400,000 Acre Feet Water Right On Bear Lake

Big News Splash!  April 5, 2018 By now you've probably heard about the states of Utah and Idaho filing a water right for 400,000 acre feet on Bear Lake. This is the water that the power company could just "dump" out of Bear Lake as "flood-control" releases over a winter. They do that in anticipation for the spring run-off with the big motivating factor of the liability for downstream flooding. They have been successfully sued in the past. We, the interested parties on the Bear Lake/Bear River system, have been investigating this flood control release issue for over 10 years, trying to find a way to alleviate liability issues of flooding so that higher elevations could be maintained in Bear Lake over the winter - at least until there could be more surety of the spring runoff supply. (You never know when you're going into the first year of a drought cycle until it is upon you!) The States' filing is an interesting approach that we hadn't considered. At first glance, it may look like a water grab, but looking more closely, the fact is that this water is only available in the high water years and you'll realize it's an opportunity to optimize the system. It may be a good thing that the states are working together rather than as adversaries, as both have vested interest in protecting Bear Lake's water quality, it's Fisheries and it's recreational and aesthetic values. And we certainly would want to look at any effort to keep more water in Bear Lake. It's important for people to grasp is that what we are talking about is simply "maintaining Bear Lake's natural levels", it is water that should be in Bear Lake over the winter. These higher elevations are important as our endemic fish's natural winter spawning habitat is in these upper levels of Bear Lake. It's also very important to our special population of Bonneville cutthroat trout that need to connect the local streams for spawning. We need to keep these fish from being "listed". This is the same scenario the Power Company was looking at just slightly different M.O. - State government has fiduciary responsibilities for maintaining the natural resources held in public trust (Their job security depends on our votes!) vs. PacifiCorp's business model with consideration for shareholders profits PLUS the additional responsibility for providing low cost energy and maintaining a stable grid system. Bear Lake was operated under a 1900's mentality until the Bear Lake Settlement Agreement created some improvements and more surety to the system for the last 25 years. It has provided a "Safe Box" for us to operate in. We've all known that at some point we would need to further align the system to 21st century standards and values. We've postulated over the years what the catalyst would be to move us to that new level. Well, the incredible high-water supply of 2017 combined with the power company's desire for Spinning Reserve - was that catalyst. Now the lid is off the Safe Box and it's time to consider all new ideas and to rethink this system in a big way.    With any change comes both opportunities for upsides and downsides. We will stay "cautiously optimistically". Bear Lake Watch will be very involved throughout this whole process, fighting for a better future for Bear Lake. Our thoughts for now. Stay tuned, Claudia & David

4544 HWY 89 Fish Haven, Idaho David -208-530-0058 Claudia -801-243-8980