Overview
- San Joaquin County’s Board of Supervisors, which voted Tuesday, asked Governor Gavin Newsom to proclaim a statewide emergency and to deploy California’s Fish and Wildlife, Water Resources, and Water Board, with federal help urged as well.
- The declaration directs tighter state coordination on funding and mitigation and sets 60‑day check‑ins to reassess the emergency.
- Officials say golden mussels latch onto hard surfaces and can choke pipes and intakes, threatening municipal water delivery, farm irrigation, flood control hardware, and native habitat.
- The county previously launched a Golden Mussel Task Force in October 2025 using roughly $20 million in state funds to build boat inspections, tagging, public education, and decontamination sites.
- Signs of spread include a mussel found on a boat at Folsom Lake and a $5,000 fine at Lake Tahoe for tampering with an inspection seal, while the state has listed the species as restricted and some lakes now require inspections and quarantine to slow the risk.