Category Archives: Sealand

The Gospel of Mark introduces the story of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ with these words: When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices so that they might go and anoint Jesuss body. Very early on the first day of the week after sunrise, they were on the way to the tomb and they asked each other, Who will roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb? Perhaps in their sorrow they forgot that, after the stone was placed on the tomb, it was also sealed with the Roman seal and soldiers were placed to guard it so that the body of Christ will not be stolen.

Throughout life, we will all encounter stones, boulders, and obstacles that make us ask, Who is able to move this? For the women on that Easter morning, there were a number of small stones and large stones they were not able to finish the required burial preparation for the body of Jesus Christ, their beloved teacher was dead, and the heavy stone was hindering their plans. Nevertheless, they were convinced that they needed to do their part. They were close to the place where Abraham brought Isaac as a sacrifice and God provided a ram instead of Isaac. Abraham named the mountain where God will provide.

As the women worried about how they would move the stone, God answered their inquiry in a spectacular way: There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothes were while as snow. Then the angel told them, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, he has risen just as he said. Come see the place where he lay. Then go and quickly tell his disciples: He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. (Matthew 28:2-7)

In the 21st century, one of the great obstacles to becoming a Christian is believing in miracles. We are told that the modern man cannot believe in miracles such as Christ walking on water, feeding the multitude, healing by touching or speaking, and raising people from the dead. People believe in Jesus as a dead historical figure, not as a living deity who could do impossible things.

In response to these obstacles to belief, Apostle Paul (who initially did not believe in the resurrection) writes this to the Ephesians: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work in us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever! Amen. God can do immeasurably more than we ask for or imagine. Resurrection is not something that we can do in our power, but God has no such problems. He could raise Jesus Christ from the dead and He will do that for us when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back for in glory to take with him those who believed in His resurrection and are waiting his return.

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Who Will Move the Stone? - Atlantic Highlands Herald - Atlantic Highlands Herald

Cannabis businesses in Baldwin Park owe nearly $4 million in outstanding fees to City Hall, but four companies are pushing back, arguing the fee is unevenly charged and improperly spent.

Baldwin Park turned to cannabis starting in 2017 as a possible new revenue source. It has since struggled to persuade cultivators and manufacturers to pay what it calls mitigation fees, hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to offset the impacts of the industry. Now its threatening to revoke their licenses.

Last week, David Torres-Siegrist, an attorney representing four of the delinquent companies, submitted a letter on his clients behalf urging the City Council to reconsider how it collects these fees in light of what he described as glaring flaws in the system. Three of the four companies are not in operation largely because of a multiyear approval process that requires sign-offs from various county agencies yet they have been billed more than $1 million each since 2017, Siegrist said.

All these operators want is a fair playing field, Siegrist said in an interview. If youre going to call it a mitigation fee, give us a report that proves that were impacting the city, especially the guys who are not producing anything, theyre not even open or operating.

In total, 14 of the citys 16 cannabis businesses were behind on payments as of last month.

Siegrist said the city was unable to provide records showing how it spent the roughly $4 million in mitigation fees that have been paid already. It also has not produced annual reports on its use of the fees, as required by state law, he added. At the same time, Baldwin Park does not charge the fee equally, Siegrist argues. At least one other cannabis business, RD Baldwin Park, received a sweetheart deal that did not require it to pay the same fees until six months after it became operational, something not offered to other companies with the same permit, he said.

Baldwin Park CEO Shannon Yauchzee and Mayor Emmanuel Estrada attributed Siegrists complaints to an attempt to get his clients out of paying their debts to the city. Each of the companies agreed to the fees when they signed a development agreement with the city, both said.

These concerns were never brought up to me until we asked them to pay up the hundreds of thousands of dollars they owe the city, Estrada said. The timing is questionable.

Baldwin Park recently ordered the companies to attend compliance hearings and has threatened to pull the companies licenses if they do not pay the outstanding fees.

There is no special tax on cannabis in Baldwin Park, but Estrada said the city would consider putting one on the ballot if the companies push for removal of the mitigation fee.

Do you want to pay us a flat fee, or do you want us to tax you on all your revenue? Estrada said.

A list of payments from cannabis companies produced by the city showed RD Baldwin Park had not been charged any fees as of March 8.

By contrast, Siegrist said his clients have each paid about $500,000 so far. Collectively, they owe another $2 million in outstanding fees as of March, according to the list.

