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KUOW's environment beat brings you stories on the ongoing cleanup of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, alternative energy, the health of the Puget Sound, coal transportation and more. We're also partnered with several stations across the Northwest to bring you environmental news via EarthFix.

Crayfish Turf Wars Of The Northwest

Earthfix Photo/Ashley Ahearn

Gumbo and jambalaya may not be at the top of Northwest menus. But if the invasive red swamp crayfish has its way, that could change.

The Red Swamp Crayfish – also known as “crawfish” or “crawdad” – is native to the Southeastern U.S. and the Gulf Coast. But over the past decade this crimson-clawed invasive has moved in on some Northwestern lakes and rivers, and it could be impacting native species of trout and bass.

Ground zero of the invasion? Pine Lake. It’s a small body of water 40-feet deep, about 20 miles east of Seattle. The shores are lined with nice homes. Yellow labs patrol well-maintained yards and docks. Bass and trout fishermen share the water with laughing kids on paddleboards.

But the ecosystem balance of this lake is shifting, says Julian Olden, a freshwater ecologist with the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington. Invasive red swamp crayfish now outnumbers the hometown species, known as signal crayfish.

Read the full story at KUOW's Earthfix.