The Bureau of Reclamation has awarded a contract for $1.4 million to Pyramid Enterprises, Inc. of Valencia, California, to provide aquatic invasive species inspection services for watercrafts entering Elephant Butte and Navajo reservoirs in New Mexico.
Aquatic invasive species continue to be a threat to waters in New Mexico. Currently, every state adjacent to New Mexico has one or more waterbodies with a population of zebra and quagga mussels.
The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish has four seasonal aquatic invasive species technicians to provide outreach and conduct inspections/decontaminations on watercraft entering Navajo Reservoir. Officials at Reclamation and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish determined there is a need to expand watercraft inspections to include Elephant Butte Reservoir. Given the volume of annual visitation at Elephant Butte Reservoir and Navajo Reservoir and the number of boat ramps available for watercraft owners, inspections done by the Department of Game and Fish staff alone is not feasible. This contract will provide additional inspection services.
A low-risk watercraft inspection is expected to last between one and three minutes and a high risk inspection to last between three and six minutes. This contract will ensure staffing at levels to efficiently inspect all motorized watercraft entering Elephant Butte Reservoir and Navajo Reservoir while keeping wait times and traffic backups to a minimum. Currently, there is not an inspection requirement of non-motorized watercraft; however, if an owner of a canoe, paddleboard, kayak, etc. enters the inspection station the staff will use the opportunity to provide public outreach regarding aquatic invasive species and will inspect the vessel if asked by the owner.