Field Journal: Ugly Betty vs. the mollusks!
Ed Jahn, Producer
Wednesday, April 02, 2008 — 
We were at 22,000 feet headed for Vegas when panic struck me. Beside me were 2 Oregon Field Guide photographers and in the cargo hold was case upon case of TV gear. It was a smooth flight-- that wasn't the issue. But we were about to go well beyond Oregon's borders to spend 4 days in the Nevada desert with a crew of 3, taking up the time of a dozen National Park Service, Division of Wildlife and Bureau of Reclamation officials, heading out on boats and trucks and sending divers underwater, all so viewers at home could see.....mussels? Quagga mussels, at that. A species most people have never heard of and that, frankly, isn't much to look at.
How would a story about some slimy, dime-sized mollusk ever compete with Ugly Betty and Survivor: China?
Some stories are so important, some environmental issues so consequential to Oregonians that we go the extra mile...or 1400 miles...to tell it. This was one of those stories. (and they'll be more on these quaggas in an upcoming invasive species documentary, by the way, just in case you didn't get your fill)
Google "quagga mussels" and you'll see story after story, mostly from the eastern U.S, documenting the misery these nasty invasive mollusks have caused. but westerners haven't heard much about them yet- mostly because until last year quaggas didn't exist west of the 100th meridian. But it doesn't matter whether you are a fisherman, farmer, condo owner, ranch hand, right winger or left winger....you DO NOT want these guys in Oregon, and we produced this story so that Oregonians could get a better understanding of why.
So was it worth it to fly all the way to Vegas (where quaggas recently showed up) to tell the story? Well, if we did our jobs right and it causes boat owners, fishermen, hikers and the like to take extra care not to inadvertently escort these invasive species into Oregon, then yes. Absolutely.
A side note:
I recently heard a debate about invasive species that went along these lines "people are part of nature, and if we move species around from place to place, country to country, it's only natural. Survival of the fittest, right?" Philosophical arguments aside, my utilitarian answer is this: "you weed your garden, don't you?
I think we need to start thinking about the native Oregon landscape as our garden. Using the survival of the fittest argument a few dominant invasive species would move in and destroy the plants and animals that came before (goodbye salmon, sturgeon, elk,oak trees, etc, etc). Just a suggestion here, but a more intelligent approach might be to take the time and effort to try to maintain the beauty and balance that exists here already. Weeding a garden takes time, and a little work, but in the end you get the garden you want, not the pile of ivy and scotch thistle that muscles (or mussels, in the case of quaggas) it's way in.
