The mussels have reached West Sacramento’s pump stations. Ninety miles north, boat inspections at Lake Oroville ended months ago.
The Yolo County Board of Supervisors approved a local emergency declaration Tuesday over golden mussels, the invasive freshwater bivalve first detected in North America at the Port of Stockton in October 2024. State wildlife officials confirmed the mussels in Yolo waterways connected to the Delta on June 25, and the population has since worked its way into the Port of West Sacramento.
The declaration is largely about coordination and money. It lets the county pull in state and federal help and chase funding to protect water infrastructure, flood control facilities and agricultural deliveries. West Sacramento officials have flagged mussels colonizing drainage pipes and pump stations, which becomes a flooding problem the moment a serious storm arrives.
Yolo joins Sacramento, San Joaquin and Kern counties along with the City of Stockton in declaring emergencies over the same species…