of pipes, chemical degradation, mechanical damage and severe alteration of aquatic ecosystems.

According to a Ruff memo prepared for the briefing, states in the Northeast and Great Lakes region "have found eradicating the invasive mussels is costly and virtually impossible." He cited U.S. Coast Guard estimates showing that economic losses and mussel control efforts together cost about $5 billion each year in those states where they have already settled.

That's where zebra and quagga mussels were first introduced, delivered in the ballast water of ships from eastern Europe and the Ukraine in the late 1980s.

In January 2007, quagga mussels were found in Lake Mead on the Colorado River and have since multiplied exponentially. The invasive mussels have colonized the lower Colorado River system and spread into the states of Nevada, California, Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

"These western states now face implementing multimillion-dollar control and mitigation programs to protect their water distribution and irrigation systems, recreational facilities and hydropower infrastructure," the Ruff memo says. "These mussels, which can be unknowingly spread by contaminated recreational watercraft, are getting closer to invading Columbia basin waters."

The memo can be found online at:

http://www.nwcouncil.org/news/2009/08/5.pdf

The mussels can be spread by water currents and by attaching themselves to moveable surfaces such as boat hulls, anchors or aquatic plants.

Ruff told the Council some of those in the eye of any mussel storm need to become more engaged. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which owns and operates many of the federal dams in the Columbia basin, has said it does not have the funding authority to carry out mussel invasion prevention and detection work.

"The Corps is starting to ask for budget line items to do this type of work," Ruff said, but the appropriations process is slow, which means no money is likely in fiscal 2010.

Numerous other anti-quagga initiatives need funding and/or funding increases as well, he said.

And entities such as NOAA Fisheries must become more involved. The agency charged with protecting listed salmon stocks is the only major entity region that has yet to sign on to the Columbia River Basin Rapid Response Plan for quagga mussels.

"The Council should encourage NOAA management to do so immediately," according to Ruff's memo. The Council's voice could also be used to lobby for increased funding in Congress and elsewhere.

Anderson said that the Council members have what amounts to cabinet-level access to their governors. He advised the councilors to go to their governors and say, "I'm afraid we might not be doing enough" to ward off a quagga invasion.

He said that budget needs outlined by Ruff in his memo and slide presentation should be just a start.

"We need to take those numbers and put more zeroes on them," Anderson said. "We must become agitated and aggressive on this issue."

Anderson over the past year spearheaded efforts to pass invasive species protection legislation in Idaho. The new law established boat user fees that are being used to fund a boat inspection program.

His governor, C.L. Butch Otter, says that the spread of quagga mussels must be stopped at its most likely source. In a June 9 letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Otter asked the federal government take more aggressive action.

"Mr. Secretary, please seriously consider instituting within all U.S. Department of Interior agencies, including the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a mandatory decontamination requirement for all vessels leaving mussel-infested waters, such as Lake Mead," the governor wrote. "Additionally, I ask that Interior use its Lacy Act authority to enforce restrictions on interstate transport of zebra mussels."

The secretary's July 16 response did not offer any such immediate remedies.

"Limited resources restrict the feasibility of decontaminating every individual watercraft leaving mussel-infested waterways managed by the Department," Salazar's letter said. "We do, however, invite the State of Idaho to help guide the efforts of the Plan through its participation in the Panel. The Service's implementation of the Plan will be based on existing authorities, program priorities, and available resources."

The "plan" is an action strategy being developed under the guidance of the USFWS by the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force's Western Panel, a public-private forum formed to address such issues.

The Pacific Northwest Economic Region added its voice in a recent letter to Salazar.

"There is an ongoing need for a high level of biosecurity by all government jurisdictions that manage boating waters in the United States that harbor zebra and quagga mussels; but it is absolutely critical that the Park Service and other applicable federal agencies contain contaminated boats within the Colorado River system via comprehensive inspection and decontamination programs and associated water access security and enforcement," according to the letter signed by Anderson, co-chair of the PWNER's Invasive Species Working Group.

The PNWER is a statutory, public/private partnership composed of legislators, governments, and businesses in the Northwest states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington and the western Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and the Yukon Territory. It has goals of regional cooperation and economic growth while maintaining environmental quality.

PWNER is headed by its Executive Committee, which consists of one legislator from each PNWER jurisdiction, one private sector board member chair from each jurisdiction, four governors/premiers (or their designee) and the its executive director.

All state and provincial legislators in the region are members of PNWER, as are the governors and premiers. In addition, private sector members, counties, economic development commissions, industry associations and similar entities may join PNWER by paying dues