SANDRA M STANWAY
Brooks Bulletin
The Eastern Irrigation District is attempting to become more aggressive in the fight against invasive mussels.
Brandi Doerksen, AIS land manager, said a mobile containment unit could be purchased. The waterless unit is designed specifically for use by the public at no charge when a watercraft exits a water body to clean, drain and dry to ensure debris, water or organic material is removed but some board members believe that it won’t be effective to eliminate organisms prior to launching.
“Unless we have someone there monitoring it shows we’re serious but if we’re going to do it we should do it properly,” said board member Brent Schroeder.
The Alberta Invasive Species Council recently acquired the same decontaminant unit which will be deployed throughout the province next year as well as the purchase of units to be placed throughout waterbodies in northern Alberta.
Megan Evans, executive director of the Alberta Invasive Species Council said the organization received an Environmental Damages Fund Grant to purchase a mobile unit.
“It is a multi-year grant that will allow us to purchase and install permanent units at a number of boat launches in the Edmonton area. While we can use the unit in other areas, the focal area for the grant is several sub watersheds in the North Saskatchewan watershed,” she said.
“We are doing this work to protect aquatic habitats and species, particularly Lake Sturgeon from the impacts of invasive species. In addition to the purchase of the CD3 machines, we are funding research on species-at-risk and aquatic invasive species, revamping the Clean Drain Dry messaging and doing a ton of marketing and outreach.”
