Carolyn Ruttan of Lake County Water Resources said the program will require visitors to the county to have their boats visually inspected by program volunteers, who also must question owners to make sure that boats are cleaned, drained and dry before launch.
This week Ruttan will be distributing new annual stickers to residents and monthly stickers to visitors this week, she said.
Resident stickers are purple on gold with a blue annual 2011 sticker, while visitor stickers are blue on white with a purple monthly January sticker, Ruttan reported.
The stickers for visitors will replace the previously required bands, which Ruttan said were difficult, if not impossible, to see from a distance. She added that stickers also have been well received by residents and local enforcement authorities.
Because it's so important to protect local lakes, Ruttan said any area residents or visitors who launch their boats in other water bodies must have their boats inspected by an approved Lake County Mussel Prevention Program inspector before relaunching in any county waters.
If such boats need to be decontaminated after visiting an infested county, that procedure is a free service by the Water Resources Department, Ruttan said.
Ruttan said Lake County residents do not need to take their vessel to a participating business to buy a set of 2011 stickers.
Instead, she said they need their California Department of Motor Vehicles vessel registration – which needs to show the vessel registered in Lake County – and the copy of the mussel prevention program application form that they were given when first signing up for the program.
She said they will fill out a new form, be asked whether they keep their boat clean, drained and dry, and reminded to have their boat rescreened whenever they return with boat from out of county.
Ruttan said county residents must take an active part in preventing mussel infestations by educating their friends, family members and visitors about the mussel threat and the relative ease with which mussels can be transported from one water body to another.
The mussels' larvae, called veligers, are microscopic in size, she said.
A new ordinance further strengthening the Lake County Mussel Prevention Program will go before the Board of Supervisors for a first reading on Jan. 11, to be followed by a second reading Jan. 18, Ruttan said.
If the ordinance is adopted, it will go into effect 30 days after that, she added.
For more information, contact Carolyn Ruttan, 707-263-2344, or visit Water Resources online at www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Water_Resources/Mussel_Prevention.htm .
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