You've probably heard of drug-sniffing dogs. But now the Department of Fish and Game has trained a team of quagga mussel-sniffing dogs. Fish and Game's new K-9 team deployed in the past month has been trained to detect quagga and zebra mussels, as well as ammunition. The biggest threats that California's lakes have ever faced are no larger than a small thumbnail. Tiny quagga and zebra mussels are an invasive species that represent an environmental disaster for California's reservoirs and waterways. The mussels threaten aquatic food chains in lakes, access for fishing and boating, recreation-based economies and the state and federal government's ability to send water to Central Valley farmers and beyond.

Last month, the East Bay municipal Utility District, or EBMUD, considered closing Camanche Reservoir here in Amador County, as well as two reservoirs in the east bay. EBMUD opted instead for rigorous checks for all trailered boats and to ban boats from Santa Clara County, San Benito County and Southern California. Once quagga mussels arrive in a water system, they float downstream. Since being found in Lake Mead in 2007, they have drifted downstream and been verified in 16 lakes and rivers on the Colorado River chain. According to Fish And Game, a trained search dog can detect a single quagga mussel on a boat. The first six K-9 teams are working in 23 Northern California counties.