Utah Lake Legacy

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[cool][#0000ff]To be fair, all the fish numbers were down in 1935 because there was a major drought and the lake level dropped to less than 2 feet deep.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Dams are always "damned" as culprits, and they do cause changes in the ecosystem. However, we would not be able to maintain agriculture, commerce or the large residential base we have today without Deer Creek and now Jordanelle. Just as with the dams along the Colorado River, they are reviled by tree huggers but vital to human existence.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We can't have it both ways. Without Deer Creek there would be some years that Salt Lake could be flooded in low lying areas. And, in other years the lower Provo River would be dry and Utah Lake would become a shallow stagnant pool by the end of July. It could even be both in the same year.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The dams put in by the early settlers were for the sole purpose of diverting water onto their fields. And, because they had no screening system for fish, thousands were sucked out of the river out into the fields to die.[/#0000ff]
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