Finding a place to drop the props, throttle up the outboard and rip across the water is getting hard in Colorado, as Jefferson Lake joins the list of lakes restricting or banning motorboats to fight zebra mussels.
Officials can’t say how long the battle against the invasive species will last. A few dead mussels were discovered on a boat from Michigan at Pueblo Reservoir in January. Officials are concerned about the species being transported by recreational boats to other lakes.
“It’s a huge effort,” said Barb Timock, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service office in Pueblo. “I don’t know when it ever ends.”
Zebra mussels abound in the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes, where local agencies mount multimillion-dollar efforts to control them. The mussels eat plankton, squeeze out native species and choke industrial pipes and boat motors.
The Colorado legislature passed a law this year making it a crime to spread the mussels, with a $150 fine for a first offense and $1,000 for a second.
The law also provides $7.2 million for public education and inspections. The Colorado State Parks Board approved statewide inspections for boats and trailers.
Jefferson Lake, like many others across the state that have imposed restrictions, is still open to campers and other outdoor recreation, including row boats or those with electric trolling motors with 55 pounds of thrust or less.
The high-altitude reservoir in Park County is near Ken osha Pass and supplies the city of Aurora.
Aurora Water has also put restrictions on its Aurora and Quincy reservoirs, requiring all watercraft operators to answer questions and have their equipment inspected before they use designated launches.
Denver Water has imposed a variety of restrictions on its recreational reservoirs as well, which can be seen at .
Denver Water has a phone hotline for up-to-date boating restrictions at 303-607-3160.
Zebra mussels are native to Eurasia. They arrived in the U.S. in about 1988 in ballast water.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
