When Colorado Parks and Wildlife personnel tested a small pond that feeds the irrigation system at the Mesa County Fairgrounds, looking for invasive zebra mussels, the results came back as a surprise to Alan Simpkins, facilities director for Mesa County Facilities and Parks.

Mussels of different ages, including adult ones, were discovered during the early-October testing.

“I would have never expected to see that out here,” he said.

It seemed more likely that mussels might be present at some of the public areas along the Colorado River or on larger reservoirs with a lot of potential for cross-contamination involving things such as watercraft, he said.

Stephanie Reecy, the county’s public affairs director, said the fairgrounds pond “has no public access or recreational use, so the mussel

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