Bill gives ISDA additional funds to fight quagga mussels [Video]

TIMES-NEWS

State officials are preparing for this year’s upcoming battle against quagga mussels, and the Idaho Department of Agriculture now has additional money for the fight, thanks to a $6.6 million funding bill signed by Gov. Brad Little.

Senate Bill 1372, signed last week by Gov. Little, added $6.6 million to increase ISDA’s ongoing prevention and monitoring of invasive species and future preparedness for rapid response.

“An unchecked spread of quagga mussels has the potential to cost Idaho hundreds of millions of dollars in direct and indirect costs. The IDAHO WORKS bill I signed today increases our manpower and resources to keep invasive species out of our precious water,” Little said.

Signs of the invasive pest were found last fall near Centennial Falls in the form of veligers, a larval form of the mussel, and a single quagga mussel discovered attached to a rock near Shoshone Falls.

After an aggressive molluscicide …