SWAN LAKE — Aquatic invasive species are a threat to Montana’s pristine waters and throughout the Swan Valley new machines are in place to help people clean, drain and dry their watercraft.
Portable aquatic invasive species (AIS) cleaning stations have been placed at the Swan Lake boat ramp and the Holland Lake boat ramp as a last line of defense to keep Montana waters clean.
“And all of these lakes are so pristine. We want to make sure our ecosystem stays healthy and everything is as pristine as possible. So we really want to make sure that aquatic invasive species are not entering this water body. Which also in turn will help the ecosystem here. We want this ecosystem to have all native animals and native fish, to be able to fish and to be able to recreate in this beautiful place,” said Drew Harmon with the Flathead National Forest.
The stations are meant to be used after you have already cleaned, drained and dried all watercraft after exiting a water body and after you have gone through the AIS inspection stations found throughout the state.
“It's a waterless vacuum system that just provides one last important step to make sure that you are not transporting an invasive creature that could really change the environment and the economics of our beautiful waters. The Flathead National Forest and the water bodies we have in the Flathead Valley are absolutely beautiful and do not have these aquatic invasive species. And we want to keep it that way,” explained Flathead National Forest spokeswoman Kira Powell.
WATCH: How to use the portable aquatic invasive species cleaning stations
The Flathead National Forest and Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks teamed up to install these stations. A third station was placed at Owl Packer Camp near Holland Lake, for terrestrial invasive species.
“The Owl Packer station is actually for hikers and stock because if you are walking through something, there's potential to transport, that's how some of our terrestrial invasive weeds get transported is on us as animals. So we just want to keep Montana's waters as clean as they are now,” said Powell.
The stations are free to use, and all motorized and non-motorized watercraft users should be using these stations prior to launching their boats at Swan and Holland Lake.
“Invasive species are becoming more present throughout the nation. We currently don't have them in this lake and in the Flathead watershed. So we want to make sure that we're keeping these areas as pristine as possible. And so a great way to do that is to have precautions like this,” said Harmon.
Click here to learn more about aquatic invasive species in Montana. Information about Montana's AIS inspection stations can be found here.
