Over the past couple of years, Highline Lake has been struggling with Zebra Mussels. Zebra Mussels are a very invasive species that are commonly spread around small lakes, making it nearly impossible to eradicate the pests without use of drastic measures like draining the lake. 

Under normal circumstances, as boaters exit the lake they are required to go through a procedure called ¨DCON¨. DCON stands for decontamination and is when they clean the boat’s ballast bags with 150 degree water to make sure they are flushed out and adequately sterilized, if they don’t come out when the ballasts are drained. This process is strictly enforced so the mussels don’t end up growing and spreading throughout the boat’s tubes and pipes, causing a difficult environment to mitigate. 

Recently, workers have been finding the Zebra Mussels around the lake in their adult form, prompting an investigation of the life form in Highline. During the investigation, they only found adults, and have yet to find them at any other stage of growth within their life cycle. 

These findings strongly suggest that someone had likely dumped a bucket of adult mussels directly into the lake. Park-goers are speculating that paddle boarders may have intentionally planted a colony of adult Zebra Mussels to get boats off the lake, as they would be the likely cause of an infestation and therefore be hard to be used by recreationalists that use the water. I Talked to Andrew Jones a Sophomore he said ¨It really sucks that Highline will be closed next year but I’m glad they are doing there best to make the lake as clean as possible¨

At the end of the most recent boating season at Highline, during the routine cleanup of the docks and buoys, the workers discovered 60 additional adult mussels, states the Daily Sentinel. After the discovery, park authorities made the decision to completely drain the reservoir in order to properly and thoroughly clean out the unwanted species. Consequently, boaters, paddle-boarders, fishermen and recreational swimmers will have to seek alternative bodies of water to recreate in for the 2024 summer season. The campground and day-use areas will remain accessible.