FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 The California Natural Resources Agency and Department of Water Resources officials gathered Thursday to discuss the growing threat of invasive species across the state, with golden mussels among their biggest concerns.<\/p>\n
If there’s a most wanted list for dangerous invasive species or damaging invasive species in California, near or top of the list are golden mussels,<\/p>\n
California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot warned.<\/p>\n
Golden mussels were first detected at the Port of Stockton in October 2024. Dr. Christopher Jones, who leads the Department of Water Resources’ Golden Mussel Incident Command Team, said they’ve since spread from the Delta toward Southern California.<\/p>\n
“What makes them particularly concerning is, they really have an ability to quickly reproduce and spread either through connected waterways or by hitching a ride on boats and equipment,” Jones explained.<\/p>\n
Officials say the mussels can attach to water intakes, screens and pipelines, turning the infestation into both an environmental and water infrastructure concern.<\/p>\n
“We’ve learned that there isn’t gonna just be one solution,” Jones said. “We’re really trying to build a layered response.”<\/p>\n
The state is testing hot water, ultraviolet light, chemical treatments and other methods while trying to keep the mussels from reaching new waterways.<\/p>\n
Jones said keeping golden mussels out of waterways they haven’t yet reached is now a priority, and Californians can play a role.<\/p>\n
For anyone moving a boat or equipment between waterways, the state’s message is simple: clean it, drain it and let it dry completely.<\/p>\n
“Preventing a mussel from reaching new water bodies is far more effective than trying to manage an infested area,” Jones said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 The California Natural Resources Agency and Department of Water Resources officials gathered Thursday to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-439091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}