Annual Bear Lake Conference Made An Impact

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter

Rich Civic Times 

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  May 18, 2013. Over 100 citizens  attended The Annual Bear Lake Conference sponsored by the Bear Lake Regional Commission, Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands and Garden City bringing citizens, governmental and state agencies together to talk about the future of Bear Lake.

Ed. NOTE:  Many signed up to recieve RCTonline but some e-mail addresses were unreadable.  Please forward to those you think may want to see this report.

GARDEN CITY REPORT

John Spuhler, Garden City Mayor, spoke about Envision Bear Lake. The counties in both Utah and Idaho have a close and good relationship in protecting the lake and area and created the Bear Lake Valley Blueprint which was a year and a half process which involved 35 cities, county and state government entities, and local citizens in creating a vision statement and a blueprint for action. 

The vision centers on protecting the natural resources and creating a great place to live and play.  Bear Lake Valley Blueprint is online for anyone who wishes to see what is being planned.  “Garden City,, a place where families play” became the city motto as a result of this effort.  With only 500 permanent residents ,Garden City serves 60,000 visitors on holidays and weekends which is very expensive for a small local population.  Such amenities as parking lots, lighting, improving trails for ATV use and ATV parking lots have been built.  Garden City also provides conference rooms and a public library.  There is a public pool and paved bike path.  Several festivals are held each summer and fall.  The 500 local citizens provide funding for most of this, however the PAL (Park, Arts and Library)tax has helped to mitigate some of the costs because it  mainly taxes the visitors   Plans are to open new parking lots and beach paths to keep cars off the beach to provide more room for recreation and less pollution.  Garden City officials are working with the State to build good parking lots with shuttle service to the beach. 

During the summer the city uses three million gallons per day with all of the visitors and it cannot afford to expand the water plant, so water conservation is a major item of interest.  Tens of thousands of people are enjoying the beach.  More and more people are building second homes here and as the city grows so do the infrastructure needs.

Garden City has a code enforcement officer and an administrative court to enforce codes.  Garden City is putting more emphasis on arts and community.  And  There are new zoning and building codes which protect against developers who do not do finish projects.

TRAILS

Bess Huefner and Bryan House, Garden City Council members, reported on trails.   House said that this planning effort began two years ago.  The Forest Service was amenable to improving Richardson Canyon if not Hodges Canyon trail now.  The bike trail, which is now so loved,  met with a lot of resistance at first but now people are asking for more.  It is an expensive proposition. But the goal is to encircle the lake.  

The trail committee would also like to make canal bike trails if the private owners will agree.  Motorized vehicles are not allowed on the trails. “Stay on the trails, because you tear up the land if you don’t,” cautioned Huefner.  House asked people to respect the land they drive through because not only is it beautiful, it is a watershed area.

The Garden City planner is identifying wetlands and mitigating it with other wetland areas.  Huefner asked for wetland land donations as conservation areas so that if a trail goes through a wetland it can continue.  The Forest Service has trail maps online.

BIKE TRAILS

Dave Cottle, Bear Lake Watch, discussed Bear Lake Legacy Pathway which is a proposed pathway around Bear Lake and beyond.  Garden City’s bike path is 15 years old and now there is a new section near Laketown.  There is also a new section in Fish Haven, Idaho.  The need for a planned pathway was recognized several years ago as the bike and racing use increased.   Six hundred boy Scouts get their merit badges by biking around the lake each year.  And there are hundreds of requests for large group bike races which have to be denied.  Cottle said they have a need for the bigger shoulders for bike racing events and a need to provide a path for ATV use. 

A steering committee of government representatives and citizen advocates created a plan using the Bear Lake Valley Blueprint processes and committees.  The high priorities were pathways, open space and preserving the agricultural areas in the county.  Pathways became an integral part of this and the group went back to work to create a concept plan for the Bear Lake Legacy Path.  It has been completed and approved by both Utah and Idaho counties.

Land has been donated.  Bear Lake West donated land for a bike path.  The Fish Haven section is being extended because Norm Mecham donated land from his Reserve Development and the Fish Haven Cemetery District gave an easement for a bike trail.  Right now they are trying to build the path on the west side of the Lake.  Donations are accepted and more people need to get involved.  They need to work with both counties and the communities on how to implement the concept.  When building on state land, the costs are 1/3 more than if they can go on private land because of federal rules, so private land donation is key.  This is a long term process.

WEATHER FORECASTING

Keven Barjenbruch,  National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Weather Service Office talked about what they deal with as a forecast office and what tools they have.  Lightning and severe thunderstorms are dangerous for boaters on the lake, so they have to have a good warning system.  Wildland fires are always a threat to the area and then since the fire destroys vegetation it increases probability of flash floods.    Winter storms can cause a lot of damage too.  They oversee the third largest county warning and forecast areas in the 48 contiguous states.  They work with the emergency response community. 

Tools include inWS which is a mobile and desktop application suite which gives customized text messages and e-mail alerts.  http://inws.wrh.noaa.gov   This is for use by official agencies.  Wireless Emergency Alerts ,WEA ,started last year and is free.  It is a notification service and is received by phones that are WEA enabled.    In our area with a transient community this could be of benefit to the tourists.  It is simply a radio broadcast, it does not interrupt voice and data systems.

