The nevada department of wildlife (ndow), in coordination with U.S. Fish and wildlife service (FWS) and thenational park service (NPS) at lake mead national recreation area (lmnra),began operations in…

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) awarded a $315,072 Project Grant under the Fish and Aquatic Conservation - Aquatic Invasive Species program (CFDA 15.608) to the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW). This grant supports NDOW's operations since 2013 to increase boater awareness and prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species, primarily quagga mussels, at Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The grant funds the staffing of four year-round watercraft inspection and decontamination stations, where over 9,600 watercraft inspections and 553 decontaminations were performed in 2023. Additionally, NDOW staff visit Las Vegas watercraft dealers and auction houses to provide free inspections on used watercraft listed for sale, to help reduce the potential introduction of invasive species to uninfected waterways. This grant will continue these prevention efforts from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025.

The nevada department of wildlife (ndow), in coordination with U.S. Fish and wildlife service (FWS) and thenational park service (NPS) at lake mead national recreation area (lmnra),began operations in 2013 on the nevada side of lake mead to increase boater awareness of watercraft groundtransportation and ecological issues associated with aquatic invasive species (AIS), primarilyquagga mussels (dreissena bugensis). In 2008, the highly invasive quagga mussels were first discovered at lmnraand have since invaded the lower colorado river from lake powell to its terminus.since 2013, ndow has increased the capacity of the initial project and IT has expanded to include staffing offour year-round free-of-charge watercraft inspection and decontamination (WID) stationsthrough funding provided by fwss quagga zebra mussel action plan (qzap), the NPS at lmnra and match provided by ndow. The stations are primarily focused on exiting watercraft to prevent newintroductions of quagga mussels to noninfected waterbodies and is considered a high priority action item in qzap. The WID stations, all located at lmnra, include hemingway harbor, boulder harbor, callville BAY and cottonwood cove at lake mohave. In the calendar year 2023, over 9,694 watercraft inspectionswere performed and 553 decontaminations. Since the implementation of theprogram by ndow, over five thousand watercrafts have been decontaminated at the stations. In addition, toperforming watercraft inspections and decontaminations, the staff also provides AIS educationto watercraft users on the proper way to clean, drain and dry (CDD) their respective watercraft to prevent thespread of AIS. This proposal continues with the current focus and operations of the fourstations to reduce the number of quagga mussel fouled watercraft exiting the lmnra through the staffing of fourexisting WID stations a secondary component of this grant consists of ndow staff visitinglas vegas valley watercraft dealers and auction houses and providing free-of-charge watercraft inspections onwatercraft listed for sale. The program began in 2016 to reduce the potential aisintroduction, primarily quagga mussels, to uninfected waterways. The LAS vegas valley is a hotspot for the saleof used watercrafts and due to the proximity to lmnra, these watercrafts can easily becontaminated with quagga mussels or other AIS. In addition, many new boats are test driven at lmnra for potentialbuyers. The purpose of this component of the project is to visit watercraft dealers toreduce or eliminate the number of AIS fouled watercraft being sold and transported regionally and across statelines. In addition, AIS outreach materials are distributed to watercraft dealers to provide aistransport information to potential buyers. Finally, in late 2023 ndow partnered with a marketing company todigitally supply boaters with AIS messaging. The company geofenced lake mead and mohave as well has otherwaterbodies in northern nevada and distributing AIS messaging reminding them to take the necessary steps to prevent spreading AIS. The goal of geofencing the waterbodies was to target individuals who are actively boating.