Starting this week, staff at Riding Mountain National Park (RMNP) will step up their monitoring and testing efforts for aquatic invasive species (AIS).
This comes after a positive test result for environmental DNA of zebra mussels was returned on Monday, January 23rd, from Clear Lake. Actual zebra mussels in their whole form have not been found in RMNP, but the environmental DNA that was detected could have come to Clear Lake on a boat, water toy, or other source, without actually transferring any living mussels. Since then, three follow-up tests for AIS have been done and all of them came back negative.
It should also be noted that environmental DNA does not pose a threat to Clear Lake or its ecosystem, but it can be an early warning sign.
Parks Canada advises visitors to stay clear of any research activities or dive sites they may see in the coming weeks. The full news release from Parks Canada can be found here.