After zebra mussels were found in Clear Lake back in 2023, motorized boat use was banned outright - but new guidelines this year helped a successful comeback.
According to Parks Canada, the AIS (Aquatic Invasive Species) Program in Riding Mountain National Park conducted 6,365 watercraft inspections - 618 of them were motorized. Across the more than 6,000 inspections, 514 decontaminations were completed.
June 6th was the busiest day of the season. On that day alone, 223 inspections were done.
Parks Canada thanks parkgoers for their cooperation with the AIS Program. Zebra mussels, and other invasive species, are very costly and difficult to control once they're introduce to an area, so the best defence against them is monitoring, education, and prevention.
Looking to 2027's boating season, Parks Canada asks watercraft users to leave their AIS tags attached to their watercraft through the winter, and to store watercraft outdoors or in an unheated building if possible, as freezing temperatures help to kill off any possible invasive species.
