MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s invasive species inspection and eradication team has bagged its first zebra mussels.
The Mail Tribune newspaper reports a Washington man hauling a 15-foot Boston Whaler he bought from someone in Michigan pulled in at the inspection station on Interstate 5 in Ashland on Wednesday and zebra mussels were found on the motor.
The boat was decontaminated by pressure washing it with hot water and the owner was sent on his way.
Rick Boatner of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says zebra mussels are well established in the Great Lakes, but so far have not shown up in Oregon.
