Tuesday June 16, 2026
Active NorCal —
Weeks after watercraft inspectors intercepted two boats carrying invasive golden mussels at Lake Tahoe, California is ending its mussel inspection program at Lake Oroville. Experts are calling the decision alarming.
The Department of Water Resources will no longer require inspections and decontamination for boats launching at Lake Oroville, the Thermalito Forebay or the Thermalito Afterbay. The program cost $7.5 million to launch and $6.5 million per year to operate.
DWR says a new state-funded risk assessment determined that golden mussels pose a lower risk to Lake Oroville than previously thought. The agency also argued that upstream lakes in the Feather River watershed do not have inspection programs, which means mussel larvae could wash into the reservoir on river flows regardless of boat inspections.
Invasive species experts disagree. Anthony Ricciardi, a biology professor at McGill University, told KQED that California is in the midst of a golden mussel epidemic and that controlling key hubs like Oroville is essential to preventing the species from spreading statewide.