Offut Lake Zebra Mussel Response

Agency: Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Offutt Air Force Base

Location: Nebraska

Treatment Type: Toxicant

Treatment Method Used: Copper

From the Final Summary Report: “Offutt Air Force Base contracted URS Group, Inc. to treat Lake Offutt in an attempt to eradicate zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha). A United States Environmental Protection Agency Special Local Need Label was acquired in order to treat the lake with a sufficient concentration of copper sulfate to eradicate zebra mussels (1 part per million [ppm] lake-wide copper concentration). Copper sulfate was applied in two treatments to Lake Offutt over 30-hour periods on 17 and 18 September 2008 and again on 7 and 8 April 2009. Post application monitoring was performed in four categories: 1) water quality, 2) adult zebra mussels sampling, 3) larval zebra mussels sampling, and 4) fish mortality.” Zebra mussels were again confirmed in 2014 and are still there with no eradication efforts planned.

Publications:

Offutt Air Force Base, 2009. Zebra mussel eradication project-Lake Offutt. Final summary report, 51p.

Partner Agencies: 

United States Fish and Wildlife Service
United States Environmental Protection Agency
United States Army Corps of Engineers
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality
Nebraska Department of Agriculture
Nebraska Department of Natural Resources
Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks
Missouri Department of Conservation
Iowa Department of Natural Resources
Virginia Department of Game and Fish
Lower Platte South Natural Resource District
Papio-Missouri Natural Resource District
Nemaha Natural Resource District
Nebraska Public Power District
Omaha Public Power District
Kansas City Board of Public Utilities
MidAmerican Energy
City of Bellevue
Kansas City Power and Light
URS Group, Inc.

Contact: 

Allison Zach, University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Natural Resources

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