They provide on-site support with an incident meteorologists IMET .  They also train weather spotters from volunteer organizations, law enforcement, fire, radio clubs, parks and monument employees and general public is welcome.

An excellent resource is  www.weather.gov  for anyone who wants more information.

www.wrh.noaa.gov/slc/gmap is MESO West which gets 24 hours of data from all of the stations near the lake.  There are point and click maps for forecasts for a one mile by one mile area.

They would like to put in weather kiosk in the marinas but the local community must pay for it and maintain it.  However, there are many great smart phone apps and some are for marine weather.  Radar Scope is an example of one of them. 

BOATER SAFETY

Richard Droesbeck, Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation, and Andy Stokes, Idaho Division of Parks and Recreation talked about boater safety.  Wind conditions are a primary concern.  When the wind starts to blow there are no safe havens.  “Pay attention to the weather!” said Droesbeck.  There is cooperative agreement between Idaho and Utah to use equipment for rescue.  Some people have taken floatie toys farther than 50 feet without life jackets and there have been deaths of children when the wind blows them away from shore. 

Nearly 80% of people who die in boating accidents do so because they are not wearing life jackets.  If not wearing a lifejacket in the boat, one must be easily available.  You also need fire extinguishers and throwables for extra floatation.  Every boat needs lifejackets, spare propulsion, and a bailing device.  Utah has a law that states that you must be 150 feet away from other boats and swimmers.  That is half a football field.  It is the most abused law in the state but it is dangerous to boat too close to another boat.  It takes 150 feet to stop a wave runner for example.   A BUI is prosecuted just like a DUI.   Utah requires training for people under 18 to use water craft.

Stokes added that there needs to be navigational lights for night boating, flame arrestor on carburetor and a ski flag, Idaho requires a vessel sticker says that the boater has had an educational course.  Life- jackets are required for children.  Idaho side gives prizes when they see youngsters with life jackets on to provide positive reinforcement.  Stokes suggested that boaters learn landmarks on the lake that they can use to guide emergency help to their boat in the event of an emergency.

QUAGGA MUSSELS

Phil Tuttle, biologist for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, said that quagga are an invasive species, but there are other invasive species or vegetation that they worry about.  Invasive species can be spread easily and are very tiny, so they are hard to detect.  Quaggas survive in many conditions, their larva can survive in standing water for 27 days.  Ballast tanks could harbor thousands of larvae.  The mussels started in the Black Sea and have migrated to the US.  They are prolific and form dense colonies. They cost facilities millions of dollars per year.  They can fill intake pipes.  Back east they have to dig up water lines to replace the clogged ones.  They will encrust any hard surface.  Estimated  US loss due to the mussels is $138 billion a year.  They will ruin a boat and the motor and can kill entire fish populations.  The beaches smell like decay and the shells are very sharp and cut people’s feet on the beaches. 

Once they are in a reservoir there is nothing that can be done. Prevention is the only hope.  They are finding more mussels in Lake Powell and it will be considered an invested site now as is Lake Mead.  They are treating boats from there as if they are infested and will need decontamination.  CLEAN, DRAIN & DRY may be the most effective.   Water at 160 degrees will kill mussels off of a boat.  Bilge tanks are cleaned this way.  But government funding is not there, people must take the responsibility to drain and dry their boats so that the drying process can begin immediately. 

Keep your wakeboards and life jackets clean and dry as well as any ropes or beach toys.   Bleach doesn’t kill mussels.  Only very hot water,  at the marina there is no charge for cleaning if done by the state. 

In Utah you are required to fill out a self- certification form every day that you launch.  There is an online test on the Division of Wildlife Services site that if you pass, you can put on your car and allows you to launch without the daily certification.  There will be a roaming officer checking all public accesses to see if the certificate is there.  It is not inevitable that Bear Lake will be invested if everyone does their part. 

Mayor Spuhler said that the lakeside owners need to be the front line of defense especially with visitors or renters who may bring boats from other lakes.  “Something this important needs enforcement by residents,” he said.

INVASIVE PHRAGMITES

Blaine Hamp, Utah Division of State Lands said that they have sprayed the Utah side in the fall before the first hard freeze  during a narrow window based on temperature, humidity and winds.  High lake levels helped to kill some phragmites but the tall phragmites can live in high water.  They spray with a chemical that is approved for waterways. And then in the spring the weeds are burned. Homeowners should clean up the ones that float into the land.  Mowing helps to clear the area, and there is no objection to just mowing, just no use of mechanical devices to stir up the soil.  Idaho land owners are banding together to pay for spraying since Idaho has no funding.

JOINT PERMIT PROCESS

Dave Harris, Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation, working with Sovereign Lands, has established a joint permit for permitting of rafts or docks or mooring buoys.  They are working to make things more clear and simple.  The intent is to protect other users, if an anchor line is out and not marked it could entangle another boat , night rescuers have crashed into unmarked docks.  Everything that goes in the lake needs a permit if it is not attended all day and is anchored on the lake.  Floating docks and buoys approval starts with state lands, for example.  State Parks are helping to permit as well.  If the stationary anchor is in 72 hours or more even if the raft is brought in every night it needs a permit.   Any consecutive use must have a  permit.