Rototilling on Okanagan Lake.

(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

The Okanagan Basin Water Board has renewed its appeal to the province asking for it to overturn a ban that restricted it from rototilling near the rocky mountain ridged mussel following the federal government's decision not to put the mussel on the at-risk species list.

The federal government announced Aug. 15 that it would not be reclassifying the rocky mountain ridged mussel as endangered under the Species At Risk Act. Had the mussel been reclassified under the act, it would have greatly increased restrictions on the rototilling work carried out by the Okanagan Basin Water Board in its efforts to control the invasive milfoil weed.

"We are very pleased with this decision. It allows more flexibility for us to manage invasive milfoil, keep the beaches clean, and protect water quality," Okanagan Basin Water Board executive director Anna Warwick Sears said in a media release.

The Okanagan Basin Water Board has been using rototilling to control Eurasian milfoil since it arrived in the region's lakes in the 1970s. In the fall of 2018 the province put restrictions on the water board's rototilling, barring it from going within 100 metres of Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel in an effort to protect the species.

The provincial government's decision was met with criticism from the water board who said it could have severe consequences on the Okanagan's lakes.

Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development told iNFOnews.ca it had been made aware of the federal government's decision not to re-classify the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel as endangered and "at this time, ministry staff are reviewing the recommendation."

The Okanagan Basin Water Board now hopes the provincial government will reconsider their prohibitions against milfoil rototilling now the rocky mountain ridge mussel is no longer under immediate consideration for an endangered listing.

"It’s within the government’s authority to issue the permit and allow us to resume our weed control operations," Sears said in the release.

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