Show IntermountainHr I April 2004 Bozeman Montana SJjVJjVJS '' IANCF tHAlIK Although as small as a pinhead By New Zealand mudsnails are having a detrimental effect on Western waterways LANCE FRAZIER “nuking" the streams with a chemical agent would do more harm than good )rice the snaifs get a toehold they arc They reproduce rapidly virtually bomb-pnvandasexuaily (999 percent are female) Studies of rivers in the greater Yellowstone area indicate that the snails comprise 95' percent o the invertebrate species in' some waters where ' they have been found for less than five years meaning they have already choked out most 'cianpetitors It has yet to he proved but many scientists believe native trout eat the snails blit - " thanks to the snail s abilitv to close its'trapdoor-- : ' like 6XTCuliim and seal itself oil - cannot digest them thusreceiv ing no nutrition “They are the' perfect invasive species" dhxerves Mark mson 'of the National Ceiiterjjoin project between State University and the Bureau of Lind - an Gustafson would rather have seen the Kxxon Valdez run aground in the Madison River: ’ Instead the Montana State University ' research scientist lias watched helplessly as Cine waterway after another falls' u'lini to a threat at which few people would gt'y a second look - a snail the size of a hhie-rihhon v - Hiihead ' VI his is worse than h chemical spill"' fiiistilson says from his office in Bozeman Ihological pollution lasts forever" " ' The New calami mudsnail made its Aia-to the United States around 985' when it Was (mind in the Snake River in central Idaho' Since then it has proliferated to the pointthat a map of the region if marked with a red tlot T"r each infected urea looks us if it is being targeted by a squadron of snipers with laser sights A impacted waters reads like a l isher s guirlc of Western dream spots: the lellowstonc Madison Snake and Green to name a handful along with others in yoming Washington Oregon California and N'cyada The' bad ncwsaccording to (iiistafsonwhoscWebsite serves as a ‘'ghcHise for mudsnail updates is that dterc isno way to get rid of the snails because V list-o- C if : Aquatic-Monitorin- Management “They have1 a high rcppidiictivc rate' they're small they can live out lift he water they're transportable arid they ' ' eatalgae which grows every where1" ' Instead ofaiming for eradication scientists arc playing a game of containment trying to identjfy each minted site early and limit the snail’s spread On Utah's Green River where NcwZcaland nyudsnails appeared in 2001 and have since reached densities of 500000 per square meter in some strctchcs Tesearchers plan to nse higb-flofor-day- : w J ' - -- HZiEZa 33 |