Containment Actions
A targeted education campaign is aimed at come and go boaters to reinforce watercraft operator responsibility to "clean, drain, and dry" their vessel to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species. The park continues a highly visible public education and outreach campaign to promote the message of "clean, drain, and dry," increasing awareness of and compliance with watercraft owner responsibilities required by state aquatic invasive species laws and regulations. This public messaging effort includes roving NPS employees at launch ramps and marinas where rangers contact boaters to provide the "clean, drain, and dry" message, show how to carry it out if necessary, and answer questions about quagga mussels and applicable state requirements. Non-personal services will also be used to promote the message through signs, displays, website, social media, and other mechanisms.
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area does not have the infrastructure or the resources to provide decontamination for the hundreds of thousands of watercraft using Lake Powell. Glen Canyon offers decontamination services for any non-agency-controlled vessels (other than concessioner, contractor, and permittee) observed entering or exiting the park with confirmed visible (or detectable) attached quagga mussels or other aquatic invasive species (AIS) when needed. The NPS provides support for private businesses to develop permanent decontamination stations outside the park to serve watercraft using Lake Powell.
Glen Canyon requires agency-controlled watercraft (concessioner, contractor, permittee) to be inspected and if necessary decontaminated, while providing information about applicable state regulations. This requirement is managed as a concessioner, contractor, and permittee responsibility as law and policy allow. All slipped and moored boats, the most likely vector of spread of adult mussels, are covered by this provision. Other requirements on agency-controlled watercraft at Glen Canyon NRA include making required notifications to states, developing HACCP (Hazard Analysis at Critical Control Points plans document AIS abatements steps), informing customers of requirements, enforcing NPS and state rules, and seeking assistance from the NPS when needed.
As multi-jurisdictional data collection systems are developed, Glen Canyon will participation through the Utah and/or Arizona Aquatic Invasive Species programs to monitor the movement of watercraft to and from Lake Powell. Such systems are already in place in many western states. As states develop watercraft inspection and decontamination regulations or licensing requirements for private businesses engaged in those processes, NPS continues to assist with training vendors in the local area and directs visitors to those state approved facilities.
