BONNERS FERRY — The Idaho State Department of Agriculture has moved its watercraft inspection location in Boundary County to the weighing station at Three Mile Junction. 

All boaters traveling through Bonners Ferry, whether southbound toward Sandpoint or northbound on U.S. 95 or westbound on Highway 2, must stop for inspection. ISDA officials said in a press release that the inspection station was moved from its prior in-town location to improve operations and traffic flow. 

Boaters are required to pull over as these inspections are the state’s first line of defense against invasive species, ISDA officials said. The state’s current focus is quagga mussels, which can have major negative impacts on fish populations and cause hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure damage, according to the ISDA. 

Through over a million inspections throughout Idaho, the state has found 413 mussel-fouled watercrafts, slowing the spread of the invasive mussel. The thumbnail-sized quagga mussel presents such a great threat because of its ability to reproduce rapidly and spread across freshwater bodies easily, according to the state. 

For more information on invasive species, boaters can contact the ISDA’s hotline at 1-877- 336-8676. More information on inspections can also be found at invasivespecies.idaho.gov.