Federal entities need to take better notice of the risks that advancing non-native quagga mussels pose to the Columbia River basin's water-related infrastructure and aquatic species such as salmon.

And they need to take stronger action to help control that threat, according to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

The Council decided Wednesday to send letters to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and top regional officials for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and NOAA Fisheries Service that ask for more help to contain the invasive mussels, which have hop-scotched from their native lands in eastern Europe to the Great Lakes to the American Southwest to Utah, a doorstep to Northwest states.

The big step westward was evidenced with the detection of quagga mussels in January 2007 at Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States. Lake Mead, located in the states of Arizona and Nevada, is the Colorado River impoundment behind Hoover Dam.

Within two years the invasive species has spread throughout the lower Colorado River system and into major water distribution systems. The mussels have now been found in all but eight of the western states. Among those eight are the four states represented on the NPCC – Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. Two members from each state are appointed to the Council by their governors.

The letter to be sent to Salazar asks that Department of Interior agencies, such as the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service, institute mandatory inspection and decontamination requirements for all watercraft leaving mussel-infected waters such as Lake Mead.

"The Council is extremely concerned that these invasive mussels, which can be unknowingly spread by contaminated recreational watercraft, are getting closer and closer to Columbia basin waters," according to the draft letter.

Preventing the spread of invasive mussels into non-infested waters would be less costly than having to control new infestations.

"Should invasive mussels enter Columbia Basin waters, the adverse impacts would be extreme -- affecting drinking water, irrigation, hydropower, navigation and recreational pursuits such as fishing and boating," the draft letter to Salazar says. "It is estimated that to try to control these mussels, should they become established in Columbia Basin waters, would cost the region well over $100 million annually."

The Council was briefed at both its July and August meetings on the damage caused by invasive mussels elsewhere and on efforts being made to gird for an invasion in the Northwest. Following actions this past winter in Idaho and Oregon, all of the states now have legislation in place to help prevent the introduction of invasive species into the Columbia Basin.

Council member Dick Wallace of Washington said Wednesday that the anti-invasion effort's momentum is building.

"It seems like there's some energy here. Letters are a way to advance that," Wallace said.

Western states infested with quaggas and/or their close cousins, zebra mussels, already face multimillion control and mitigation programs to protect their water distribution, irrigation and hydro systems. The prolific reproducers can overwhelm ecosysems and mechanical systems, restricting flows and/blocking pipes, causing chemical degradation and mechanical damage and altering aquatic environments.

In the Columbia basin, an invasion of non-native quagga mussels could set back decades-old efforts to boost depleted salmon and steelhead stocks, 13 of which are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

"Perhaps more important than the direct costs related to removal of established mussels would be the loss of substantial regional investments releated to recovery of salmon and steelhead…," according to a draft letter addressed to Barry Thon, acting regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries. The federal agency is charged with protecting ESA-listed anadromous fish.

"Also, if these invasive mussels colonize within the Columbia basin, then the costs related to ensuring safe passage through the Federal Columbia River Power System dams for juvenile and adult salmon and steelhead will undoubtedly increase substantially."

The purpose of the letters drafted by the Council staff's Jim Ruff is to alert the NOAA Fisheries and the Corps of "an impending threat posed by invasive mussels to the multipurpose federal dams in the Columbia River basin and to the ecosystem…." The Corps operates most of the dams in the federal hydro system.

The letter to NOAA also asks the agency take immediate action to sign onto the "Columbia River Basin Interagency Response Plan for Zebra Mussels and Other Dreissenid Species," a document completed in October 2008. The letter notes that NOAA Fisheries is the only regional agency that has failed to officially endorse the plan.

The Council letter also encourages NOAA Fisheries to "actively participate and coordinate all mussel monitoring, prevention and mitigation efforts in the two primary existing regional coordination forums: the 100th Meridian Initiative-Columbia River Basin Team and the Western Regional Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species; and to encourage it to use the recently developed Quagga/Zebra Mussel Action Plan (QZAP) as the region's common plan for invasive mussel actions."

The letter to Brig. Gen. William Rapp of the Corps' Northwestern Division urges the Corps to "take immediate action to initiate early detection monitoring for the presence of these invasive mussels at each of its dams in the Columbia basin" and asks the Corps "to initiate and complete risk assessments and mitigation planning related to these mussels at every Corps project.

"The Northwest states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington are doing their part in trying to prevent the spread of invasive species such as quagga and zebra mussels. However, our states need federal assistance in helping to protect the remaining non-infested waters of the West," the letters say.