Attention Western Slope pond owners: Colorado Parks and Wildlife is on the hunt for hungry, fast-reproducing, invasive mussels — and that they might be hiding in your pond.  State and federal agencies, plus water districts, are fighting to track and contain zebra mussels in and around the Colorado River in Colorado. Officials are hiring new staff, doing sampling blitzes and catching mussel-bearing motorized boats at the state’s borders, but the populations of zebra mussels keep popping up. This year, the state is taking its search beyond public waters and irrigation systems. Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff hope to survey as many as possible of the thousand-plus ponds on private property in the Grand Junction area during summer 2026.

Other invasive species news:

• Tahoe Daily Tribune (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.): Illegal boat launch stopped at Lake Tahoe