News

At WGA’s Annual Meeting in June, Western Governors approved an updated bipartisan policy resolution related to biosecurity and invasive species. The resolution broadly advocates for partnerships, strategies, and technologies that help protect the West from invasive pests.  

Given the complexities of changing habitats and climate, the consistent flow of people and goods around the world, and many other contributing factors, keeping invasive species in check is an ever-present and increasing challenge for Western communities and landscapes.  

There are many ongoing invasive species threats around the West, with state, federal, and local efforts on the ground to stop the spread. Let’s take a look at just a few.  

The proliferation of the American Bullfrog to nonnative parts of the West has earned quite a bit of attention lately, as the frog has taken over ponds and rivers in our region, harming many native amphibian populations.  

Although the name might suggest that the American Bullfrog would be native to this country, they are only native to the areas east of the Mississippi. Part of their introduction to the West came in large quantities during the 19th and 20th centuries, when French-inspired diners took a liking to frog legs, opening up a brief period of bullfrog farming in states like California.  

Now, bullfrogs are taking over canals, ponds, and reservoirs in the West, preying on everything from mice and snakes to native creatures like the threatened Oregon spotted frog.  

Federal agencies like the Fish and Wildlife Service are researching and tackling bullfrog populations in states like Montana, while local universities in Colorado are employing citizen science to better understand their effects on the landscape.  

In California, researchers at the University of California, Davis found native freshwater turtles returning to ponds in Yosemite after bullfrogs were removed. While the researchers stressed that removing bullfrogs from the western landscape is not likely a practical solution, they did indicate that targeted removal could help certain important species return.  

Also in California, officials are scrambling to contain the first North American identification of golden mussels, which have now spread to more than 50 locations across California. The state has set up a Golden Mussel Response Framework and is offering $1 million in grant funding to boating facility operators to help identify and stop the spread of mussels.  

Specially trained dogs are also being employed to sniff out mussels at certain boat launches and docks.  

Other western states are currently battling invasive mussel identifications, with zebra mussels in Colorado and quagga mussels in Idaho.  

Colorado Parks and Wildlife recently announced that they had identified a likely source pond that may have been feeding zebra mussel larvae into the Colorado River and other nearby water bodies. CPW has contained the water in that pond and announced that it would begin treatments at a water body near the Colorado River to eliminate mussels.  

In Idaho, where quagga mussels were identified in the Snake River in both 2023 and 2024, the state opted to treat a segment of the river with a copper-based molluscocide to try to remove the mussels. So far this year, the state department of agriculture has not found any mussel larvae in its 2,500 water samples statewide. 

Listen to an episode of WGA’s Out West Podcast that dives into the strategies for containing both quagga mussels in Idaho and zebra mussels in Colorado. You’ll hear from Idaho Governor Brad Little, as well as the state agencies responsible for responding to these threats.  

Additionally, check out WGA Policy Resolution 2025-08 to learn more about the Governors’ bipartisan policy on invasive species. 

Utah nuclear: earlier this week, Utah Governor Spencer Cox announced that the Utah Office of Energy Development has entered into an agreement with TerraPower and Flagship Companies to explore the possibility of siting a Natrium nuclear reactor in the state.  

TerraPower, Bill Gates’ nuclear energy company, broke ground on its Natrium nuclear reactor last year in Kemmerer, Wyoming, which is slated to be completed by the end of the decade.  

The potential nuclear site in Utah supports Governor Cox’s Operation Gigawatt initiative, which aims to double the state’s energy production over the next ten years.  

To hear directly from Governor Cox about the future of nuclear energy in the West, register for the first workshop of his WGA Chair initiative, which is focused on energy abundance. Governor Cox will join Idaho Governor Brad Little at the Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls on September 22 and 23 to discuss all things nuclear energy. Register here. 

Native housing: in Vancouver, Washington, this week, city and community leaders gathered for the groundbreaking of a new 95-unit affordable housing project that aims to serve the city’s Native American community.

The 0.92-acre site by the Columbia River waterfront will be developed by Colas Development Group and the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA).  

To learn more about supporting housing for Native communities, watch a WGA webinar from earlier this week that explored innovative, Native-led solutions to the West’s housing crisis, including perspective from NAYA’s Paul Lumley.  

Expanding homelessness services: in Las Vegas, Nevada, officials recently broke ground on an expansion of the city’s Recuperative Care Center for the unhoused.  

The expansion will double the number of beds in the center, which provides Las Vegas’s unhoused population with shelter, medical care, and counseling. The new facility will also include a mental health center.   

Tribal mining agreement: in Idaho, the Shoshone-Paiute Tribe entered into a first-of-its-kind agreement with Integra Resources Corporation on a proposed gold and silver mine in the southwestern part of the state.

The agreement establishes a framework for collaboration on the mine’s development on any traditional tribal land.

“The groundbreaking Agreement between the Tribes and Integra establish a transformative and long-term partnership for the development of the DeLamar Mining Project in the Owyhee Mountains, north of the Duck Valley Reservation. This Agreement is the very first of its kind in the Lower 48 in recognizing Tribal Sovereignty, collaboratively advancing sustainable, long-term economic development for a project located on federally-managed lands,” read a press release from the Shoshone-Paiute Tribe.