It isnt that they dont want to pay at all, Siegrist said of his clients. All theyre saying is give us an opportunity here to compete with other folks who havent paid a dime. They are millions of dollars ahead.

In an email, Yauchzee said RD Baldwin Park had simply negotiated a better deal than the other companies.

All of the operators made their own separate and independent offers to the City, Yauchzee wrote. The City then reviewed the offers and either accepted them or declined them.

Siegrist alleges his clients were never given an opportunity to negotiate. Instead, he said, they were told to accept the citys terms or another company waiting in the wings would. Of the 14 development agreements for cultivation and manufacturing approved in the same batch, only one the agreement with RD Baldwin Park delayed the fee payments until after the company received its certificate of occupancy, according to a review of the agreements.

We were told, These are the terms, take it or leave it, Siegrist said. There was no going back and forth.

Earlier this year, another company, Rukli Inc., had its past due fees, roughly $300,000, waived in exchange for giving up its exclusive right to cannabis distribution. The company also received permits for cultivation and manufacturing and will not have to pay fees on those permits for this year as a result of the agreement.

The settlement came after Siegrist sued the city on behalf of Baldwin Park TALE Corp., one of the four cannabis businesses pushing back on the mitigation fees, over allegations the exclusive distribution rights were the result of racketeering. Rukli and the city have denied the allegations.

Baldwin Park charges the operators $220,000 to $330,000 annually in mitigation fees, or about $10 to $15 per square foot at 22,000 square feet, regardless of the actual size of the building, according to the development agreements. In addition, the city requires the companies to agree to make an annual voluntary donation of $50,000 toward the salary of one police officer and code enforcement officer, according to the citys permit application.

In his email, Yauchzee said the mitigation fees are spent on police, code enforcement, recreation, youth services, open spaces and other areas in need of mitigation.

He did not respond to a follow-up asking him to provide documentation showing that spending.

Siegrist argues state law requires the city to set aside the funds in a separate account, to define the impacts that need to be addressed and to show how the money collected is used to mitigate those problems. The city does not appear to have done any of that, he said.

The citys budgets are similarly unclear about how the money is used. Baldwin Parks 2019-20 budget shows the city planned to put $2.1 million from cannabis mitigation fees into a community enhancement fund for programs to benefit the local community. Roughly $7,000 from the fund was earmarked for the police that year.

The following year, the fund had a balance of $641,417 and no planned expenditures, according to the citys 2020-21 proposed budget. Overall, Baldwin Park planned to spend about $3 million less on its Police Department than it did the previous year, the budget showed.

Though millions have been collected for mitigation, it was the El Monte Police Department not Baldwin Park that discovered one of the companies pursuing a permit in Baldwin Park, W&F International, had allegedly started growing without the proper approvals in place. Baldwin Park was inspecting nonoperational cannabis businesses only once a year at the time. Officials pledged to increase the number of check-ups to four times per year after learning about El Montes raid on the warehouse.

Siegrists letter to the city also says the recently revealed arrest of former Councilman Richardo Pacheco warrants an overhaul of the mitigation fee structure. In June 2020, Pacheco agreed to plead guilty to a federal bribery charge as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

Pacheco took $37,900 from an undercover police officer in return for voting for the Baldwin Park Police Associations contract with the city in 2018. The FBI found $20,000 stashed around Pachecos house during a search in 2018, then another $62,900 buried in his backyard. He then turned over an additional $219,700, all from soliciting bribes, after the plea agreement, according to the Justice Department.

Pacheco and the U.S. Attorneys Office agreed that his sentencing could be affected by several factors, including that he took more than one bribe, he held an elected position and the total value or benefit exceeded $550,000, according to his plea agreement.

Much of Pachecos case is still under seal and its not publicly known where the additional money came from. Eleven pages are redacted from an exhibit in his plea agreement describing the factual basis for charging him. Pacheco agreed to cooperate with investigators as part of his deal.

In November, the FBI raided the offices of Baldwin Park City Attorney Robert Tafoya and the homes of Compton Councilman Isaac Galvan and San Bernardino County Planning Commissioner Gabriel Chavez as part of a cannabis-related corruption probe, according to federal officials. No arrests were made.

Tafoya denied any wrongdoing through his attorney and has continued to work on cannabis-related matters on behalf of Baldwin Park. Authorities have not said if the November raid and Pachecos arrest are related.

