OCR Text |
Show f : - t' i 7 'V, r : . : :; WAtaa - 6A Thursday August 2, 2001 FifSier RIOIARD SHAW By Sportswritcr ft isobviousthatsomc stream conditions are more conducive to fish than olhcrsand some of . those same conditions are more conducive for other important . By RICHARD SHAW ' Sportswriter 1 , It was an interesting group. Therclsat among men whohad vast experience m all kinds of endeavors. There were blue collar workers and college graduates Thoe were teaefaerv cops and ranchers. There were men who were efrse to retiring from their lifelong work and Others just starting the career. Biit.they all had one thing in common; they love sports and they kwe working with high school and junior high kids. Those IS men like officiating '4 ; football games. .v They are the Officials that wiD handle the high school and junior high football games in eastern and southeastern Utah v fitttwsas wejl;" ; The right fork of the White ; River, near StMcrs Summit isa1 ; gixxi example of a place that has some great stream conditions, arid some that' are very poor; Sometimes these conditjonsare ... the resiflt of a major event Such !; . . . as a flood. ." Mike Slater is an aquatic bi-- -. dlctgist for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and an expert initquatic habitat for nativesper ties. For; the hist three months and part of last fall and winter as . Well, Slater has been workingon a projevt that will improve the ; habitat on the right fork and the project in the target area for this year is just.aboiit done.. 'This is the only drainage in this region that has the original native species-iit; Colorado Cutthroat Trout, stated Slater as he pointed attherivpr below. We ' looked at this area and want to usc it as a breeding ground for those fish so we can do some transplanting from here to other areas..:-- ' . . -- . . . thisseason, But where . : . njid-Augu- . . what they have done to native beforeaBWomation baii in SpriWEanks tinre steep.grmtKdansd . anti damaging the road Wand mraon was 3knys taking nrayt abow the rimr.Wbrat f s it p6orHe6r fish to live... UwWIliteKvtfriisBdtdlOQk-h n ; I was was not ro important as why I was. I wanted to see what these guys go through to get ready to offi date flte pigskin rivalries they face each week beginning in wanted to know, what makes them tick; why they want to do a job in udtiich they often face angry coaches and parents on the field and ribbing and threats off the field. What I found out may surprise most of the people who read this Y.; Matty people think diatmqst high school sports officials just walk on the fields on Friday afternoon and make decisions arbitrarily about a game. Some think the only training they have is probably aworkshopor two, maybe some experience playing in high sdiool or col-leand that isit r , ' They are wrong. The spwts officials in this area belong to an association towhkh they pay flues. They niust also attrad a meeting evejy Monday night to . HiisisbDwth.OQOfobtsecti(MifBiertalitlorirtf ,- l '.;: ge : discuss project," states Slater, We uxikcd at. sections of the river above where we are doing the work and tried to determine what, the more natural look and direc-tio- n of the .river is and now we are trying to bring this s more in line with that, that is where the fish the best The section Stater picked for '. renovation is also a section that was causing other problems in V. the area. It is on private ground . owned by Wilson Brothers Live-- .. stock. At.first they were hesitant ; to let the DWR come fn and fix the problem, but nOw, according t With Sin They darn use this quarter : section to runcattleon, but they do own it none the less, said Slater. The part of the stream that has .been, under construct ioriwas probably a good waterway forfish atone time, but Slater believes the problem began 18 years ago. I think, the floods of 1983 how the river Was run- -. , changed this area and that began a ning in that kd to a poordrain- process '. smoothly and fairly;.,. Some of the. hour and half meeting was spent getting organized, because this was their : firstone ofthe season. Mod of it was spent training. The offidating game has gone high tech, just like everything else. They use a computer generated screen to train the group. This year every 3A football game they work will have a five man crew; 2A games will havefourmen,.. ; The group went over thfresponsibilities of all the positions on the field; the referee, the umpire, the linesman, the line judge and the bade judge. Its often easy for those in the stands to see what they want to see or tojust see something they thought they saw. For an official, thinking you saw something, and then calling if is the kiss of death. ; - The consensus among this, group was; Never guess; tf you dont see it, dont call iL V When one guy on the crew guesses, it makes everyone on the crew look like idiots, was one comment from the group. Towards the end of the meet ing anew type of computer pn gram wasi introduced that tests the true knowledge of any offi-da- l. It gives a game scenario and then aslfS the person using the program to denote the infraction of die rules, what the penalty would be, and what sign should be given on the field, dong with some other ques tions. I always thought I knew football pretty well until we started going through that program with the group. I then became aprobiemin many ways. stalled by the DWR crews. The roots showing in the stream above is what is called buried on a curve under rocks to keep erosion down: a ftot wad or a targe tree , The flood also began to change the channel of the river so that at the top of the section it ran entirely against the east side of the canyon and on the lower steam now flows in a manner that wontaffeetthe road. rThe idea of how to change stream flow properly and create habitat in natural manner was section it shifted running against .' dous, m said Slater. PRWID was developed by a man in Colorado the west side where it was con- -' also interested in what we were who now owns a company that : tinually causing problems with doing here.? . ;7 shows people how to do this all the road that runs to Indian So with the blessing and help Y over the country. Slater, along from many different agencies with a DWR biologist &om Span Ridge and to Indian Canyon. ' was It not only unnatural,but Slater began the project last fall, ish Fork are the only two people , it was making it so the forest ser- - cuttinghis way through the wij-- in the region that have taken the fewer than in the places where the. vice could hardly keep that foad lows wth a chain saw and shoot- - training from that company. age. . The section being changed river ran the way it should. The project not only changes . ; open, said Slater, inggradeswithalaseftoplanthe f' ' t r the stream flow to a more natu- . process. I found it was easier to walk ral course, but also uses a num-i- n the snow1 and figure it out dur-- ber of techniques to create good ing the winter than it was when places for fish to live and pre-twillows had their foliage, he vents further erosion, ' Sergeant Carl Gramlich eiyoirs drain. Unlicensed kids opened on July 14. The trout One of the things we found said.";.