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Show Wednesday, December 4, 1974 FISHING Pages TROUT CANT VOTE by Dave Mueller - PROLOGUE Channelizing hai been a dirty word among Utah trout fishing circles since the early 1950's when the Army Corps of Engineers in with the Central Utah Project gutted long sections of the famed Provo and Weber Rivers into oblivion. Gone forever were the deep pools, the spawning beds, and the rich faunal life which sustained good populations of fat, native trout for eager Utah anglers. The flow of these once --great fisheries is now contained between sterile-lookin- g, heaped up stone walls, presently harboring an occasional whitefish or sucker where trout used to thrive. Through the eternal process of erosion the channel of each river painstakingly works its gradual way back into a natural configuration. But some say theyll never come back all the way. Some say they never fished those parts of the Weber and Provo again. Most express despair in what was done and harbor Utter resentment in the institution of channelizing practices for erosion and flood control. Almost all take the practice for granted now, and realize that each year new stretches of their favorite trout water will fall to the ravages of the caterpillar and the dredge. It goes on and on. -- Most Utah anglers have now put the fishing tackle to bed for the winter. The noble trout now gets a cease-fir- e from the barrage of spinners, cheese, worms, marshmallows, spoons, flies, and life preservers we have been flinging his way for the past six months . well-deserv- While Mr. Trout gets his vacation, our very own State Legislature will be making a critical decision which will affect the quality of our trout fishing for years to come. Would you trust this man to handle your food?? Edison Stephens of Henefer and Bob Clyde of Heber. When reached at his home Sunday evening, State Representative Stephens stated, I haven't reviewed the provisions yet, but it seems to me that we could work something out to reach a happy medium. The veteran legislator is a rancher and an avid outdoors man. I hunt and fish quite a bit, he said, so I have interests an both sides of this thing. The kind of conciliation Representative Stephens talked about will be vital if any progress is to be made an the channelization issue. Other doubts linger concerning the controversial practice of altering the natural channel of a waterway. How effective, proper, or necessary the procedure is to the landowner has always remained in question. TO gain a better perspective on this, I asked Bill Bertagnole, whose family has had sheep and cattle interests in East Canyon for many years, if any consideration was ever given by the family to dredge portions of East Canyon Creek, which bisects the livestock range in this area. What . . . for? was Mr. Bertagnole's incredulous reply. We learned long ago that the natural flooding you get from a meandering river makes for better pasture. In the spring, the runoff carries silt into the fields and gives us better grass. Bill continued: Tom Jeremy up at the Gorgoza Ranch used to let the same filing happen. Hed even let the beavers work in there to create more flooding. ' Since Tom sold out and they've gone in there after the braver, you can really see the difference. Its not so green there anymore, and a lot drier now. We silt settled out of the springtime For milleniums, the crest when the water spread across each river's natural flood plain. How important was this annual of nutrients to the richness of our riverbed grasslands? What good is it now, rushing between tightly diked banks only to wind up at the bottom of the first reservoir downstream? Just exactly who has been sold a giant runoff-carrie- d didnt hire him . m The Division of Wildlife Resources is presently drafting a proposal which will bargain for a fair shake deal for our natural stream courses. At this time, Utah's stream protection provisions are minimal, at best. The Division's hopes are that this amendment to file Flood and Erosion Control section of the current stream protection law will close a gaping loophole which has allowed channelization of riverbeds to be carried out almost as