But Siegrist said the city should conduct an independent investigation to determine whether Pacheco accepted bribes for his votes on any of the cannabis agreements. Were asking them to look at it, he said.

Estrada, Baldwin Parks recently elected mayor, said a new slate on the City Council has been asking more questions about how the cannabis development agreements were made, but he stressed he does not have any legal basis for challenging any specific contract that may be unfair.

Theres nothing I can do about it, he said. Until the FBI releases information or says something, then thats when I can act on any questionable contracts.

He would not say whether the city has or would conduct its own investigations into the bribes.

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Baldwin Park cannabis businesses owe the city $4 million in outstanding fees - The San Gabriel Valley Tribune

However, the countrys lenders will operate from 10am to 2pm

The Bangladesh Bank on Sunday cut the transaction time for banks by three and a half hours for the week-long lockdown aimed to prevent the increasing rate of Covid-19 infections.

Now, the transactions will be carried out from 10am to 12:30pm a step the central bank has taken only to meet banking emergencies.

However, the countrys lenders will operate from 10am to 2pm, the central bank said in a notice issued on the day.

Various payment and clearing systems introduced by the central bank should continue for all types of deposits and withdrawals, distribution of allowance under the various social programmes of the government, remittance payments, and payment of utility bills.

Lenders who have multiple branches within two kilometres in the city corporation and district headquarters will be able to open one branch apart from an authorized dealer branch, as per the BB notice.

Authorized dealer branches should be open for conducting important and urgent foreign transactions.

Required manpower will be arranged by the lenders for continuing emergency banking services at head offices and branches and the presence of the officials can be considered on a priority basis or for those who live nearby, the central bank said.

The government and the central banks instructions on hygiene and health guidelines should be ensured among bank officials, the BB notice adds.

Bank branches, sub-branches, booths located in the sea, land and airports, and customs areas should be opened at all times by consulting with the local administration and customs authorities.

The central bank also asked the lenders to keep adequate cash at their branches and ATM booths to ensure services to their clients.

On Saturday, the government declared the seven-day countrywide lockdown beginning from Monday as part of its effort to curb the surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths.

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Bank transactions to be carried out from 10am to 12:30pm amid lockdown - Dhaka Tribune

In this photo released by Suez Canal Authority, the Ever Given, a Panama-flagged cargo ship, is pulled by one of the Suez Canal tugboats, in the Suez Canal, Egypt, Monday, March 29, 2021. Engineers on Monday partially refloated the colossal container ship that continues to block traffic through the Suez Canal, authorities said, without providing further details about when the vessel would be set free. (Suez Canal Authority via AP)

By Michael SchallerSpecial to the Arizona Daily Star

The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

For nearly a week, the public gaped at the spectacle of a grounded cargo ship blocking the Suez Canal. The sheer magnitude of the Evergreen Ever Given, as long as the Empire State Building is tall and loaded with over 18,000 shipping containers, boggles the mind.

A widely shared photo of a comparatively tiny earthmoving machine attempting to dislodge it resembled a Tonka toy in a sandbox. An unusually high tide finally freed the vessel. The backlog of hundreds of ships caused losses estimated at $10 billion per day.

During the distant mostly pre-container years of 1967-1975, the war-related closure of the Suez Canal only marginally impacted global commerce. Today, a weeklong blockage is a crisis. How, many wonder, did we get here?

We often think of the internet and communication satellites as central to modern commerce. But global trade relies upon a combination of old and new technologies.

For centuries, oceangoing vessels carried both bulk commodities and luxury goods ranging from Chinese silk and porcelain to African slaves, from sugar and cotton to iron ore around the world.

After 1945, high-value manufactured goods, such as German and Japanese automobiles, were profitable enough to transport globally. Although bulk products such as petroleum and grains could also be shipped profitably, it was impractical to transport many low-value manufactured items like wicker baskets or T-shirts from low-wage producing countries to wealthy consuming nations.

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UA Prof. Schaller: The Ever Given saga has been years in the making - Arizona Daily Star

A truck driver was arrested in Texas last week after Border Patrol Agents discovered more than 120 unducumented immigrants in the back of his trailer.

The smuggling attempt was discovered on MArch 24th at around 7:50 p.m. at the Interstate 35 checkpoint in Texas.