--:- ' t under J 4 may catch eight trout. limit on the tributaries is two. highly recommends that angfcis our survey was that the the time came, By during spring 'Cove Lake. Fishing was use artificial flies this time of Licensed adults may take home Colorado Cutthroat Thmt we ; whole had the Slater thing 16 fish. The normal limit of eight slow to fair over the weekend, year. Ttout are rising in the planned Financial backing came found in the stream were pretty Cleveland Reservoir. The -. . trout will be reinstated on No- adto take and evening morning from the DWR, the Forest Ser- - much pure breeds, says Slater. v . trout limit has been doubled at vantage ofiraeti hatches and arc yemberlsL vice some money also came "Thai surprised us. We were and Cleveland Reservoir to encour-ri3-? most readily caught with artifi- - Y 'Academy MilL This hike-i- n Ttout Unlimited. Other or- - ried that they had crossbred with lake is stocked with brook trouL age harvest of most trout before flies iiich also donated mated- - some of tho other types of trout ganizations the reservoir drains. Fishing ,. In general, Gramlich suggests No recent report UDOT als. gave Slater a great . that have been planted in the 'Benches Pond. Conserva- - success has ranged from fair to that fly fishermen try the mo rocks to use for rock .stream over the years and number of good for eight to nine inch ouito, gnat, royal coachman and tion Officer Alan Green reports vanes and falls (they control the wouldn't bef genetically pure. : good fishingwith Zfckes Gold or ..bow trout with a wormmarsh- patterns. erosion on stream curves and Right now the tanks are free THbutaric s to many resff- - PowcrBait. The pond will be re-- mallow combination or orange from most vegetation and anyone and Talon Resources alongbeds) voire opened to fishing on July stocked two more times before or rainbow PowcrBait Fish are gave tbe project some trees that can tell the work that was done fair- - Benches Pond tributaries biting lightly. Keep the line 14, providing excellent stream were used for the root wads ere- - ' here was with big equipment. But 14. The trout tight. Mornings and evenings fishing opportunities. These opened on July aled to stop erosion by burying ' in onlya few years, the willows imit tbe is are best. on tributaries four. streams will continue to be a large trees in tbe ground with the will have grown back and the Colorado River.Catfishing 'Blue Lake. Vehicle access to roots sticking into the water on stream will sport all kinds of heat of the summer. Anglers Blue Lake.remains closed about has been good with worms, root wads keep the life. .'Duck Fork Reservoir. Fly should check the fishing proc- - a quarter mile from the lake. We already have dudes using from banging directly into water is fishermen with success report lamation for bait and limit re- - Fishing poor because there is the watere and we set it up so that banks. the no access for stocking.TheU5. damsels, black ants and para strictions on some streams., The work began in May and the bugs and insects will return fix the Service Adams. Black colored flies intends Forest to continue Littering problems will basically finish up this week, quickly," said Slater as he it some reservoirs! True sports- - bridge in August Fish stocking seem most effective. Anglers in What exists in the area today is a very mkedattht water. Just at that men never litter! Take a garbage will be resumed after those re- - pontoon boats or float tubes far ay from what was there in moment a fish came to the have The stream flows in a more face in one of the new, but muddy bag with you and fill it up. P8 'Boulger Reservoir; Fishing glert are reminded to use only The daily bag limit of eight manner, with sloped pools recently create! organized trout at Miller Flat and Qeve- - has been fair with a worm and . artificial flies or lures at Duck banks 4nd natural curves. Did you see that, he said A its and Fork reservoir land reservoirs has been marshmallow rig or PowcrBait Most important of all there are fish just came to the top to feed, to aflow for greater The reservoir will be Stocked panying tributaries. Tributaries pools that were created for the They are already making thera-fis- h (Continued on page 13) harvest of trout before the rev twice in August. Tributaries to live and breed in and the selves at home. First, the erosion caused the bankstosliiffoffuntiltheywere not only very steep, but in fact vertical in many places. A poor place to fish. The- damage also tookawaygood fish habitat, which led to fewer fish. .. When I did the survey, I was actually surprised to find there wefesome fish in this section, said Slater. Bul there were far . In addition what was taking place in that section of the river also affected the water quality. The sediment that was com-ing out of the area was tremeri- - - ; : - ; . - - . " ; . ' ' ' . ... he . . - i: . . wor-fro- m . rain-bum- py . - . ; . . ' . . accom-double- v. k sur-Apr- iL . . ' stream flows freely and it meanders as it should ki amore -- Here the rennovated Also evident ere erosion controls that look natural but were in- naturai - ge of running gatnes -- . nfficifttingksiitnriis, cuss proUems and most importantly to Continue their knowl-ed- ' . . foundouthowlitdeiknow.lt was a real eye opener. ' Offidals make mistakes; but let Joe Blow from the Stands who is always complaining come down on the field for a few minutes to do his thing and the crowd would be booing before you know it There is an old adage that says you cant know amans predicament until you walk a mile in hisshoes. For sportswe need to change that from shoes to tbe stripped shirt officials wear. For how little money these guys mdee for offidating games they put their whole bring into what they love to do. That has to be the oidy reason they keep doing it year . . 4 |