Cleanin' Up the L 9-5-20

[TubeDude]

Originally had plans to hit the lake early for some fishing before joining others in our BFT cleanup session at Lincoln Beach.  But when my shut-in wife expressed an interest in going I made a hard left turn and changed plans.  Instead of arriving at O-Dark Thirty, we drove up at the ramp about 8ish.  A couple of boat trailers in the lot, but nobody else from BFT I could reckernize.



So, since a part of the plan was to check out the possibility of opening up one of the old ramps at the L, that's where we headed.  We were greeted by huge swarms of cavorting midges.  But they subsided as the sun rose higher.  Mosquitoes were only a minor irritation.  We turned them OFF.







Found the westernmost ramp mostly grown in with phragmites, but with a partial channel that could probably be opened fairly easily.  Howsomever, the water level is dropping fast and it won't be long before it will be too shallow to launch at that end.  Continued on to the other small ramp...on the east end...where it drops into deeper water quicker.  It was completely filled in with 8 ft. high phrags.  Decided it was going to be a project but thought I'd get it started to gauge how much more work would be needed.








I had brought calf-high boots, a shovel, a machete and some lopping shears.   First order of business was to clear out all of the nasty spider webs...and the big saltbush spiders that made them.  Next I just started swinging the machete into the stands of phrags.  Made some progress.  After mowing down a pretty fair hole into the mass of greenery I was up to the tops of my boots.  Need at least hippers when I return.  Next I took the shovel and started working on uprooting the clumps of chopped down phragmites.  Doable, but requires working through a foot or more of nasty mud that has been deposited during the years of disuse.








After an hour of phrag molestation, I picked up a plastic bag and a reach tool and joined TubeBabe in picking up the trash so graciously left for us by the usual Utah Lake slobs.  Unbelievable.  In one small area of shoreline there were multiple Corona Beer bottles and even more Modelo Beer cans.  And one semi-considerate soul left a 12 pack of Bud Light cans all packed back into the case...but still left it on the shoreline.  Class.








TubeBabe and I both ended up with a fair amount of trash in our respective plastic bags...along with some other stuff that wouldn't go in the bags.  Left the L area looking a lot better.  But from past experience I can almost guarantee that by next week you will not be able to tell we even did a cleanup.  Hope the other folks doing cleanup duty also got a bunch of trash to the dumpster.








Drove back to the ramp and still couldn't see anybody wandering around that might be part of the cleanup crew.  So we just watched the guy cavorting around in his ultralight aircraft for a few minutes and headed off (about 9:30) to go visit our daughter and see her new home in Saratoga Springs.

[Kent]

Pat, you will be blessed, but probably not in your lifetime. Those phrags are certainly a curse. Hard to understand why folks can't haul their trash home with them. I have a hunch that their homes are left in the same condition as they leave the outdoors.

[TubeDude]

Pat, you will be blessed, but probably not in your lifetime.  Those phrags are certainly a curse.  Hard to understand why folks can't haul their trash home with them.  I have a hunch that their homes are left in the same condition as they leave the outdoors.

Thanks for the kindly comments.  Not sure I could handle an overload of blessings anyway.

I never sneeze to be demazed at how slovenly some otherwise decent people are.  Had a situation at the Knolls one time when I saw two guys throwing things out of the back of their pickup onto the ground.  I stood up to my full height and assumed my menacing big-guy stance and made them pick it all up and remove it from the area.  I followed them all the way out to Redwood Rd.  I was armed but glad they weren't...and I didn't have to make that part of the equation.  With all the wackos "carrying" these days it can be dangerous to confront someone.  Either that or they might cough or sneeze on you.

As I'm sure you remember, we anglers lost the use of the Knolls for a while because of trashing.  And Lincoln Point has been off limits for quite a few years for the same reason.  DWR has worked with the land owners at the Knolls to get limited access again...and have been instrumental in Utah County buying up the Lincoln Point area.  But our continued access to both those areas is likely to be predicated on the public not turning them back into trash dumps.

[RonPaulFan]

Thanks, Pat! You are a blessing to society!

I have an idea. How about a grappling hook on a cable attached to the trailer hitch of a truck? I'm thinking that throwing it in the water past the pesky phragmites will snare them by the roots when pulled back up the ramp by a truck. That will pull them up by the roots with leaving few remaining roots to grow back. Then they can be chopped up on the above water part of the ramp and hauled off without fighting them in the water. You've battled these ferocious phragmites, so you might have some good insight into a grappling hook design. I can fabricate one (or more) for you as my contribution to the fine folks here making the lake better.

Ronald

[TubeDude]

Thanks, Pat!  You are a blessing to society!

I have an idea.  How about a grappling hook on a cable attached to the trailer hitch of a truck?  I'm thinking that throwing it in the water past the pesky phragmites will snare them by the roots when pulled back up the ramp by a truck.  That will pull them up by the roots with leaving few remaining roots to grow back. Then they can be chopped up on the above water part of the ramp and hauled off without fighting them in the water.  You've battled these ferocious phragmites, so you might have some good insight into a grappling hook design.  I can fabricate one (or more) for you as my contribution to the fine folks here making the lake better.

Ronald   

Probably work.  But I found that the mud and roots are not very deep.  Merely running a shovel blade between the mud and roots and the concrete ramp was enough to loosen them...and then they could be pulled out by hand.  I just ran out of "freeboard" on my low boots...and stamina in my old body.  As soon as the water drops another foot it should be easier to clear a more or less permanent path through the phrags.

My first idea was to try to get someone with a small Bobcat front end loader down there.  Ten minutes and it would be done.  The challenge would be to get it down there on the existing moonscape roads.