According to LMT Online, Jesse Doria Thomas, a truck driver of 27 years, was attempting to pass through the checkpoint when a Border Patrol Agent recognized that the trailer matched the description of one involved in a suspected smuggling attempt. The agent then asked Thomas about his cargo, but Thomas muttered an answer that was not understood.

A K9 unit then inspected the trailer and alerted to the presence of contraband, so the trailer was referred to secondary inspection where an agent used bolt cutters to break the trailer seal and open the doors, revealing 123 immigrants inside. Thomas was promptly arrested.

When interviewed, Thomas told agents that he had received a call earlier in the day offering him a job driving a semi truck from a yard in Laredo to the Fuel America Travel Center off of Interstate 35. The caller was then supposed to pick up the rig and drive it to Austin.

Thomas stated that he picked up the rig on the side of the road in the Mines Road area and drove to the checkpoint where he was arrested.

Thomas stated he was going to get paid $100 for the pick up and drop off of the tractor-trailer. During the collection of biographical information, Thomas stated he has been a truck driver for 27 years and stated he did not verify the bill of lading or check the trailer when he picked up the tractor-trailer. Thomas stated he did not know what he was hauling and was not aware he was transporting undocumented individuals concealed inside the trailer, states the affidavit.

The incident is still under investigation.

Originally posted here:

123 immigrants discovered inside trailer of driver who says he was not aware he was transporting people - CDLLife

Treaty tribes and our state salmon co-managers are looking ahead to another grim year of fishing because of poor ocean conditions that reduce marine survival, and the ongoing loss of freshwater habitat.

Higher marine water temperatures, changing currents and a disrupted ocean food chain are the main causes of reduced ocean survival. The salmon that do return are often smaller than normal, and females carry fewer eggs.

Queets River coho is one of the weak stocks driving fisheries constraints during this years North of Falcon process that sets salmon fishing seasons. While overall coho returns are expected to be better this year, the stock continues to decline despite a rebuilding effort that began in 2017.

Coho from Strait of Juan de Fuca tributaries and the Snohomish River are also failing to recover under rebuilding plans.

Tighter conservation closures will likely be necessary to ensure escapement goals are reached to produce the next generation of fish.

Stillaguamish River chinook returns are expected to be low again this year. Skagit River summer and fall chinook are also concerning. The summer run is expected to return in low numbers that will constrain fisheries and require close monitoring to avoid a closure. This is especially worrisome because Skagit River summer and fall chinook are the most abundant and healthiest natural chinook stock in Puget Sound.

Chum salmon, traditionally one of the most plentiful salmon species, are expected to be dramatically lower this year. Were particularly concerned about stocks from southern Puget Sound streams.

Tribal and state co-managers face increasingly difficult decisions because we must also factor in increasing seal and sea lion predation and the needs of southern resident orcas on top of the ongoing decline of salmon.

Salmon were abundant in Western Washington for millions of years. Their sheer numbers, naturally high productivity and plenty of good habitat made them resilient from the effects of disease, drought and a host of other environmental factors.

We must rebuild that resilience if we are going to recover salmon, and we need properly functioning habitat to do that.

One way is to focus on what we can do to improve freshwater habitat. A new joint tribal/state riparian habitat initiative is taking that task on through a uniform, science-based management approach to restore and protect streamside vegetation. Trees, shrubs and other plants along streams help lower water temperatures, filter pollutants and reduce sediments that can smother salmon eggs.

The tribal and state salmon co-managers alone cant recover salmon. We need help from federal agencies, local governments, environmental groups, agriculture and others. We also must continue to build resiliency in the co-manager relationship created by the 1974 ruling in U.S. v. Washington that upheld tribal treaty-reserved rights and established the tribes as salmon co-managers with the state.

As salmon continue to decline, every decision carries greater potential impacts to fishermen and the resource. As a result, our co-management relationship is increasingly tested every year. Still, we remain committed to cooperative co-management because our history shows we are better together.

Lorraine Loomis is chairwoman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.

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Plantings near streams a way to improve fish habitat - Bainbridge Island Review

Yellow lab Lexy is snoozing on her thick foam bed in the dining room as Oliver, a fluffy Persian cat, greets guests in the foyer. Miss Pickles, a French bulldog puppy who has already prompted several rugs to be sent to the cleaners, is spending a little time in a dog run at the side of the house.

