State of the Lake

 

GARDEN CITY — Fisheries staff from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) will collaborate and share updates on the Bear Lake fishery and work plans for 2022 at an upcoming “State of the Lake” public meeting.

Emily Wright shows a lake trout caught and released at Bear Lake with a gillnet in 2019.

The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 31, at the Garden City Convention Center’s Lakeside Room. The meeting starts at 6 p.m.

The Garden City Complex is located at 69 N. Parkway in Garden City, just as you come into town.

Scott Tolentino, a fisheries biologist stationed at Bear Lake, said they haven’t held a meeting like this for 10 years. He is a 30-year veteran of DWR.

“Idaho holds a lot more meetings like this than Utah does,” he said. “We thought both agencies could talk about their proposed studies and what they will be doing in the future. It could eliminate a lot of disinformation and the people at the meeting will get it strait from the horse’s mouth.”

Anglers and other community members interested in the status of the Bear Lake fishery are encouraged to attend. Biologists from both agencies will share the latest population trends and ongoing management work related to the wide array of fish found in the lake.

“We will give a formal power point presentation on how the different fish populations are doing,” Tolentino said. “We will go over how the different fish populations are doing. We want it to be an open atmosphere followed by a question-and-answer session between biologists and the public.”

The agencies plan to talk about populations of the Bear Lake cutthroat trout, lake trout, Bonneville cisco, Bonneville white fish, Bear Lake whitefish, Bear Lake sculpin and even carp.

“We are going to make the presentations so the average joe can understand what we are saying,” he said. “We are not going to try to baffle anyone with confusing information.”

Bear Lake is the home of 13 different species of fish, four of which are found nowhere else in the world.

The agencies hope everyone will leave with a better understanding of what the Bear Lake fish populations are currently and the work the agencies are doing to help the fish in the lake.

For more information, contact the Idaho Department of Fish and Game Southeast Region Office at 208-232-4703 or the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Northern Region Office at 801-476-2740.