Zebra Mussel Threat Expands In Oklahoma

By Craig Day, The News On 6

FORT GIBSON LAKE – They're tiny creatures that can cause big problems and now zebra mussels have turned up at more Oklahoma lakes.

Zebra mussels may not be top of mind for some, but maybe they should be. They're messing up the ecosystem and costing just about all of us money.

At Fort Gibson Lake, the wind is keeping people off the water, but it seems like there isn't much stopping the spread of something under the surface.

Dreaded zebra mussels are showing up in more Oklahoma lakes. Ft. Gibson is the latest.

"The pictures I've seen from some of the lakes that have them bad, I hope it doesn't happen here," Jim Montgomery, US Army Corps of Engineers, said.

Jim Montgomery is a natural resource specialist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He says for each zebra mussel you find, there are thousands more.

"They like a little bit of rough surface," Montgomery said.

They attach to rocks, docks, buoys, just about everything. And they screw up the ecosystem.

"When they get thick, there is not as many nutrients for the other native species to eat," he said.

The pests also can damage boat engines. Plus they often clog up power plant and public water intakes. That costs everyone money even if you never go to a lake.

"Passed on to the consumer at some point, so it's going to cost everybody a lot of money," Montgomery, said.

One of the challenges with zebra mussels is once you have them, you can't get rid of them. The best you can do is just contain the zebra mussels. The US Army Corps of Engineers says that begins with boaters before they put their boats back in the water.

The best containment effort is rinsing boats, live wells and anything else that's been in one lake, before it goes into another.

It's hoped more people follow that advice to help prevent something so small from causing such big headaches, when the wind dies down and the boating season winds up.

4/22/2010 Related story: Thumbnail-Sized Mussels Found In Another Oklahoma Lake