LAKE COUNTY – The new year ushers in modifications to the Lake County Invasive Species Inspection Program, which was put in place in 2008 to protect the water bodies of Lake County from the significant and imminent threat posed by invasive quagga and zebra mussels.

The Board of Supervisors approved the changes to the inspection program at its meeting on Dec. 15, 2009, and then advanced and subsequently passed the amendments to the ordinance at the second reading on Jan. 5, 2010.

The amendments to the ordinance will go into effect on Feb. 4, 2010.

The most visible change to the inspection program is in the proof of compliance for non-resident vessels – a shift from annual inspection stickers to monthly compliance inspection bands that are color-coded with a different color for each month of the year.

These bands are applicable to non-resident vessels only; resident vessels are still required to display an inspection sticker.

These monthly inspection bands may be obtained after passing a screening inspection at one of several inspection locations around the county. The fee is $10 and the bands, which are non-transferable, will be valid for the entire month of issue.

A set of two bands will be issued – one for the boat and one to be affixed to the boat trailer. A five-day grace period at the end of the month of issue will cover those periods when a visitor may be staying into the following month.

Note that any vessel that does not pass screening still will be required to undergo and pass inspection by a Certified Inspector before bands are issued.

The change to inspection bands is based on a recommendation made to the Lake County Board of Supervisors by the Lake County Invasive Species Council as a means of addressing the need for re-inspection of non-resident boats.

Since the program’s beginning, visitor vessels have been required to go through the screening inspection prior to launching; however, annual stickers made enforcement of re-screening a challenge.

The new compliance bands will make it easy to identify non-resident vessels and to determine whether a non-resident vessel is out of compliance. The bands will be required to be displayed on the vessel itself as well as on the vessel’s trailer.

Other changes include revising the definition of resident and non-resident vessels based on the vessel’s DMV registration, as well as allowing for the exemption of vessels such as kayaks, car-top row boats, rafts, and boogie boards from the provisions of the ordinance.

The council’s full document, “Mussel Protocols and Standards,” is posted on the county’s mussel web site at www.co.lake.ca.us/mussels .

The site provides information about the Lake County Invasive Species Inspection Program and a list of inspection locations, which also may be obtained by calling the Lake County Mussel Hotline at 707-263-2556.

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