The three fur babies are part of the ever-evolving brood that Olivia Grace McGill keeps at the Katy home shes just renovated.

Work on the nearly 5,000-square-foot house began a couple of years ago when McGill the youngest daughter of the late Houston auto dealer Don McGill, and Mildred Barrett, now of South Carolina bought it.

Olivia Grace a Second Baptist High School graduate now studying fashion in college was living with her father in the Houston area, spending time at his Katy-area ranch and building her own home there, when he died a couple of years ago.

The 23-year-old shifted from building a new home for herself to buying one that she could remodel to her liking. Her builder had already connected her to Rainey Richardson Interiors to help with the homes space planning and finishes.

In the time the two worked together, they transformed a home with rustic charm, reclaimed beams and old barn siding into one that suited McGills personality and lifestyle: feminine, sophisticated, functional and durable.

A casita/guesthouse was updated to accommodate McGills workout-from-home plans, with a small gym with a stationary bicycle, workout mirror and a Peloton on the way.

Four electric fireplaces were added to the home, and one was placed in the casitas living room, making a cozy spot for watching TV.

No room went untouched in the main house.

A large room off of the kitchen had been used as a family room by the homes prior owners.Now its a dining room, and McGill uses the built-in shelves to display crystal that once belonged to her parents.

Richardson urged McGill to rearrange the kitchen island, so though they didnt have to replace the physical structure, they could make it more functional. McGill liked the gray faux treatment on the walls, so they kept it but replaced the backsplash tile, added a pot-filler faucet behind the range, painted the cabinets and swapped out hardware from a darker metal to gold.

Both the updated kitchen and perfectly arranged dining room come in handy. McGill may be just 23, but she loves to cook, leaning toward the Southern dishes taught to her by her mom and handed down through her mothers family. These days shes shifting to a more plant-based Mediterranean diet, so her kitchen is getting a workout as she experiments.

I use my kitchen every day, morning and night, and I love having my family over, McGill said. My best friend got engaged to her boyfriend, a Navy SEAL, and I will have a reception at my house for them, so its a gathering place.

Eye-popping crystal chandeliers hang throughout, including in the kitchen and dining room, plus the living room and bedrooms. Many were brought here from Don McGills ranch after his death. Those are lead crystal and gold leaf, but some are much less expensive such as the one in her bedroom, a Facebook Marketplace find thats Lucite with gold paint.

At the front of the home, steel-and-glass doors were replaced with wood doors painted deep blue on the outside. Her foyer, which opens into the main living area, is wallpapered with pretty birds by A Street Prints. The symmetrical space has a table, antiqued mirror and a pair of sconces on each side.

The oversized living room has two seating areas each with a sofa and pair of chairs as well as steel-and-glass doors that lead to the pool and patio outside.

A small powder bathroom off of the living room is now lined with Thibeaut wallpaper starring dragonflies and ladybugs, stylish sconces and an attractive cabinet and sink. This bathroom has one of many bidets installed in the house.

McGill loves bidets, and though others teased her over the choice, they werent laughing at the start of the pandemic when toilet paper was hard to find.

Her bedroom suite is a massive space with two closets, a living room, a bathroom plus a powder bath that was converted into a sauna.

The suites large living-room bathroom had walls of reclaimed wood. McGill opted to pare down the wood look in the bathroom by removing the patchwork of multicolored reclaimed planks and replacing it with white beadboard, syncing up with the Italian crystal chandelier found on firstdibs.com.

While McGill has opted for more color in the past, she and Richardson decorated with a light neutral palette.

A notable exception is her upstairs play room, a place perfect for McGill and her friends even if its occupied more by her three cats right now. (Their food and water dishes and litter boxes are in the adjoining bathroom, where cabinets were painted a muted plum.)

The room has a sectional sofa in front of a TV and a group of chairs around a round table under a chandelier made of Moroccan-style punched-tin pendants. A coffee table and side tables made of acrylic add to the Bohemian vibe.

A diptych of Marilyn Monroe embossed with the Louis Vuitton logo and Swarovski crystals hangs on a wall here. It reminds McGill of her extensive travels with her mother, where she cultivated an appreciation for fashion and design.

Outdoor spaces were updated, putting stone tile on top of the stamped concrete and new tile around the pool. Dog runs with artificial turf easy to hose down were installed at the side of the home, with a pergola and ceiling fans to keep the pups cool.

