Thread: Zebra Mussels On Pomme

This was passed to me from a friend and thought some might like to know the effect of bringing boats, docks ect from one lake to another.


Pomme de Terre Lake Possibly Exposed to Zebra Mussels
A private dock was purchased from Lake of the Ozarks and transported to Pomme de Terre Lake to replace a dock that had been destroyed. The owner of the dock did not seek or receive approval from the Corps of Engineers prior to transporting and placing the dock on Pomme de Terre Lake. One of the COE Park Rangers was in the area (Upper Lindley Creek Arm) area and saw the dock being unloaded, but wasn’t aware of any dock approved to be placed in the area. He returned to the Project Office and checked the files and was correct, no request had been made, and no authorization given. He contacted the owner and discovered the dock was recently purchased from a dock company at Lake of the Ozarks and had been transported to Pomme de Terre Lake within only a few days of coming off the water there. The dock owner was immediately ordered to remove the dock ASAP, and the company came out and removed it the next day and placed in on a trailer parked on private property nearby. An inspection was performed on the dock the next day by the COE Natural Resource Manager and Park Rangers. Adult Zebra Mussels were quickly found attached to the flotation and appeared to still be viable.
The concern was that viable adult zebra mussels could have been dislodged during the unloading process and fallen into the water. Fortunately adult zebra mussels are not mobile, and if alive would quickly attach themselves to the substrate and live there until the water warms sufficiently to begin reproduction (around the mid 50’s degrees). The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Missouri Department of Conservation quickly teamed up in the attempt to prevent any survival of adults and subsequent reproduction. MDC is taking the lead in applying for a label variance to use with water temps below 60 degrees. The variance has received, Copper Sulfate will be the chemical utilized for the task. The team approach resulted in a plan being formulated and put into action.
The lake will be lowered 3 feet to lessen the area to be treated, Copper Sulfate will be applied once the water reaches approximately 40 degrees, and repeated in 10-14 days. Lowering the lake will provide less water to dilute the Copper Sulfate during the treatment periods. The biology and life cycle of the Zebra Mussel is readily available through an internet search.
Pomme de Terre Lake to the best of the knowledge of the MDC and COE did not have any zebra mussel populations prior to this event, and it is unknown if any adults were dislodged into the lake. The lowering of the lake level and subsequent treatments are an attempt to stop a problem before it happen. If no zebra mussels were dislodged no harm no foul biologically speaking, If some were and the treatment kills them that is great, if the treatments does not succeed at least a solid viable attempt was made to stop the threat before it became a reality.
FAQ’s.
Q. Why was the dock allowed to be placed on Pomme de Terre Lake? A. No permission was given for the dock to be placed, it was however quickly noted and required to be removed, giving maybe a 24 hour exposure period of being on the water.
Q. What are the penalties for the dock owner going to be? A. Not sure yet, the authorities of the COE are fairly strict in allowing for fines or permit revocation, however we are pursuing the matter through the State of Missouri and the Department of Conservation. It is likely that some form of restitution will be sought by the State through the Hickory County Prosecutor.
Q. Why has this been held from the public? A. Information has not been held back; however a public announce was not provided until a plan of response was in place. The dock owner and the dock company names are not being made available to the public.
Q. What effect will the treatment have on the rest of Pomme de Terre Lake? A. The effects will be limited to the immediate area where the treatment is made (less than 1 acre), and disperse quickly outside that area. There should be no noticeable effects with the exception of bright blue water in the area for a while.

All of you Pomme folks should be grateful that you have people keeping watch for you and acting on new info quickly. My understanding is that "it's not if.....it's when" in regard to these infestations throughout the state. Let's hope that some form of eradication or control in the form of predators can be found before our lakes are useless. Thankfully for Pomme, the exact spot was found and can now be treated....you can be sure no further infestation will occur from there. Sadly that won't help when some guy pulls his boat out of an infested lake and drives to another lake without completely drying or disinfecting his boat. Only responsible boaters can keep these infestations from happening. This includes dumping minnows into the lake when you are done fishing.....thinking you are feeding the local fish population. That's fine if each and every one of those minnows is eaten, but what about the few that get away and into cover? Could one of those be an Asian Carp? Take a ride up or down the Missouri river if you want to experience that infestation first hand....I hear it's fun to have one hit you at 30-40 mph