BRANDON — The RM of Prairie Lakes has been considering a program to stop zebra mussels from entering Pelican Lake and a recent incident proves it’s necessary, the area reeve says.
After lobbying the provincial government for support, Prairie Lakes Reeve Darren Seymour said a mobile watercraft cleaning station was dispatched to the lake, situated about 90 kilometres southwest of Brandon, on a couple of weekends.
“We actually did stop a boat that had zebra mussels present from getting on the lake,” Seymour said of an incident two weekends ago. “By that cleaning station being there, they stopped a boat and decontaminated it before it launched in the lake.”
After watching the efforts to stop the spread of aquatic invasive species in Clear Lake in Riding Mountain National Park, as well as Sandy Lake a short distance to the south, and speaking with the leaders of those efforts, Seymour said the incident made reality hit home.
“There’s people out there that say, ‘Oh you’re never going to stop them,’” Seymour said. “Well, we can’t sit back and do nothing.”
He said a survey circulating among residents said “loud and clear” that Pelican Lake needs to be protected as a resource.
The rural municipality has posted on its website a draft of its aquatic invasive species plan, which would go into effect next year.
A community meeting will be held in Ninette on Sept. 8 so residents and lake users can give feedback on the proposal.
Under the proposed program, regular users of the lake can pay $100 to get a decal they can place on their watercraft, signifying they will restrict use of that craft to Pelican Lake for the year. This will grant the users the ability to launch their craft from anywhere on the lake.
More than a decade ago, aerators were installed in Pelican Lake to deal with algae in the water.
Seymour said if zebra mussels were to get into the lake, the municipality is worried they’ll plug up the aerators and potentially ruin the beaches.
The reeve also said that over the last couple of weeks, representatives from other municipalities have reached out to say that they’ve realized their communities need to take action as well.
“I think we’re slowly catching momentum,” Seymour said.
Earlier this year, the Sandy Lake Water Protection Working Group bolstered its existing inspection program.
When an inspected boat goes to leave the lake, the operator can purchase a $15 metal tie that attaches the boat to its trailer. If that boat returns, and still has its tag intact, that means the boat hasn’t launched elsewhere and it is free to launch again on Sandy Lake.
According to the president of the working group, Daryl Kines, the program has had “good buy-in and support from the community,” though there has been a bit of a cost to buy the ties and staff the inspection station.
While the working group wasn’t able to secure any federal funding, Kines said some provincial funding was obtained through the Urban/Hometown Green Team program.
A spokesperson for Parks Canada said there were no updates on the results of continued searches for zebra mussels in Clear Lake or whether the agency would decide to use potash as a pesticide in an attempt to kill any mussels present in a containment area around Boat Cove.
— Brandon Sun