Invasive Species Alert

Dear Concerned Boat Owner,

Thank you for taking the time to review this important information about invasive species. Working together we can help prevent Ruth Lake and other northern California waterways from becoming infested with Quagga and Zebra mussels.

The Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District (HBMWD) has issued a temporary boating restriction at Ruth Lake in an attempt to protect Humboldt County’s water supply from invasive species infestation. This restriction is now in place.

Only boats and other watercrafts registered in or based in Humboldt or Trinity Counties will be allowed to launch at Ruth Lake. Boats and other watercraft that are in Humboldt and Trinity Counties as of August 26, 2008 will be allowed to use Ruth Lake, but if they are taken out of those two counties and launched in another water body outside those two counties they will be denied access to Ruth Lake. This letter is not intended to be a detailed summary of the Ordinance and its provisions. For more detail, please consult the HBMWD website.

This restriction is expected to be temporary and will end once boating registration and inspection programs have been put in place. It is anticipated that the programs will be up and running by the end of this year or the beginning of 2009. This restriction will be in place for the upcoming Labor Day weekend.

The following pdfs and links include details regarding what the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District and the Ruth Lake Community Services District, in conjunction with the California Department of Fish and Game, are doing to educate our community about the threat these mussels pose to our waterways and ways we can help stop them from spreading to our local waterways.

Sincerely,

Carol