A quagga-zebra mussel scare in late November in Idaho impressed upon officials there, and elsewhere in the Northwest, that urgency, and money, is needed to guard against the ecosystem and infrastructure havoc that can be caused by the invasive mollusks.

Four water samples taken from the Snake River near Milner Dam in south-central Idaho tested positive for veligers, which are larva of the invasive mussels.

A second round of testing ruled out three of the samples but the fourth was "weakly positive," Idaho Invasive Species Program manager Amy Ferriter told the Northwest Power and Conservation Council Wednesday.

But, a third test came out negative. The incident proved to be a stressful experience.

"What would you have done" had quagga mussels had in fact been detected in the Snake? Council member Tom Karier of Washington, asked Ferriter.

"What would we have done? That's the million-dollar question," Ferriter said. The location was perhaps in one of the worst possible spots for mussels to get a foothold, she said. Veligers and mussels could drift downriver through dozens of dams, including 11 major hydro projects on the lower Snake and Columbia rivers.

The state had developed a program to help address quagga- and zebra-related issues and had a budget, "but it was spent down," Ferriter said. And the budget would have been little help anyway. The state, and other states in the region, have yet to equip themselves with control technology -- the weapons to attack a quagga infestation.

"It made us realize we're not monitoring enough," Ferriter said.

"A lot of what we're talking about here comes down to money," said Stephen Phillips of the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission staff and a member of the steering committee for the Western Regional Panel of the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force. The panel represents western states. It recently completed the "Quagga-Zebra Mussel Action Plan for Western U.S. Waters."

The action plan is posted online at:

http://www.nwcouncil.org/news/2009/12/3.pdf

The plan received tentative final approval from the task force, an intergovernmental organization dedicated to preventing and controlling aquatic nuisance species, and implementing the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990.

Now the task force and panel are pushing for implementation of seven priority actions described in the plan: coordination, prevention, early-detection monitoring, rapid response, containment and control, outreach and education, and research.

"Without increased action, quagga and zebra mussels will cause irreparable ecological damage and long-term mitigation costs will be in the billions," the action plan's executive summary warns.

Eileen Ryce, who is chair of Western Regional Panel and Montana's aquatic nuisance species coordinator, Ferriter, Phillips and others briefed the Council on the action plan and asked for its support. Money, of course would be appreciated, as would lobbying of Congress or anyone else that might have funding for implementation.

"It comes with a $76 million price tag," Ryce said of the action plan's seven priority items. A funding source or sources have yet to be identified yet.

"This is a big price tag, but you ain't seen nothing yet if they get in the system," Washington Councilor Dick Wallace said of a region heavily dependent on water management machinery that could be negatively impacted by mussels.

No infestations have been found in the Pacific Northwest but regional officials know that quagga mussels are nearby. They were found in January 2007 in Lake Mead in the Southwest and since then quagga or zebra mussels have been found in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Utah.

Quagga and zebra mussels are native to the Black and Caspian sea drainages and were introduced to the Great Lakes region of the United States in the late 1980s via ballast water discharge from ocean-going vessels. They have spread throughout the central and northeastern U.S., via a number of pathways. Adult mussels easily cling to hard surfaces such as boats and can be spread when boats are trailered from one water body the next.

Congressional researchers have estimated that Dreissenid mussel infestations in the Great Lakes area has cost the power industry $3.1 billion between 1993-1999, with an economic impact to industries, businesses and communities of more than $5 billion, according to the action plan.

Mussels poses ecological problems by impacting aquatic biodiversity and water quality and reducing food sources for native mussels, fish larvae, and zooplankton. The invasive mussels reproduce quickly and can within a year or two clog water intake and delivery pipes, foul dam intake gates and pipes, and adhere to boats, pilings, and most hard and some soft substrates. That can impact water delivery systems, fire protection, and irrigation systems and hydro production.

A recent assessment of the potential economic impacts to the hydroelectric facilities of the Columbia River basin suggest that costs to install chlorination systems to ward off mussels could cost as much $2 million for some facilities with recurring operation costs of $100,000 per year, according to the action plan.

"Effective and decisive actions and support are needed from water management entities at all levels, including state and federal agencies, tribes, private water districts and concessionaires to prevent the introduction of, spread, or respond to an infestation of quagga or zebra mussels," the plan says.

Efforts to detect and prevent mussel invasions have been started but the develop of development is extremely varied across state, tribal, federal and local agency jurisdictions.

A large chunk of the action plan implementation funding, $31 million for coordination, is to complete, knit together and expand those efforts.

"This is a large problem that crosses all political boundaries," Ryce said.

Another $26 million would be spent for prevention activities such as inspections and heightened law enforcement.

"We're going to need to continue the lobbying effort if we're going to get the money," said Idaho state Rep. Eric Anderson, who praised the Council for a letter writing campaign aimed at sparking more federal action to control invasive mussels.

"If you look back, how all of this has developed over the year and a half, it's pretty remarkable" how much progress has been made," NPCC Chair Bill Booth of Idaho said. His state and Oregon both passed legislation over the past year related to quagga detection and prevention.

"Idaho had a scare because we were looking," Ferriter said of water sampling for veligers that was conducted this year for the first time.

Still, Booth and other members of the Council agreed that more needs to be done.

"This is a friendly audience," Wallace said of the Council.