Local firm aims to launch pilot study for tech device

One cliche suggests that attached to every crisis is an opportunity.

That’s how entrepreneur and boater Rod Shaw reacted in 2016 to a temporary ban of private boating in Glacier National Park, a ban tied to concerns about the potential for introduction of aquatic invasive species to waters in the park.

Federal, state, tribal and nonprofit organizations, along with anglers, economists and boating enthusiasts, consider the potential infestation of waterbodies from such species as quagga and zebra mussels to be a crisis of the first order in western Montana.

Today, the effort to stop infestation relies in large part on inspection stations. There, staffers interview watercraft owners and inspect their boats. In some ways, the system depends on honest reporting from the owner of a watercraft about where it’s been. When the stations are closed, boaters pass by without inspection.

The company that emerged from Shaw’s consideration of all these circumstances is AIS Solutions, based in Columbia Falls.

AIS Solutions has developed a small tracking device the company contends could be a boost for efforts to keep invasive species out of Flathead Lake, Whitefish Lake, Swan Lake, Seeley Lake, Lake McDonald, Little Bitterroot Lake and the plethora of other lakes in the region.

As envisioned, the device and its CleanPass System would use GPS and other technology to register and store in an online “cloud” the location of any waterbody the watercraft enters.

Theoretically, staff at stations inspecting watercraft for aquatic invasive species would be equipped with the hardware and software to use the CleanPass System to determine where the boat has been — which can be crucial information, especially if the watercraft has been in contaminated waters.

This summer, the company is seeking 30 volunteers who would allow AIS Solutions to attach one of its devices to their watercraft for a pilot study. The tracker would be encased in a waterproof container and attached with a zip tie or similar means.

AIS Solutions staff, with the consent of the city of Whitefish and an OK from the Whitefish Lake Institute, will work at Whitefish Lake, where they will approach watercraft owners — beginning probably after July 4 — about attaching the tracker. The device will be free of charge during the pilot study.

Shaw said the tracker likely would retail for around $40 when and if the product is launched and that there would be a nominal yearly registration fee for watercraft owners.

AIS Solutions is looking for private investors, Shaw said.

Aquatic invasive species inspection stations in western Montana are operated by various agencies or tribes or by a collaborative effort such as the one that exists at Whitefish Lake.

Mike Koopal, executive director of the Whitefish Lake Institute, said the institute has no financial stake in AIS Solutions.

“Whitefish Lake Institute welcomes the development of new technology in the fight against AIS,” Koopal said. “However, there are a number of hurdles for a company with new technology to navigate before that technology is considered for use by management agencies and their partners.”

Koopal added that Whitefish Lake Institute “does not provide an opinion on products in development.”

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks staffs many of the inspection stations or partners with others who do.

Tom Woolf is the department’s aquatic invasive species bureau chief.

Woolf, like Koopal, said he would prefer not to comment on a product in development by a private company.

He said Fish, Wildlife and Parks does not currently track watercraft and does not have plans to do so.

“The focus of the program is just to make sure boats are clean and not to impose on boaters,” Woolf said. “Even if a boater is lying to us [about where the boat has been], we’re still putting eyes on the boat.”

Leland Johnson, chief executive officer of Kalispell-based ExcelliMatrix, has worked with AIS Solutions to develop the software and hardware for the CleanPass System.

Johnson said AIS Solutions’ technology can identify aquatic invasive species threats before they spread.

“This is a really interesting project due to the communication that has to happen between physical devices, mobile applications and the cloud-based web application,” Johnson said.

AIS Solutions plans to conduct its pilot study through early October. The goal is to establish the reliability of the CleanPass System and to share that data with agencies in Montana and surrounding states to help them assess the utility of the system in the ongoing effort to prevent infestation by aquatic invasive species.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks has been working since 2005 to try to prevent the introduction of invasive mussels. The department’s interventions include inspecting watercraft, early detection monitoring and education.

These efforts intensified after larvae of invasive mussels were detected at Tiber Reservoir, with a suspected detection at Canyon Ferry Reservoir. So far, no adult mussels have been found and no more larvae have been detected.

Woolf has said that eradicating invasive mussels once they’re established “is difficult if not impossible.”

He has said prevention is the best approach.

Bryce Christiaens, chairman of the Montana Invasive Species Council, has talked about the potential impact of aquatic invasive species.

“Invasive mussels can devastate aquatic ecosystems, clog water intake pipes and delivery systems, cover boat launches and beaches and impact any economic sector dependent on water,” Christiaens has said.

Meanwhile, if and when the CleanPass System fully launches, why would a boat owner want to pay to participate?

The company said participation could speed an inspection at a congested station. It noted that an inspector equipped to use the CleanPass System could get a green light on a boat that hasn’t been in infested waters and move the boat more quickly through the inspection process as a “low risk” craft.

In addition, Shaw said, protecting waters from infestation is in everyone’s best interests and helps assure continued public access to the region’s lakes.

Duncan Adams may be reached at dadams@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4407.