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Show STANDARD-EXAMINER SUNDAY, SEPT.1, 1991 OUTDOORSEDITOR: 625-4266 MOVIES * CROSSWORD TV LISTINGS Jim ¢ Wright © Bit Outdoors commentary Cutthroat regulations important LOGAN — It was only one disturbing moment in an otherwise pleasant day’s By JIM WRIGHT fishing, but it stuck with me. Standard-Examiner staff I was fishing the Cliff Holes on the Logan River, a nice stretch of runs andriffles just below where the Temple Fork comes in. Here and there a trout was rising to The Book Cliffs ofeastern Utah are an incredibly diverse and rugged landscape, rich in wildlife and steeped in the lore and history of the West. feed on the surface. I couldn’t get the fish Native Americans hunted bison and in one run to take my fly, so I started wading upstream. As I peered into the stream, I saw something white, flashing and rolling on the bottom. It was a cutthroat trout, about 12 inches long. In death, it had lost its coloring. I reached into the water and pulled upthe stinking fish, and ! sawa bait hook, still tipped with a nightcrawler, jammed into the trout’s jaw. The line had snapped or been cut, presumably after the trout wrapped the line bighorn sheep in the valleys and plateaus. A century ago, pioneers wrested a tenuous living out of the land, establishing vast cattle empires across the same ground the Utes had roamed for centuries. Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch ranged through the Book Cliffs between robberies. Several generations of Utahns have known the Book Cliffs as one of the State’s premier big game hunting areas, fabled for world-class mule deer hunting, and now, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Bureau of Land Management and two private conservation organiza- around a tree limb sunk in the stream. lions are trying to put together what could be the state’s ultimate wildlife haven. These things happen. But they’re not supposed to happenon this section of the Logan River. For the last year and a half, fishing on the Logan River between Card Canyon Bridge and the Forest Service Red Banks campground has beenrestricted to artificial flies and lures. The Utah Division‘of Wildlife Resources enacted these restrictions to try and improve the size and number ofcutthroat trout in the upper Logan River. Along with the tackle restrictions, the regulations set up a slot limit. Anglers may keep two fish under 12 inches, and one over 18 inches, but only one may be a cut- “It's one of those opportunities we'll never see again,” said Tim Provan, DWR director. “It puts together public land that was really controlled by private land. I para!lel it to the Deseret Land and Livestock Opportunity we had a few years ago that was shot down by the Legislature.” The DWR, BLM, Nature Conservancy and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation are joined together in an ambitious land acquisition and management plan known as the Book Cliffs Initiative. Four privately owned ranches — the H.E. Graham, Cripple CowboyOutfit, S & H Ranches, Inc., and Bert and Christine Delambert — have been put on the market in thelast year and a half, and negotiations for two of them are underway. The Nature Conservancyhas obtained a purchase option on the Graham Ranch, and is negotiating an option on the Crippie Cowboy, said Chris Montague of the Nature Conservancy’s Great Basin Field Office. Montague said the Nature Conser- throat. The fish I found decomposing in the stream was right at the lower end of ihe slot. It may have been a keeper; I didn’t measure it. But it could have been in the slot, and if so, it should still be swimming in the river. It should have been given the chance to reach the 18, 19 or 20 inches cutthroat are capabie of achieving in the Logan. That’s what the regulations are for. vancy won't release terms of the agreement until it has been completed. But regulations are useless if they’re not obeyed. Tom Pettengill, DWR Northern The Nature Conservancywill act as a middleman of sorts, purchasing and holding the property until the DWR can reimburse it. Provan said the DWR will try to buy the land with money set aside in its budget, rather than asking for a special appropriation from the state Legislature. Provan said he hopes to obtain match- Region fisheries manager, keeps urging anglers to obeythe regulations, but it’s a frustrating task. Last spring, the DWR cited three anglers for having killed eight cutthroat trout in the slot limit. Pettengill said only a few such events could have a potentially devastating impact on efforts to improvefishing on the Logan. “If everyone cheats just once during the summer, we'll never see any increase in ing grants from private or federal sources. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, for example, has already contributed $50,000 to a previous Book Cliffs project, the Nature Conservancy’s $1.36 million pur- the size of those fish,” Pettengill said at the chase of the 7,400-acre Cunningham time. Why some anglers choose to foul their own nest is baffling. Frankly, the fishing on the upper Logan is no better than it is below Card Canyon. The browntrout in the lower part of the canyon arebigger and more numerous than the cutthroat above. The DWR plants trout in the impoundments on the river, and theseare fish that are more than willing to sacrifice themselves for a trout dinner. The regulations on the Logan are designed to protect a specific fish, the cutthroat trout. Cutthroat are easier to catch than other strains of trout, which makes it more difficult for them to survive and grow to substantial sizes Whether the cutthroat are doing well on the Logan is, right now, anyone’s guess The DWR hasn’t yet begun sampling the cutthroat on theriver The Loganis a classic, midsummer trout stream. Mims Barker, who has fished the Logan for years, said it’s one of the few places a trout fisherman can expect to find good fishing during the heat of the day Ranch. The DWR will eventually buy that land back from the