07-26-2004, 06:45 PM
http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2383270
Article Last Updated: 07/26/2004 08:51:42 AM
Utah's fish and wildlife may need help in drought
Conservation group looks out for wildlife
By Brett Prettyman
The Salt Lake Tribune
Ken Barrett, Salt Lake City, hooks a German brown on the Provo river this month. As more Utahns take more water, conservationists are trying to ensure enough stays in lakes and streams for fish and wildlife. (Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune)
Long before it reaches lawns, farms and bathtubs, the water streaming from Utah's mountains gives life.
Deer, elk, moose, bears and mountain lions lap at riverbanks and browse on riparian flora. Fish depend on a constant current.
While most of the attention during Utah's current drought has focused on human needs, state wildlife officials have been working to conserve water for critters for more than a century, and at least one conservation group has a new plan to help wild animals get through dry stretches.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) has long been in the business of preserving water in lakes and reservoirs, and recently has tried to maintain water flow in the state's rivers and streams.
Trout Unlimited, a national fishing conservation group, wants to bolster those "instream" efforts, pushing legislation that would allow nongovernmental groups to purchase water rights in streams to sustain fish and other aquatic organisms throughout the year.
"The basic premise is that there is value - economic, environmental and quality-of-life-wise - in protecting stream flows," says Alan Matheson, Utah's water project leader for Trout Unlimited.
Utah law says only DWR and the Division of Parks and Recreation can hold water rights in streams for fish and wildlife and that the only way those agencies can get the money to purchase such rights is from the Legislature.
"Frankly, that isn't going to happen any time soon, drought or not," says Matheson.
Matheson pushed a bill in the 2003 Legislature that would have allowed cities, counties and certain nonprofit organizations to lease water rights from willing landowners.
The DWR to date owns instream-flow rights on just four small streams, all in southern Utah, but they were all donated to the state by private entities. No other instream flows for fish and wildlife exist in the state.
"The [proposed] instream-flow bill," Matheson explains, "would not dramatically change water use in Utah. It is designed to protect existing water rights and would be used on a limited basis where it is most needed."
DWR's history of conserving water for fish dates to 1901, when it acquired Burraston Ponds in Juab County.
Since then, the agency has spent more than $2 million to acquire rights in 38 lakes and reservoirs.
In addition to these, the DWR maintains water rights on another 32 lakes and reservoirs in the form of "conservation pools," meaning the agency owns a certain portion of a reservoir.
The agency has spent an estimated $1.5 million to purchase such pools.
Keeping that water, however, has been challenging in recent years, as it competes with farmers' need for irrigation.
During the current drought, irrigators asked for conservation-pool water at Blanding Reservoir in San Juan County. The DWR refused, but when Blanding City came calling for culinary water, the agency sold some of its pool.
The DWR sent letters in 2003 to irrigation companies to remind them about their shared-water agreements and warned that the state would enforce its rights.
Not all the conservation pools work. Wildlife officials will watch Minersville Reservoir in Beaver County dry up for the second consecutive year despite owning water rights at the popular fishery.
"It is a secondary water right. If the primary holders take what they are entitled to, there is nothing left," says Dale Hepworth, a DWR regional aquatic director. "The conservation pool worked for 35 years until we hit this drought."
bpretty@sltrib.com
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Article Last Updated: 07/26/2004 08:51:42 AM
Utah's fish and wildlife may need help in drought
Conservation group looks out for wildlife
By Brett Prettyman
The Salt Lake Tribune
Ken Barrett, Salt Lake City, hooks a German brown on the Provo river this month. As more Utahns take more water, conservationists are trying to ensure enough stays in lakes and streams for fish and wildlife. (Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune)
Long before it reaches lawns, farms and bathtubs, the water streaming from Utah's mountains gives life.
Deer, elk, moose, bears and mountain lions lap at riverbanks and browse on riparian flora. Fish depend on a constant current.
While most of the attention during Utah's current drought has focused on human needs, state wildlife officials have been working to conserve water for critters for more than a century, and at least one conservation group has a new plan to help wild animals get through dry stretches.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) has long been in the business of preserving water in lakes and reservoirs, and recently has tried to maintain water flow in the state's rivers and streams.
Trout Unlimited, a national fishing conservation group, wants to bolster those "instream" efforts, pushing legislation that would allow nongovernmental groups to purchase water rights in streams to sustain fish and other aquatic organisms throughout the year.
"The basic premise is that there is value - economic, environmental and quality-of-life-wise - in protecting stream flows," says Alan Matheson, Utah's water project leader for Trout Unlimited.
Utah law says only DWR and the Division of Parks and Recreation can hold water rights in streams for fish and wildlife and that the only way those agencies can get the money to purchase such rights is from the Legislature.
"Frankly, that isn't going to happen any time soon, drought or not," says Matheson.
Matheson pushed a bill in the 2003 Legislature that would have allowed cities, counties and certain nonprofit organizations to lease water rights from willing landowners.
The DWR to date owns instream-flow rights on just four small streams, all in southern Utah, but they were all donated to the state by private entities. No other instream flows for fish and wildlife exist in the state.
"The [proposed] instream-flow bill," Matheson explains, "would not dramatically change water use in Utah. It is designed to protect existing water rights and would be used on a limited basis where it is most needed."
DWR's history of conserving water for fish dates to 1901, when it acquired Burraston Ponds in Juab County.
Since then, the agency has spent more than $2 million to acquire rights in 38 lakes and reservoirs.
In addition to these, the DWR maintains water rights on another 32 lakes and reservoirs in the form of "conservation pools," meaning the agency owns a certain portion of a reservoir.
The agency has spent an estimated $1.5 million to purchase such pools.
Keeping that water, however, has been challenging in recent years, as it competes with farmers' need for irrigation.
During the current drought, irrigators asked for conservation-pool water at Blanding Reservoir in San Juan County. The DWR refused, but when Blanding City came calling for culinary water, the agency sold some of its pool.
The DWR sent letters in 2003 to irrigation companies to remind them about their shared-water agreements and warned that the state would enforce its rights.
Not all the conservation pools work. Wildlife officials will watch Minersville Reservoir in Beaver County dry up for the second consecutive year despite owning water rights at the popular fishery.
"It is a secondary water right. If the primary holders take what they are entitled to, there is nothing left," says Dale Hepworth, a DWR regional aquatic director. "The conservation pool worked for 35 years until we hit this drought."
bpretty@sltrib.com
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