[Jmorfish]

Hey T.D.....I applaud your efforts on the garbage clean-up, and especially on the phrag....I don't fish UL, but my wife has ties to Provo, and we've had occasion to drive in the park area in the past, and just a couple months ago also..We were amazed to see who and how the shorlines are being used, and the trash all around also....I know it's not BFTers....I don't know who to blame the phrag problem on, but if you could donate your same time and effort at some of my duck hunting places, I'd appreciate it....Actually, it has ruined some huge acerages of marsh, or (used to be) open lands along (used to be) creeks flowing to the GSL....Used to be good duck and pheasant hunting along some of those creeks, but now all eaten up by phrag....if I'm in an area where it looks like it's just starting, my pathetic effort is to uproot as many of those 10, 15, 20 foot new runners, and just pile them up on the Mother plant....I like your idea of using the shovel to uproot that nasty Mother plant, but where I'm already carrying 20 lbs of stuff on my back , and a shotgun to boot, don't know that I can do that....I sure do wish the State or Fed gov't would take the phrag problem seriously....cows are eating some in some of the WMAs, but I haven't seen or heard of a burn effort in years....in the past, some of our Airboat Association members have gone out with cycles, machetes, and chainsaws to open up phrag-choked channels, like in your pics....Anyhow, good luck with your efforts....

[TubeDude]

Hey T.D.....I applaud your efforts on the garbage clean-up, and especially on the phrag....I don't fish UL, but my wife has ties to Provo, and we've had occasion to drive in the park area in the past, and just a couple months ago also..We were amazed to see who and how the shorlines are being used, and the trash all around also....I know it's not BFTers....I don't know who to blame the phrag problem on, but if you could donate your same time and effort at some of my duck hunting places, I'd appreciate it....Actually, it has ruined some huge acerages of marsh, or (used to be) open lands along (used to be) creeks flowing to the GSL....Used to be good duck and pheasant hunting along some of those creeks, but now all eaten up by phrag....if I'm in an area where it looks like it's just starting, my pathetic effort is to uproot as many of those 10, 15, 20 foot new runners, and just pile them up on the Mother plant....I like your idea of using the shovel to uproot that nasty Mother plant, but where I'm already carrying 20 lbs of stuff on my back , and a shotgun to boot, don't know that I can do that....I sure do wish the State or Fed gov't would take the phrag problem seriously....cows are eating some in some of the WMAs, but I haven't seen or heard of a burn effort in years....in the past, some of our Airboat Association members have gone out with cycles, machetes, and chainsaws to open up phrag-choked channels, like in your pics....Anyhow, good luck with your efforts....

Sorry, Bro.  Yer on yer own with the phrags in yer huntin' spots.  

I have been fishing Utah Lake since the 1960s...and remember the days when it was wide open around the whole lake...no phrags, no tamarisk, etc.  It was still clear when I moved to Arizona for a few years in the 1980s.  But when I returned to Utah in 2004 I was aghast.  There were so many spots around the lake that the shoreline was totally inaccessible to the public because of invasive species.

There has been some successful effort to knock down larger areas of phrags.  There is some good reading on the Utah Lake Commission site. (http://utahlakecommission.org/phragmites/)  There have been other published articles and web pages.  I am attaching the synopsis I put together a couple of years ago.

Unfortunately, there is not the budget or the incentive for the state to totally eradicate every single phrag plant in the state.  Thus, it continues to spread and becomes a major headache for farmers, fishermen, hunters and anyone else who would prefer to enjoy our outdoor resources without the benefit of phragmites.  It is our Covid 19 of the plant world.

[Coldfooter]

hey pat wheres the pic's of you working? oh i know,, someone has to hold the camera,, right? ,, lol.

[TubeDude]

hey pat wheres the pic's of you working?  oh i know,, someone has to hold the camera,, right? ,, lol.

Hey old buddy, good to hear from ya.  I was just wondering how you were doing...and if you were still pestering the fishies around Utah Lake.  Hope you are keeping your mask on.  At least it will help prevent scaring all the neighborhood kids.

It's best that there are no pics of me.  Some of us don't have a "good side".  My wife was a bit miffed that I posted that picture of her "best side".

[Coldfooter]

ya i'm still kicking,, i'm glad to see you two are still kicking butt and taking names also ol'e buddy.. well i havent wet a line in longer than i recall,, maybe 6 years. once 3m had to drop out i just bagged it,, my fun was watching 3m's excitement.. heck i dont know if i even have rods and gear,,, g-son's ya know.. but the g-sons and i plan to pester the mackies this winter a few times,, sort of a pass along the know how type thing,, we just need to work around their work schedules..
good on you two for putting a dent in the mess at LB. tell the better half hi for me

[TubeDude]

ya i'm still kicking,, i'm glad to see you two are still kicking butt and taking names also ol'e buddy.. well i havent wet a line in longer than i recall,, maybe 6 years. once 3m had to drop out i just bagged it,, my fun was watching 3m's excitement.. heck i dont know if i even have rods and gear,,, g-son's ya know..  but the g-sons and i plan to pester the mackies this winter a few times,, sort of a pass along the know how type thing,, we just need to work around their work schedules..
good on you two for putting a dent in the mess at LB. tell the better half hi for me

Hope you are able to get on the ice this winter...and that the big macks come out to play.   Passing along your "half vast" knowledge is probably gonna take at least 5 minutes.  lol.   Still got your snow machine?

Say hi to Mike for me.  Hope the health situation is manageable.  I still look for you when I hit Lindon but figured that the downturn in health might be keeping ya away.