Nature Conservancy as well. The BLM maybe able to use federal moneyfrom the Land and Water Conservation Fund, but it may also exchange federal land for private property, in keep- ing with local sentiment that is reluctant to see land taken out of private hands. Visually, the Book Cliffs are a fascinat- ing-area, where huge walls of sandstone rise above narrow canyons, where vast plateaus stretch from horizon to horizon. The plateaus and canyons are often stark, but the visitor frequently comes across dense stands of ponderosa pine and aspen, an odd departure from the usual fare of pinyon and juniper trees. “The Book Cliffs are really a step out of the old West,” said Bil] Christensen, Utah field director for the Rocky. Mountain Elk Foundation, a private conservation group that'is working to: purchase Jand in the are ea, “There ate stilliall thé old bul if Ns . JIM WRIGHT/Standard-Examiner a private conservation group that . a¢ platedus and éangons extending almost ¥ n thenisl Green River, south thi Northern Ute tribe he 1 the } : the 'Uintah-Ouray eas} ge? i DIC as nd |} té known ' try in d as the Book Cliffs Road- nd has ( NHS iViSION Oj addi nal io lin i along the streamside, or riparian, areas a 4 ing trout fishing, as well as providing> acce once? Th .) we. a Ovide thir the purchaseis that the feeding Bureau areas inge age for wildlife. State, in the of summer . Bo - The riparian areas | " | i I , i a LM ha G tmenis id, ur 7 for a | l * ip a m on A 2s far as structures. sed the east going to tt j tod k bottom improvement ‘ct 5 jonsial for expanding ft grazing, urpose of the bh 5 said. “We're e-int initiat oh not eliminatir but spreading nd reduced pressure overall area.” a " sher The s winds through . teau, appeann in Book most exclusive D ‘ ag four or five fi fi small size One of the rare Book Cliffs is initiatiy a d — ¢ are a Willow Creek ages, IS ss, ffs Little an sm OF abou said. p Bu ntial part of Ww Oasis 1 an otherwise tortured the ‘ pla ‘ landscape nated by shades of brown Willow Canyon is r out. Sa rds sn the ‘ cutthroat in be skeptical in this ¢a earl You 4 said actet t werer the s hk y 13 It’s eas) ur NnOst an mut r iO Logan ‘Riv about any-absol vas very. like can } are ce iT v beca 7 Ss fis ve wt : LW t fe ; Si O ae © . Christens been - : M \ rin rA who he’s i W 7 ae \ pre r ifu i visi Nort} sentee owner 1 said n of DWI Ww : . | K and ¢ , nt it alue. Tt NT } - ’ bi J il h tha > yn will reach hundreds TY rs j keer i TI spreads out along agency said , nsj 14, Barker, Ogden, limit the k TI bie | i i Before: sbers ¢ well. in be Logan. hearing good 1 rts out of the Logar cluding scattered claims of #8-inch ¢ on the slot. bla the ‘ h we ‘ wildlif k L , n itching with in thi Texas. standard far runs the Fly Line >» of wer inches to n a Graham Ranch. which is owned by an ab-_ in area as Thecutthroat w to on animal Christ she nd purchases is being worked tcexperi ~ . to dusk ening caddis orth the hour or so é re from about 6 - ee of the in the > Cliffea r-round streams : W w Creek. which the ‘ VEU SO in the ‘ are good big! , packK-iIn populations cattle will not be allowed to concentrate putting in drop ers on the side n do enough of that hav pretty good healthiest and antelope Montague Most Utah's as possible to protect riparian zones, and ) pastures for long penods of time a to alone drive from Ogden Me a * Book Cliffs are home pose and ; be not eliminated. Cattle vehick $ something ‘ that needa will be kept away from streams as much I s I curtailed, but hat The bP: } 1S1 ex be ence provide - : 7 os addressed.” Under theinitiative, cattle grazing will untapped trout streams iS streams | n n k r bie game. p the ran We hope M if “ BLM | as as as é Wi as p Our grazing re fe Bitter Creek are well purchas 5 j ar Cliffs. but a short rat me em G Unlike most there is abundant win in Willow Cr he . " °s .> year-round wate for wil a und ater sources Ic ildlife Private lands contain important summer Parts ol i Management manages 319,00 Little said. “Do we that,” I Do 114.000 i at,” Sev eral streams could produce outstand- ' Another key to hatches but that t lat fpossibility ili willl bebe discussed ed inin ffuture public meetings. “It does open up access, but we've got : to deal with. 4how we're going to provid improving wildlife habitat, especially Green River TI ' dawn from S64 anes to provide wildlife with more security, ’ ; pictographs right by the road. manages a largetract tween the | Divi } .e aviation mts possibility somebeclosed of the* existing roads in the area may to vehicletraffic . . Book Cliffs va mayc y < Bul jut thethe vase ma ost re . pocket water that makes up the majority of the fishable wa ter above Rick’s Spring; they'll hit flies plan for the Book Cliffs. He said thereis @ homesteads. You canfind Indian The Che cutthroat favor the Little said the BLM and DWR will include é access management in its overall é anagem 0 cae LAs There are still all the old buildings, : the old controls a large part of | Creek Extension of : “en ate reservation, located of the Green River . mp inh . which flows north to r Desolation Canyon. . is working to purchase land inthe area. i area eck is bee The bisected by in jeastéfn Utah to Rifle in Colorado. ham Ranch is located in such a way that it controls access to tens of thousands of acres of state and BLM land, Little said. By purchasing the property, public access to the public land will be guaranteed directorfor the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, nathe for hundreds of square miles of of. western Willow Creek. Despiteits relative small size, the Gra- 'The Book Cliffs are really a step out of the old west,' said Bill Christensen, Utah field the.old honiesitads: A ov Gin‘ finda pletographs fight/byabe road.” Far eey The ‘Book CHR isan almost gencti¢ from Price forests are home to black bear, deer, elk, antelope and numerous other creatures. The Book Cliffs of eastern Utah contain some of the state’s healthiest wildlife populations. The canyons and str ; |