Yellowstone is encouraging more visitors – just don’t bring any invaders.
Saturday, May 23rd, marked the beginning of boating and fishing season in the park. But this comes with the ever-urgent need for boaters to clean, drain, and dry their boats and equipment before entering the park. Before you launch your boat in the pristine waters of the park:
- Clean all plants, animals, mud, sand, and other debris from your boat, anchor, boots, and equipment. Use high-pressure, hot (120-140F) water if possible.
- Drain all water from your boat including the motor, bilge, livewell, and other compartments before you arrive. Leave drain plugs out during transport. Do not dump water or organisms from one water body into another.
- Dry all compartments and equipment in the sun for five days.
These necessary steps to protect the park’s and nation’s waterways, mainly to avoid the expensive and irreversible damage caused by the invasive quagga and zebra mussels. If they are found in the park, that could close all the waterways to boats and all aquatic vehicles indefinitely.
There are also some temporary restrictions in place due to COVID-19: watercraft equipped with sealed internal ballast tanks are temporarily banned from all park waters as inspections cannot always detect these invaders in these types of boats, especially now.
The park will provide details and updates for operations on their Yellowstone webpage – http://www.nps.gov/yell – and social media accounts.
Read more about boating, fishing, and aquatic invasive species on the park’s website.
