MCHENRY, Md. (AP) — The state Department of Natural Resources says college students trained to detect invasive aquatic species prevented a boat infected with zebra mussels from entering Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland.
Resource Assessment Director Bruce Michael said Tuesday that the Garrett College students spotted the mussels clinging to the propeller of a pontoon boat at a state park boat ramp June 4.
He says they removed the creatures and kept them from the lake, which has shown no sign of infestation.
Zebra mussels are native to Europe. They entered the Great Lakes in the 1980s and are now in some Pennsylvania and Maryland waters including the Susquehanna River and the upper Chesapeake Bay.
The small bivalves form colonies that can clog water intakes, disable machinery and cover boats and moorings.
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