| Show SHOULD strawberry RESERVOIR BECOME A PRIVATE FISH POND the question raised by 1 arthur mecham Mec liam state fish and lame game L ame commissioner concerning concern inz the ownership of the fishing rights in Straw strawberry berri reservoir is of prime importance not only in utah but in the rest of the west judge george P parker attorney general declared recently while discussing the problem with the strawberry valley wat water users erasers association and commissioner missi mecham judge parker declared that his opinion might have a bearing upon all future reclamation projects and that it might even have to undergo the fire of debate on the floors of Cong congress Tess and for that reason he was going to be sure that his opinion whatever it might be would stand the test the so called strawberry question is unique judge parker declares hitherto in reclamation projects the right of the state to control fishing has never been questioned the projects have been built wholly or in part dart on public land but in strawberry we have a different condition said ludee parker he we have a reservoir built upon what is now or will be private land la nd when congress authorized the strawberry valley project in 1910 the reclamation service purchased acres of land from the indians at an acre this cost was charged against the project and the land was to become the property of the water users when title to the pro eject 1 act passed to them the water users now claim as I 1 understand it from the inetter written to me by mr mecham full ownership of the fishing privileges on the reservoir and while the they v are willing to enter cuter an agreement with the tate state on the fishing rights the state must understand and admit that these rights are on the sufferance of the water users association and not allowed because the state has any claim on the fishing there are many complicated legal points involved which I 1 do not care to discuss before issuing the formal 0 pinion opinion the fact that the strawberry people filed on the water for irrigation purposes and not for the propagation pa paza tion of fish may have some bearing that is one of the points my men are running down the disquieting disquiet inz feature of this question is that if the strawberry people are right then echo hyrum deer creek gooseberry and other proposed or actual projects are apt to become private fish ponds unless the state or the federal government take some action to preserve these rights to the public it might be deemed wise to avoid such controversies that the reclamation law be amended to specify that fishing rights remain with the state it mip might ht be wise vise to urge such a clause in all succeeding i contracts between the reclamation bureau and the water users just what will be best or how far this question will go we cannot tell until we get all our data arranged but at ai any rate we believe that this opinion will be widely read and will be considered not only by this state but by other states mr madsen has raised a biz big question and we want to be sure we do not leave any point uncovered I 1 |
