POST FALLS - Two more area mandatory watercraft inspection stations aimed at keeping invasive species out of local waterways will open on Friday.

Meanwhile, a free workshop to educate the public on the inspection program will be held at Post Falls City Hall on Thursday from 8 a.m. to noon.

Stations at eastbound Highway 53 at the Washington state line and Interstate 90 eastbound at the Huetter rest area will open Friday. They will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

"Boaters should expect inspections," said Pamm Juker of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture, which runs the program. "The purpose of these stations is to inspect watercraft coming from outside Idaho (although local boaters must stop as well). Watercraft inspectors will be looking for high-risk boats that have been in quagga mussel- and zebra mussel-impacted states.

"It is important that boaters arrive in Idaho with a clean, drained and dry watercraft."

The Bonner County stations at Oldtown and Samuels open May 25.

The westbound I-90 inspection station near Wallace opened Feb. 3 - the soonest a station has opened in the four years of the statewide program. The station, which has detained and decontaminated three mussel-fouled watercraft already this year, is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week.

There were 25 mussel-fouled boats intercepted in Idaho last year and 15 of those were found at the Wallace station. The rest were in southern Idaho.

Thirty-nine mussel-fouled boats have been intercepted since the program began in 2009.

There is no registration to attend Thursday's workshop at Post Falls City Hall.

The workshop is intended to increase awareness about the potential impacts of invasive species, teach people how to identify invasive species, teach how to ensure a boat is clean, drained and dry and the process for reporting contaminated boats.

A boat will be on site for a watercraft inspection exercise.

The inspection program is funded by boaters when they purchase invasive species stickers during the registration process. About $800,000 is generated each year for the program.

All of Idaho's waterbodies have tested negative for mussels, but they have been found in waters of other western states and are causing severe economic and environmental harm in other regions of the country.

For more information, contact Tom Woolf, Idaho State Department of Agriculture's aquatic plant program manager, at 608-3404 or [email protected].