New Zealand Mudsnails

New Zealand Mudsnails (NZMS) were recently discovered in High School Creek located in North Redmond.  New Zealand Mudsnails are tiny (less than 6 mm) invasive aquatic snails that can completely cover stream and lake beds, pipes, and ditches.  

These tiny snails do not harm people or pets.  However, once these hardy invaders spread out across streams and lakes, on rocks, and in the mud, they crowd out native aquatic snails, insects, and plants that resident fish and other critters depend on.  NZMS provide no nutritional value to the salmon and trout that eat them.  They adapt to a wide range of environment conditions.  This makes them hard to control and almost impossible to eliminate from our waterways.      


You Can Help Reduce the Spread of New Zealand Mudsnails!

NZMS can hitch a ride on boots, clothes, animal fur, and equipment and be carried by streams and stormwater to new locations. Mudsnails are tiny and easily mistaken for a small pebble.

Please take these steps to help stop the spread of NZMS in High School Creek and across Redmond:

  1.  Keep pets out of streams and lakes.  If your dog wades into the water, carefully dry off or brush him/her on dry land.  Focus on paws and bellies.
  2. Carefully scrub off any debris or mud from waders, boots or clothing that come in contact with streams, lake or mud.  Freeze these items overnight…or let them dry out for 48 hours.  NZMS can survive out of the water for weeks.
  3.  Drain-off any stream or lake water collected in gear or equipment before you leave a site.  Rinse off the gear in clean, potable water away from the body of water and let it dry for 48 hours before reuse.  Do not flush rinse water down the storm drain—it’s connected to our creeks too and can reintroduce mud snails!