By Michael Booth | The Colorado Sun
Voracious zebra mussels appear to be spreading into the Colorado River near Grand Junction and infesting the Government Highline canal watering Mesa County farms, less than two years after the invasive species first appeared in a Western Slope lake, wildlife officials said Tuesday.
Western Slope officials called the news “devastating,” and are warning downstream water conservation partners beginning with Utah that the fast-reproducing mussels are likely on the way. Colorado Parks and Wildlife had led the charge to combat zebra mussels after finding the first lake infestation at nearby Highline Lake State Park in September 2022.
The zebra mussels strip plankton from the water en masse, depriving native species of vital food. The females can produce a million eggs during a spawn, and masses of the growing mussels cling to docks, dams, intake valves and other river infrastructure, threatening damage in the seven-state Colorado River region serving 40 million people.