Committee approves quarantine definition for Mid‑Snake quagga mussel treatment area

The committee approved a temporary rule that defines the department’s working quarantine area for quagga mussels on the Mid‑Snake River and requires inspection and decontamination of watercraft launched within the zone (docket 020609‑2406).

Deputy Director Lloyd Knight said the quarantine area now in rule runs from the Hansen Bridge downstream to the Broken Bridge — the stretch where the department has detected mussels and conducted two treatments. The department has amended the quarantine boundaries through temporary rules several times while treating, sampling and reopening access with restrictions. Under the current temporary rule, any watercraft launched in that stretch must be inspected and decontaminated by department personnel at inspection stations both prior to launch and on exit from the river.

Committee members praised the department’s rapid response and sampled‑based surveillance program. Representative McCann asked about mussel size; program staff (Nick Zirflue, bureau chief) responded that adult quagga mussels observed in the program typically reach approximately the size of a fingernail. Representative Levitt and others complimented the rapid operational response in the Magic Valley and stressed the need to maintain public access with appropriate biosecurity checks.

Representative McCann moved approval; the committee approved the temporary quarantine rule by voice vote.

Ending: The department said it expects the quarantine area to remain unless new findings require adjustment and that a fuller briefing on quagga surveillance and response will come to the committee in February.