Boat Inspections Work!

We have had several volunteers on Turtle Lake who don’t live on a lake but who passionately want to protect lakes. One of them, Ed Derowitsch, decided after a few volunteer sessions that he liked inspecting watercraft and was very good at it. He decided to become a Level 1 Boat Inspector with the Itasca County AIS Program. While we lost an excellent volunteer, we didn’t lose his thoroughness.

One day, while inspecting on North Star Lake, Ed saw some well-hidden material attached near the back of a boat. The material felt like sand, sometimes a telltale sign of small zebra mussels. After scraping the material from the boat, it was clearly numerous very small zebra mussels. Ed convinced the boater to drive an hour out of his way to get the boat decontaminated. The boater, who was returning to his home state that day, was grateful for Ed’s finding.

Some might say, “it was just one boat.” We say, “that’s one boat that we know won’t infest another lake!” Thanks, Ed! Good job!