LAKE TAHOE, Calif. / Nev. – Whether you arrive to Tahoe via Interstate 80, Interstate 580, or Highway 50, if you pay attention, you’ll notice billboards that differ from a typical ad. Rather than marketing a good or service, the billboards appeal to the desire to protect Lake Tahoe against its latest threat.

“STOP GOLDEN MUSSELS,” one such billboard reads in Reno, Nev.

Over the years, the Lake Tahoe basin has successfully prevented the introduction of other invasive species such as quagga and zebra mussels, in large part due to strong policies and inspections, but the golden mussel is new player, spotted for the first time in North America in October.

“The golden mussel is like the quagga mussel on steroids,” Tahoe Fund CEO, Amy Berry warns.

Its debut site to North American waters isn’t far from Tahoe in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Golden mussels are native to Southeast Asia, theorized to have been carried across the globe on a cargo ship, first colonizing in Brazil and then getting carried to California and spreading to the delta.

Their lack of predators here allows them to spread rapidly and congregate in high numbers with potential to clog pipes, stick to propellors and piers. It has regional partners on high alert.

“Once it gets in,” Berry expresses, “it will be nearly impossible to get out.”

The Tahoe Fund launched the golden mussel preventative campaign this summer and has strategically placed messaging along all major highways coming into Lake Tahoe, capturing eyeballs from all directions.

The Tahoe Forest Health System offered their billboard in Reno to the Tahoe Fund just in time to launch the golden mussel campaign.

“We believe the health of Lake Tahoe and the well-being of our communities are deeply connected,” Meg Urie Rab said, director of communications at the Tahoe Forest Health System.

The North Tahoe Community Alliance also came on board, utilizing their billboard on I-80 for golden mussel messaging.

A donor funded other billboards, appearing in locations including, Spooner Summit, Colfax, Calif., and Roseville, Calif., in addition to Reno, Nev.

The hospital, NTCA, and community donor join regional visitor services and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s messaging efforts to keep golden mussels out of Tahoe in a display of community effort.

“I think the health of the lake impacts everybody,” Berry says, “So whether you’re a business here, you’re recreating here, you’re a healthcare provider here, you’re a land manager, everybody can coalesce around one key idea, which is we need to take care of Lake Tahoe.”

And right now, that’s uniting against golden mussels, one of Lake Tahoe’s biggest threats.

Tahoe had a close call when inspectors intercepted a vessel with golden mussels at the end of May. This was the first interception of the new invasive species for Tahoe watercraft inspectors since the mussel’s detection in the delta in October.

Berry says the best line of defense with power boats is to clean, drain and dry with the stations implementing inspections and decontaminations. However, golden mussels could have a more inconspicuous means into the lake.

“What we’re really concerned about with this extra focus for the billboards,” Berry explains, “is on non-motorized watercrafts, so things like paddleboards and kayaks and gear that you might not think a little baby golden mussel could stick to, but it could.”

That’s why the billboards offer up kayak or paddleboard imaging with a simply, yet critical message, “Clean your gear,” along with a valued resource that is easy to remember for passing drivers—TahoeKeepers.org.

The Tahoe Keepers program is not only a resource with videos and guides on how to properly clean gear, it’s also a community of responsible and committed kayakers, paddleboarders, canoers, anglers, and beachgoers dedicated to protecting Lake Tahoe.