Electra Sporting Club and the Public Service Co. of Colorado recently announced that Electra Lake will open for public recreation Saturday, for Memorial Day weekend, with specific restrictions to prevent infestation by invasive species.

Installation of a new invasive-species inspection and wash-down station is underway and will be used to clear all boats, kayaks, canoes, paddle-boards, sailboats, inner-tubes and any other personal equipment used in the lake.

Until the inspection station is completed, the only watercraft permitted to enter the lake will be boats inspected and tagged by clean Colorado reservoirs before 2017. This ensures that boats entering the lake have been out of water for long enough that contamination is no longer a possibility. Boats inspected and tagged last year at Electra Lake will be permitted, for instance. All other watercraft will be prohibited, with the exception of new material in the packaging or any craft demonstrated to have never been used in water.

Until the inspection station opens, visitors can use area trails for hiking and fish along the shoreline.

Special inspections can be arranged by appointment. For more information, call 382-2783.

fstone@durangoherald.com