if the law failed to exist. The loophole in the present stream protection law is inherent in its warding, claims Dan Smith of the Fish and Game Department. The present law reads that channelizing a watercourse may be carried out when there is an immediate or potential threat of erosion or flooding. What the hell is potential? says an exasperated Smith. We have very little protection at all. The overwhelming difficulty in closing the loophole exists in the traditional attitude toward water rights held by commercial and agricultural waterusers in Utah. Water rights are historical, and the waterusers have been somewhat jealous of those privileges through the years. Because water is, has been, and always will be the key to development and growth of the Intermountain West, it isnt hard to figure that a certain amount of jealousy in this case is a justifiable reaction. Smith points out, however, that in this light, Public values and needs are sometimes ignored. . ' - , Quality Skismiths Specializing in Complete Ski Maintenance EDGE RACERS TOP OF MAIN ST. Alpine Prospector Lodge 649-894- 8 ftogtr Mp don't For know us... those who The building now named the JOLLY ROGER was built in 1892 and was called the Evanston Mill & Elevator Co., and was used for milling flour. After years of standing idle, the mill was remodeled to become the JOLLY ROGER Restaurant, and Lounge. ur ftfirtaurant SUPERB STEAK' LOBSTER-CRAheres just one greet dinner... Specialty of the House - Dining Treat Deluxe sV V. l fi.t 4VW Beef, Bird & Bottle $6.00 COMPLETE MNNEE A P.l.cMH at... C Top Sirloin Steak, Breast of Chicken, And A Bottie of Delightful Bose Wine Plano Entertainment Nightly Ittnt r' w,. except Monday Crtlar any cheaper). Go for some writers cramp fa 1 HOUR A 20 MIN. FROM SALT LAKE CITY 339 Crestline Circle, Dallin Jensen, Division of Water Rights, State Engineers, SLC Harold Hintze, Utah Wildlife Federation, Building, SLC 1102 Walker Bank Representative Glade SowardstUinta Co.) Representative Ray Nielsen .... Senator Carl E. Pettersson (Salt Lake $ . . Co. ) - Representative Edison Stephens (Henefer) Senator Bob Clyde(Heber) Representative Bob Phelps ( Utah Co. ) Representative Del Buckner(SLC) Representative LaVerne Wilcox (Weber) Representative Cary Peterson (Nephi n Eagles First In C.H.L. North Golden Eagles near-perfe- ct netminding of goalies Ray Martyniuk and Ernie Miller, and balanced team scoring that produced 4.50 goals per game, into four straight And the following legislators can be written care of the State Capitol Building, SLCtAll of them are on the Natural Resources Sub- ) triumphs recently. That effort, combined with the uncommon sight of the Denver Spurs stubbing their toes three times in a row, resulted in the Eagles vaulting into first (dace in the C.H.L.'s Northern Division. It was a long climb for Salt Lake, especially when one considers that Denver, just two short weeks ago, held a lead over coach Jack Evans boys. However, as hot as the Spurs had been, the Eagles were hotter! The primary artist in fashioning the Eagles' climb into the division lead was goalie Ray Martuyniuk. In the fifth year of a checkered career which has seen more downs than ups, Marty" raised his season log to while lowering his against average to 2.25. Both of those A marks are league-leadergoal by Omahas Wayne Schaab at the 17:05 mark of the final period snapped the Flin Flan natives consecutive string at 183:17, just e 9:39 short of the record set in 1967-6by Pvt Worths Roy Edwards. trick (giving Salt Lake five such feats this year already), the club remained slightly ahead of last years schedule, when they shattered the all-tiWestern Hockey League mark with 356. Conversely, the defense goal-scorin- g (reflecting the influence of Coach Evans) has yielded just 65 lamps, as compared with 97 at this stage last year. m smm m COMPLETE TIME TABLE IN EFFECT NOV. 25,1974 FARES Salt Lake City Park City Stage ' DEPARTS $2.50 one way $4.65 round trip ARRIVES 4, Representative Alton Haffman(Cache Co.) s. Representative Sherman Harmer (Salt Lake Co.) FIRST CHANCE THE all-tim- COZY ssmsi See Us For BUSINESS CARDS LAST CHANCE PARK CITY GRAND OPENING SKI FESTIVAL Saturday A Sunday December 7th and 8th Ski Movies Informal Fashion Show Prize Drawings Coke, Coffee & Doughnuts Meet the Factory - Representatives and see all the new 1975 gear. FREE lift pass or Family -- Membership Plan ITS ALL FREE Next to ttie Gondola at the Resort Center 649-985- 8 Scoring-wisthe Eagles continued to pace the C.H.L. With defenseman Brent Meeke and right wing Bob Murdoch recording the hat e, J Park City ARIVVES WINDOW, AUTOMOBILE GLASS MIRRORS PICTUREFRAMING Park City - Alta - Snowbird Stage Call us for replacement of broken glass! 