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Show B12 Wednesday, July 16, 2008 Vernal Express FTTT" e -, . TX""nr 1r a ....... , - .,, ,,r .. .1 , , 3 Top DWR biologist calls for responsible camping 1 i -.vr'v''--. ; r v f 7 1 at . The Vernal Force Attitude U10 girls soccer team competed and won bronze at the Utah Summer Games in Cedar City. They then went on to take third at the High Valley Shootout in Eden. They play next at the 'Rampage' in Roy. Players include Whitney McNamara, Rhandi Kellogg, Alii Stone, Brittany Hansen, Elsha Lance, Kylee Hawkins, Camryn Fleetwood, Lindsey Bennion, Kimi Canet, Coach Kiley Laroque and Lacie Laroque. Not pictured are coaches Sheri McNamara and Tina Hawkins. Dams in Utah fall short in safety SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Eighteen years after the last dam failure in Utah many of the state's dams still fall short of minimum safety standards. State Dam Safety Engineer David Marble says 191 dams across the state have received full compliance review ordered by reforms passed in 1990. Of those, 51 meet the minimum safety standards. Another 31 have lowered safety risks by altering storage levels or spill flows rather than under going expensive reconstruction. Marble says the remaining 109 high-hazard dams are either prioritized for review or under investigation. But none are at imminent risk of failing. "Whether a dam is safe or not is a tough question," Marble said from his office at the state Division of Water Rights. "When we refer to minimum safety standards, this is not a low-safety low-safety standard," he said. "This is the state-of-the-industry practice to protect public safety." Utah has 900 dams, with more than 850 large enough tobe listed You're More ill '7. 1 ! i. f Y on the federal National Inventory of Dams. About 50 Utah dams are federally run, including Flaming Flam-ing Gorge and Jordanelle. The remainder are state regulated and primarily owned by private entities like water districts or irrigation companies. The dams in Duchesne County with a "high" hazard rating, according ac-cording to the state Division of Water Rights Web site are: Big Sand Wash, Moon Lake, Starvation, Starva-tion, Upper Stillwater, Browns Draw, Chepeta Lake, Cliff Lake, East Timothy, Red Creek, and Twin Pots. The dams in Uintah County with "high" ratings are: Stein-aker, Stein-aker, Bottle Hollow, Brough, Bullock Draw, Cottonwood, East Park, Lapoint, M & S Dam, Monies Mon-ies Creek, Paradise Park, Red Wash, and Whiterocks Lake. Because even a small dam can store millions of gallons of water, all are considered inherently dangerous. The last full-blown dam failure fail-ure in Utah was on New Year's Day 1989 when the Quail Creek Dam collapsed. The failure sent ' .1 1. 1 NEW! Add Up To 4 With UBET's new National Value plans, you can add their own 4 For Alii With 4 For All, choose 4 wireless apply; see store for details or call 622-5007. it'.:. y a 12-foot wall of water into St. George and caused some $11 million in damages to homes, roads, farms and utilities. The catastrophe spurred state lawmakers to beef up dam-safety laws with updated design standards, stan-dards, enhanced inspector training train-ing and stricter quake-resistant regulations. A nationwide survey of dam-safety dam-safety incidents by the National Performance of Dams Program at Stanford University reported more than 1,090 dam-safety incidents in-cidents between 1999 and 2004, including 125 failures. Marble said Utah had a handful hand-ful of safety incidents over that time period and no failures. State engineers focus the most intense inspection efforts on about 190 high-hazard dam, a designation based on the potential po-tential loss of life and economic damage that might be seen if a failure occurred. Most dams under federal control con-trol are considered high-hazard and under go yearly inspections and a comprehensive examination examina-tion every three years. Than A By Kevin Bunneu Feature writer If you enjoy camping in Utah, the following scene probably sickens you as much as it does me: You pull into your favorite camping spot, ready to enjoy a day or two in Utah's backcountry. But what you find is anything but enjoyable. Pop and beer cans are strewn around the campsite. Uneaten food and plastic food containers are scattered everywhere. For many of us, the effects of irresponsible camping in Utah are simply an eyesore and a jolt to what we were hoping to find. After our initial disgust, we start cleaning up the area. Once it's clean, we settle back and begin to enjoy the beauty and solitude we came to Utah's backcountry to find. But what many of us don't realize is that the effects of irresponsible ir-responsible camping can be much worse than an eyesore and the 30 minutes it takes to get rid of it - it can cost a life: either your life or the life of a bear. Between 2,000 and 4,000 black bears live in Utah. Anytime you camp in a forested area in the state, there's a good chance a black bear isn't far away. ' Smells and odors - especially from food and items such as deodorants and perfumes - are what attract bears to people. Once a bear begins to associate, a campsite as a place to go for a free and easy meal, the outcome' usually isn't good for the bear. And sometimes it isn't good for those who camp in the area. One of the biggest challenges we face as campers and cabin owners is complacency. Most years, plenty of natural food is available, and bears don't need to look for food around people. In thoseyears, even a dirty campsite may not attract a bear. But when a poor food year hits - like it did last summer - this complacency can quickly turn into a dangerous situation for both people and bears. Every year, the Division of Wildlife Resources has to euthanize eutha-nize bears to protect the public. In some of the worst years, we've euthanized as many as 20 bears. It's not something our biologists Face in The Crowd. Lines, Only $9.95 Each! up to four lines for only $9.95 each, and each phone can choose or landline numbers to call anytime absolutely free! Restrictions www.ubta-ubctcom 622-5007 and officers like to do. One of the most frustrating things I've dealt with is the knowledge that the trouble the euthanized bear got into probably prob-ably wasn't its fault. The past or current actions of someone camping in the area are usually part of the reason the bear ended up in the situation it did. You can avoid putting a bear in and others who will camp in your spot after you-by following the simple rules found at www. wildlife.utah.govbearsafety. The following are among the tips you'll find at the Web site: - Don't leave food out. - Don't scatter food scraps and other litter around your campsite if - 1: '.V . r 1 Once a day soaking Every night, if you are out late enough, you will see Vernal city crews out watering the hundreds of flower containers located around town. Brenda Halbert does some hand watering to some plants on Main Street because there was a car parked in her way that evening. Most of the time crews can reach the plants by holding hold-ing a water nozzle out the window of the cab. Watering is nightly, but in measured amounts. '-' I i C, " ' ?z.-. y!l.y or cabin area. - Don't keep food in the area where you're sleeping. - Don't bring items with you that have a strong odor. Bears have extremely sensitive noses. Anything that has a strong smell, including deodorant, perfume and certain soaps, could draw a bear to your campsite. - Never feed a bear. As another camping season gets underway in Utah, I encourage encour-age each of us to clean up after ourselves and to be responsible campers. The safety of Utah's black bears - and our safety - depend on it. Kevin Bunnell is the mammals mam-mals program coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. .v i i I - I ' V IvT-Uhij ..4 .i ' ' v-. V J IV i |