McGill, who has a stake in her familys auto dealership, is a full-time student and dreams of having a home in Maui someday, too.

I want to eventually live in Hawaii and open up something that can help people make their home comfortable and beautiful, she said. I love the beauty and simplicity there. This will be a forever home for me; it will always be my home base. I will always have ties to Houston.

diane.cowen@chron.com

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On her own, Grace McGill opts for renovation of a Katy home - Houston Chronicle

A seal has been spotted in the River Medway stunned passersby.

Philip and Conan Anderson were walking by the river when they spied the mammal just above Allington Lock and snapped this video at around 10.45 this morning. They have named the animal Bradley.

Seals can be found all round the UK coast, but they are most common in Scotland and Cornwall.

They do sometimes venture inland up rivers in search of fish.

Only this week there was a tragic incident in London where a dog attacked a seal on the banks of the River Thames near Hammersmith Bridge.

Passers-by rushed to pull the dog off but the seal still died.

So if you do come across Bradley sunning himself on the riverbank while you are out walking with your dog, please immediately put your pet on a lead.

Most dogs have never seen a seal and can react badly, even if they are normally well behaved.

The UK has two main varieties of seal - the harbour or common seal, and the grey seal, which has a longer snout.

Paradoxically, the common seal is less common in British waters than the grey seal, with an estimated population of around 55,000 compared with around 120,000 grey seals.

Grey seals also have parallel nostrils, rather than the V-shape of the common seal.

Read more: All the latest news from Malling

Read more: All the latest news from Maidstone

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Seal spotted swimming in river - Kent Online

A SEALAND soil supplier is set to help welcome people back into Wales with a flag there is no chance of people missing!

Dandy's Topsoil and Turf, based on Sealand Road, announced they would be proudly flying what they claim will become the largest Welsh flag to fly in the United Kingdom as a way of greeting visitors crossing the Welsh border once they are allowed back into Wales.

The giant flag is being produced by Flying Colours Flagmakers, a company based in North Yorkshire.

Amanda Arnold, director of marketing at Dandy's, said: We wanted to do something to welcome visitors back to Wales after such a terrible year for the country as a whole once lockdown was lifted, so what better way than by commissioning what will be the largest Welsh flag to be flown anywhere in the UK, on our giant flag pole above the gateway from England in to Wales where our head offices are based.

Due to the sheer size of the flag, we have spent months researching and testing different flag materials, as well as speaking with the owners of the largest flag currently flying in the USA at Acuity Insurance in Wisconsin and adapting stitching patterns to ensure it lasts as long as possible.

The flag will also be lowered during bad weather to help extend its life.

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Late last night, on March 25, Welsh Government revealed its next step out of lockdown which included the stay local rule being lifted and the allowance for self-contained accommodation reopening however they may only be used by Welsh residents at this time.

At present, Welsh Government says travel into Wales from other parts of the UK is not allowed without a reasonable excuse, for example, travelling for work purposes.

Taking a holiday is not currently considered a reasonable excuse.

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Dandy's commission largest Welsh flag in the UK to fly when Wales can welcome visitors after lockdown - LeaderLive

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department aquatic invasive species (AIS) inspection stations for watercraft are resuming seasonal operations across the state beginning April 10. All boaters must stop when coming upon an AIS inspection station.

AIS check stations will be open and operational throughout Wyoming again this year, Josh Leonard, AIS coordinator said. Game and Fish is dedicated to keeping invasive species out of our states waters. Boaters who stop at check stations are a key partner in these efforts.

AIS watercraft inspections are crucial to keep Wyoming waters free from aquatic invasive species, like zebra and quagga mussels. To date, mussels have not been detected in any of Wyomings natural waters. However, zebra mussels were found on moss balls, a popular aquarium product. Game and Fish, alongside the Wyoming Department of Agriculture and other partners, are working to keep mussels from spreading from domestic fish tanks to reservoirs, lakes and rivers.

The best defense against AIS is vigilance by the public. Watercraft owners can make their check station stop quick if their watercraft are Clean, Drained and Dry. Additionally, before hitting the water the spring, boaters should remember that:

The costs of AIS infestation are great to the sportsperson and the local community, especially when it comes to mussels.

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AIS inspections stations to be opened April 10 Sheridan Media - Sheridan Media