JACKSON HOLE, WYO – As one alarmist story after another hits the Internet stirring fear that Yellowstone is ready to blow after a swarm of more than 400 minor earthquakes was recorded recently, a far more insidious scenario is developing. Park officials are much more worried about invasive mussels than they are duck-and-cover drills for the “big one.”
Just to put the supervolcano blast to rest, Yellowstone managers would like to remind anyone concerned that the kind of eruption that formed the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake, or the larger caldera that encompasses much of the park, is “very unlikely.”
“Earthquake swarms are common in Yellowstone; sometimes experience over a thousand earthquakes a month,” a park spokesperson said. “While this is the highest number of earthquakes at Yellowstone within a single week in the past five years, it is fewer than weekly counts during similar earthquakes swarms in 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2010.”
Zebra and quagga mussels, however, are a legitimate concern in the nation’s oldest national park. So much so that authorities have taken unprecedented measures of precaution to keep the invasive species from gaining a foothold in the Yellowstone waters, and potentially the Columbia River Basin.
Park staff are requiring boats be dry and drained before inspection. In addition, rangers have placed barriers at Bridge Bay, Grant Village and Lewis Lake boat ramps to block people from launching boats when rangers are not present.
The heightened alert came after mussels were discovered nearby in Montana’s Tiber and Canyon Ferry reservoirs last year. In response, Montana has stepped up its game, employing two sniffer dogs, trained to detect the presence of mussels.
Mussels would be an ecosystem game-changer for Yellowstone. Once introduced, they are virtually impossible to eradicate. Yellowstone is already dealing with the illegal introduction of lake trout—a species blamed for devastating native cutthroat population.
A park spokesperson said several vessels with mussels attached to them have been prevented from putting in Yellowstone waters so far this season. The next step would be a complete ban on all boats in Yellowstone this summer.
