Clearwater Resource Council TV spots to air on statewide TV

SEELEY LAKE - With funding from Montana Department of Natural Resources, Seeley Lake's Clearwater Resource Council recently partnered with the DNRC, the Missoula County Weed District and MT Fish, Wildlife and Parks to create a series of six 30-second Public Service Announcements to bring awareness statewide to the threat of Aquatic Invasive Mussels for our waters. These PSAs are currently being broadcast on numerous TV stations, websites and social media. Look for these spots during the morning, 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. local news hour on KPAX in Missoula and Kalispell, on KRTV/KRTV/KTVH/ KXLH in Great Falls and Helena, on KXLF/KBZK in Butte and Bozeman and on KTVQ in Billings.

Co-produced by One-Acre Films and CRC, the spots target specific audiences, including ranchers and farmers, energy consumers, anglers, boaters and jet skiers, and families. Filming took place on Seeley Lake, the Iverson Ranch in Potomac, and the Seli'š Ksanka Qlispe' Dam near Polson. The film features local talent. To download, go to the Resources page at http://www.CleanDrainDryMT.com.

This media campaign is in response to the 2016 finding of mussel larvae in water samples from Tiber Reservoir that were positive and samples from Canyon Ferry Reservoirs that were suspicious of Dreissenid mussel larvae, sending alarm signals across the state and down in to the Columbia River Basin – the last major watershed in the lower 48 free of invasive mussels.

Jon Haufler, President of CRC said, "The invasion of mussels into the lakes of the Clearwater Valley would be tragic, resulting in severe ecological, economic and aesthetic impacts. He noted that preventing the spread of these invasive species is of paramount importance, and the Clean, Drain, Dry campaign coupled with boat check stations are critical programs for Montana."

Here, we are fighting our own battle to keep these pesky critters out of our pristine Clearwater Chain-of-Lakes. Since 2012, CRC has had a very proactive aquatic invasive species (AIS) program monitoring six major lakes that support trailered motorboats.

In 2017, we stepped up our game extending the monitoring period from May through late October, increasing the number of sampling rounds from four to six. We also helped our partners, Blackfoot Challenge and Swan Valley Connections, begin similar AIS prevention monitoring in the Swan and Blackfoot valleys. CRC plans to continue its AIS monitoring efforts through 2019 and beyond.