SANDPOINT - Lawmakers, conservation groups, Bonner County officials and members of the public are calling on the Idaho State Department of Agriculture to strengthen proposed rules designed to protect waterways from zebra and quagga mussels.

The department conducted a public hearing Tuesday as part of a rule-making effort targeting the exotic invertebrates and other invasive species. Everyone who testified urged the ISDA to make the proposed rules more stringent so the invasive species cannot gain a toehold in Idaho.

The mussels, which are a cause of great concern in the Panhandle, are known to spread rapidly, leaving a gloomy wake of damage to the ecology, public infrastructure and private property.

The Pend Oreille Basin Commission maintains that Lake Pend Oreille has been identified as prime habitat for the freshwater mussels, which clog water intakes, and treatment plants, and coat docks, boat hulls and other submerged surfaces.

The aquatic bivalve mollusks have not been detected in Idaho, although they appear to be closing in on the West.

They have already been found in lakes Tahoe and Mead, in addition to reservoirs in Colorado.

"We feel that unless something is done now, it is only a matter of time before our only action will be reaction," said basin Commissioner Linda Mitchell.

The proposed rules originally contained a suite of prophylactic measures designed to keep the mussels from entering Idaho. They included requirements that boaters certify that their vessels are free of invasive species, inspection checkpoints, decontamination facilities and the ability to quarantine a tainted boat before it is launched.

But those measures fell away during the rule-making process.

"Most of the content that made this rule meaningful has been stripped away," said Susan Drumheller of the Idaho Conservation League, which supports the process but wants rules fortified.

Under the latest version of the rules, it would be illegal to possess, transport or release targeted mussels in Idaho.

The revised rules are largely a product of limited funding, according to ISDA.

"The main thing was funding. There's no funding mechanism, currently, in the law," said ISDA Administrator Tom Dayley.

The Panhandle Environmental League and ICL are recommending the state adopt a mandatory sticker program so boaters using Idaho waters are contributing to the cause.

State Reps. Eric Anderson (R-Priest Lake) and George Eskridge (R-Dover) also appealed to ISDA for tougher rules, emphasizing that the intent of the rules is to prevent catastrophic infestations.

Anderson argued state emergency funding could possibly be invoked because an infestation would have disastrous environmental and economic consequences since there are no well-established mussel countermeasures.

"You'll never have what you had. This is an emergency," said Anderson.

Brad Bluemer, the county's noxious weed superintendent, said the rules need enforcement and education components so the public understand the threat the mussels pose. The enforcement portion would gain no traction with the public if it didn't understand the severity of the threat, he said.

"This is monumental - more monumental than Eurasian milfoil," Bluemer added.

The ISDA is expected to forward the rules to the Legislature this fall, Dayley said. A follow-up rules meeting could be held in Twin Falls later this month.

Comments deadline

The deadline to submit written comments on proposed invasive species rules is Wednesday, Oct. 22.

Comments should be directed to Idaho State Department of Agriculture Deputy Director Brian Oakey, 2270 Old Penitentiary Road, P.0. Box 790, Boise, ID. 83701-2170. Comments may also be faxed to (208) 334-2170.