Invasives Get a Boost

The Glory Hole at Lake Berryessa is spilling over again, especially with all this new rain we got today. I went with a friend to Calistoga for some hedonism (mud baths) before starting my new job tomorrow morning; our route took us over the ridge into Napa Valley and we stopped to take a photo of the overflow mechanism for this reservoir.

The tiny New Zealand Mud Snail has been spreading in this part of the watershed. It is believed to have been introduced on the boots of fishermen. The worry is that, since the Glory Hole has been overflowing for well over a week now and flushing the snails from the muddy bottom, they’re well on their way to the Delta.

They have no predators here, and are very likely to end up causing environmental havoc. What to do? There’s apparently a species of fluke that feeds on them. But nobody knows what introducing this fluke might do to the rest of the ecosystem. Look at what happened on Hawaii when they introduced mongeese to extirpate the introduced snakes: mass extinction of native birds. Copper might control them, but what would it kill in the process?

We may have to live with this one, folks.