Officials Call For Volunteer Effort To Fight Lillinonah Zebra Mussels

“We need your help,” is the appeal of a recent e-mail alerting lake lovers of a disappointing early October discovery.

Invasive zebra mussels were found clustered on a water sampling buoy in Lake Lillinonah when volunteers pulled it to the surface on October 8. “We have known for a while that it’s coming and here they are. With any luck they will stay few and far,” said Friends of the Lake (FOTL) — a nonprofit group benefiting Lake Lillinonah — member Scott Conant.

“We found about a dozen zebra mussels attached. This was a discouraging find due to the number and size of the mussels found,” stated a FOTL e-mail circulated recently. Zebra mussels have been a known presence in Newtown’s water for the past two years.

The e-mail asks that as residents remove docks and boats for the winter that they “please report information” to info@friendsofthelake.org. During this year’s drawdown between November 3 and 11, “please scout and remove mussels along the shoreline, and report your findings.”

The FOTL e-mail makes the following requests for reporting information:

For mussels found on a dock or boat: indicate the date when dock / boat was removed, and about when you deployed them last spring.

For mussels found on something that remains in the water year-round: describe what they were found on, and when they were found.

Location of mussels found (brief description or your address; gps location if possible).

Brief description of what you found (i.e., mussels on the bottom of my dock).

Estimated number of mussels, and their density (estimate how many mussels per square foot).

Smallest and largest found; approximate sizes.

Your name and phone number, if we may call you, and a good time to call.

Collect as many mussels as possible (from anything that stays in the water). Don’t put any mussels back in the lake. Each mussel can produce a million eggs.

Visit www.friendsofthelake.org for more information.