1130 Richards Street. Salt Lake. 322-126- DEPARTS PARK WEST PARK CITY 7:30 am 3:35 pm 7:40 am 3:45 pm Alta - Snowbird thsRainlbrest 323inain sL parkdfyutflh We supply premium quality houseplants , and offer Come and see for yourself. ARRIVED ALTA SNOWBIRD 9:00 am 5:00 pm 9:15 am 5:15 pm 1 DEPARTS ALTA SNOWBIRD 8:00 am 5:00 pm Park City Stage ARRIVES PARK WEST 9:15am 10:20am 5:15 pm 6:30 pm Saata guarantaad by raaarvaHon only PARK CITY PARK CITY - 10:30am 6:40 pm PARK WEST Shuttle Daily-Hour- ly 50c Each Way CALL 2 Salt Lake City Stage DEPARTS cot g&ss & franrts PLATE 'plant care' to help you keep them happy. And there's more: We give . services not even money can buy. sold anywhere! 1 ft. parlayed the We have the lowest prices on package liquor 3 A.t The : Dave Freed, Vice President, Trout Unlimited, . 5:30-10:3- 0 402 MAIN STREET A Don Smith admits the proposal is going to have some rough sledding. It is controversial. But ask yourself if it is needed. The sun has set on the last day of this fishing season. I, for one, dont want it to have set on all of them. 60 varieties of wine. Come Visit Us In EVANSTON, WYOMING 11:30-3:0- 0 w ur Hotinge ;?'1 $ elbow-to-elbo- SFECDAL EVEMT tl)t s Lunch 3 Dinner p, committee: Two local State Representatives are serving on the Subcommittee: iK (rip-ra- Mr. Smith has discussed the issue with Division of Water Rights Chief Dallin Jensen. It would be unfair to Bay that he is in favor of such legislation," says Smith, but he acknowledges a need for a set of guidelines to determine public interest in these cases. The amendment to the flood and erosion control law is due to be submitted this week to the Water Task Force, a committee formed to consider water legislation proposed to the upcoming session at the State Building. The committee, composed of three legislators and several members of other interest groups (Fish and Game, Commercial, Agricultural), will study' the proposal before handing down their recommendations to the Natural Resources Subcommittee of the Legislature. The Subcommittee will vote to decide if the proposed amendment comes to the floor of the Senate for debate. The vote will take place around December 18th. .f At any rate, the upcoming legislation is quite important to Utah trout fishing, meaning that if we are to have any quality stream habitat in the future, the practice of dredging must be given strict scrutiny. We need to use more permanent methods of flood control strramside plantings) ; use those methods which will not desecrate the natural streambed. Otherwise, be content in the future with outings at one of the crowded reservoirs. Or prepare to drive over to Colorado or up to Montana (those states already have progressive water rights laws on their bodes), treks which will cut into your fishing timeCand folks, gas wont be getting SLC When one stops to consider that a great percentage of all the prime trout water within Utah flows through rich agricultural land, the interface between recreational and commercial wateruser becomes extremely critical, and all issues are amplified. ? bill of goods? Such is the issue with channelization. The need exists in many areas for flood control. But when you start telling a rancher how to put the water through his pastureland, traditional jealousy may spring tg. On the other hand, when the river is scoured of all food, cover and shelter for trout, the public interest suffers. What the Division of Wildlife Resources would like to see is that consideration is given to the preservation of the natural streambed when erosion or flood prevention measures are being taken. 'ft V fr pell-me- ll 359-867- 7 Salt Lake or 649-857- 0 Park City |