{"id":21462,"date":"2025-07-11T23:42:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T05:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-boat-decontamination-facilities-and-machinery-in-place-at-lake-nighthorse\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:06:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:06:47","slug":"new-boat-decontamination-facilities-and-machinery-in-place-at-lake-nighthorse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-boat-decontamination-facilities-and-machinery-in-place-at-lake-nighthorse\/","title":{"rendered":"New boat decontamination facilities and machinery in place at Lake Nighthorse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Sean
Sean Willis, operations supervisor at Lake Nighthorse, washes the motor on Levi Clark\u2019s boat with water that is 140 degrees \u2013 hot enough to kill invasive aquatics and plants on Friday at the lake\u2019s new decontamination facility. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A new boat decontamination processes, new traffic patterns for visitors and two new buildings have been up and running at Lake Nighthorse since April, all of which work to create a more efficient environment for employees and visitors and decreases the presence of invasive species and contaminants entering the reservoir.<\/p>\n

The $1.9 million, 50-50 cost-share project between the city of Durango and the Bureau of Reclamation\u2019s Western Colorado Area Office funded the construction of the new ticket booth for visitors, and the construction of the new operations building, where boats are decontaminated using new, on-demand water heaters.<\/p>\n

According to Lake Nighthorse Operations Supervisor Sean Willis, the previous system involved a loud hydro blaster positioned outside on a trailer that often shot soot and required boat inspectors to move water tanks by hand. Boat inspectors also had to closely monitor the thermostat to ensure it remained between 120 and 140 degrees, the temperature range required by Colorado Parks and Wildlife standards to effectively decontaminate boats.<\/p>\n

Willis said the new equipment and facilities have not only increased decontamination efficiency and effectiveness against invasive species like New Zealand mud snails and zebra mussels, but has also made conditions for employees at Lake Nighthorse \u201ca thousand times better,\u201d leading to better employee retention rates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith our new system, we set our tank heaters at a certain temperature, and they just stay there, so we don\u2019t have to worry about any sort of temperature fluctuation, which is important,\u201d Willis said.<\/p>\n

\"Sean
Sean Willis, operations supervisor at Lake Nighthorse, looks over Levi Clark\u2019s boat on Friday at the new decontamination facility for an invasive plant after the boat had been to Navajo Reservoir. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The addition of the operations building has created a cooler and cleaner indoor space for boat inspectors, and the new machinery within it has allowed for a decreased workload for employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no black soot going everywhere anymore getting on people\u2019s boats. We\u2019re in the shade. We used to have at least two to three people (working on a boat), and with the new system, you really only need one person. It\u2019s relieved 95% of my stress,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The only change for boat owners, Willis said, will be a more comprehensive traffic pattern through the facilities, and a quieter, calmer boat decontamination process due to the new equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the boater\u2019s end, it\u2019s really not that different other than that they can hear us now when we\u2019re decontaminating the boat,\u201d Willis said.<\/p>\n

Eric Creedon, with the Bureau of Reclamation, called the collaboration between the Bureau and the city \u2013 and the facility changes at Lake Nighthorse \u2013 a \u201cwin-win from both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sean
Sean Willis, operations supervisor at Lake Nighthorse, walks into the area in the new operations building at the lake that houses the new boat decontamination system. The process recycles the used water through an oil water separator, several filters and UV lights, and is able to heat the water to 140 degrees. The old decontamination system sat on a trailer in the parking area. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cOverall, it\u2019s definitely a big improvement from everybody\u2019s end, and a big improvement for us in keeping Lake Nighthorse free of aquatic invasion and not impacting our facilities and dam there,\u201d Creedon said.<\/p>\n

The city sees the new system, and the joint funding from the Bureau of Reclamation\u2019s Western Colorado Area Office, as a positive for the Durango environment and boating community.<\/p>\n

\"A
A new operations building and ticket booth have been built at Lake Nighthorse. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s always great when we can have collaborative partnerships that result in important projects like these,\u201d said Tom Sluis, spokesman for the city.<\/p>\n

epond@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Equipment will help decrease presence of invasive species, contaminates in water<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,2216,2217],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-21462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-lake-nighthorse","tag-power-boating"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77321,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21462\/revisions\/77321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21462"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=21462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}