Latest news with #DWR
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Daily fishing limit increased at Utah reservoir over low water levels
Utah wildlife managers have issued an emergency change to the state's fishing guidebook, doubling the daily number of trout an angler can take from a reservoir in northeast Utah as its levels slip. Anglers are now able to keep up to eight trout of any species every day at Crouse Reservoir, up from the previous daily limit of four, through an emergency order that Utah Division of Wildlife Resources deputy director Michael Canning authorized on Tuesday. The order remains in effect through the end of this year. 'This emergency change will allow the public to harvest more fish from the reservoir so they can be used and not wasted as water levels continue to decline this summer,' Canning said in a statement. 'Increased harvest will hopefully improve the survival of any remaining fish, as well.' Crouse Reservoir, located about 30 miles northeast of Vernal near the Uintah-Daggett county border, is often filled with rainbow, tiger and brown trout. While many reservoirs in the area are at least 60% full, Crouse Reservoir struggled from a below-normal snowpack, said DWR spokeswoman Faith Heaton Jolley. It's closest to the Northeastern Uintas and Yampa-White-Little Snake snowpack basins in Utah and Colorado, respectively, which peaked at approximately 83% to 89% of the region's median average, per Natural Resources Conservation Service data. Some of the localized sites closest to Crouse Reservoir fared worse than that. Most of the region's snowpack collection melted prematurely, as well, which can reduce the efficiency of the snowpack runoff. The reservoir currently holds about 350 acre-feet of water, which is about 20% of its full capacity of 1,750 acre-feet, according to the Utah Division of Water Rights. Senior water rights dictate that most of what's left will go toward the Pot Creek drainage downstream, state wildlife officials said. They add that anglers looking to catch trout should use a boat or small watercraft out on the water because thick vegetation along its shoreline could make access difficult otherwise.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
What is a quagga mussel and why is it bad?
The summer boating season brings wakeboarding, fishing and good times on the water. It also brings the dreaded quagga mussel. The destructive aquatic invasive species infest lakes and reservoirs, typically from being transported on boats or other watercraft. They attach to hulls, propellers, rudders, keels and intake and exhaust ports. A single mussel can reproduce over 1 million eggs per year. Quagga mussels have shown up in several western states, including Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Nevada and California. Unlike the mussels you find at the seafood market, quagga mussels are not edible, so people don't harvest the tiny mollusks for food as a means to get rid of them. Removing quagga mussels is expensive and time consuming. Once they're established, they're almost impossible to eradicate. They have an astounding ability to resist chemical and other methods of removal, according to the Utah Department of Natural Resources. The most effective way to decontaminate equipment is to prevent quagga mussels from being transported from one body of water to another. Over this past Memorial Day weekend, DWR, Utah State Parks, Arizona Game and Fish Department and the National Park Service and Utah Department of Natural Resources officers inspected 10,988 boats and performed 141 decontaminations. Of those total numbers, 1,829 of the boat inspections and 63 of the decontaminations took place at inspection stations in the Lake Powell area, where the mussels were first found in 2012. Statewide, DNR officers found 113 violations of Utah laws established to prevent the spread of the invasive mussels. The majority of the violations last weekend were due to: Boaters failing to take the mandatory mussel-aware boater program course and not paying the associated aquatic invasive species fee for motorized boats. Boaters failing to remove drain plugs while transporting their watercraft. In addition to quagga mussels, wildlife agencies were also looking to prevent the spread of Eurasian watermilfoil, an invasive plant species. While officers performed thousands of inspections that weekend, some drivers pulling boats blew right past mandatory checkpoints. 'We opened a new aquatic invasive species mandatory inspection station in Kanab, and unfortunately, we had some boaters drive past it over the holiday weekend,' Lt. Bruce Johnson, of the Utah Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Aquatic Invasive Species Statewide Operations, said in a press release this week. 'Even watercraft that have been inspected at Lake Powell are required to stop at operating mandatory inspection stations to verify their inspection.' Utah has 40 inspection stations located at various boat ramps, along highways and at port of entry stations. The DWR and its partners have also installed five dip tanks across the state that more efficiently and effectively decontaminate complex boats. The dip tanks are free to use and are typically close to either the entrance of a state park or near a boat ramp. Dip tanks are located at: Lake Powell — Stateline Launch Ramp at Wahweap Marina Utah Lake State Park Sand Hollow State Park Lake Powell — Bullfrog Marina Willard Bay State Park The quagga mussel is a species of freshwater mussel native to the Aral, Black and Caspian seas and the Dnieper River drainage in Ukraine. It's closely related to the zebra mussel. Quagga mussels were introduced to the Great Lakes in the late 1980s, likely as a result of ballast water discharge by ships from Europe, and spread quickly to other U.S. waterbodies via contaminated boats and other watercraft. The thumbnail-sized, two-shelled mollusks are shaped like the letter 'D' and vary in color from brownish yellow to black. Quagga mussels reproduce via eggs that free-float in the water until fertilized, and then the microscopic larvae — called veligers — emerge after three to five days. Veligers are dispersed in the water while they grow and are free swimming for up to a month until they are large enough to secure an attachment site on just about any kind of surface. They go through metamorphosis and grow an adult shell, reaching maturity in one to two years, per the DWR. According to the DWR, quagga mussels: Plug water lines, even lines that are large in diameter. Get into water delivery systems, costing millions of dollars annually to remove and keep the pipes free, which can result in higher utility bills. Remove plankton from the water, which hurts fish species. Get into a boat's engine cooling system, fouling the system and damaging the engine. Stink when they die in large numbers and are sharp obstacles in beaches.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources reports increased populations in formerly endangered June sucker fish
SALT LAKE CITY () — A formerly endangered Utah native fish, the June sucker has been downlisted to threatened status, according to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR). The June sucker is a fish species native to Utah, inhabiting Utah Lake and using tributaries in the Provo River and Hobble creek among others to spawn. It is an omnivore that can live for 40 years and grows several feet in size. In an interview with Native Aquatics Project Leader at DWR Keith Lawrence said, 'A few decades ago, it was believed that the population [of June suckers] was down to only a few hundred individuals, maybe as many as a thousand.' Now, however, through conservation efforts, the June Sucker population has recovered, to numbers 'estimated today to be in the tens of thousands, probably somewhere between 30 and 50,000 fish,' according to Lawrence. 'It's important to understand that Utah Lake has undergone many changes over the decades since Western settlers arrived. And many of them have not necessarily been good for the June sucker, at least, and other native fishes that lived there previously. The June sucker is one of the few that remain.' Keith Lawrence, Native Aquatics Project Leader at DWS Lawrence explained that the June sucker is not a predator, but as an omnivore it feeds on invertebrates and zooplankton, so it plays a role in the ecosystem as a mid-level omnivore. Cat who survived 400-foot Bryce Canyon fall adopted by rescuing pilot The recovery program for the June sucker has been a large undertaking that began shortly after the species was listed as endangered, Lawrence said. Alongside partners, DWR has taken a myriad of measures to protect the species, including non-native management, water conservation especially in the Provo River, public information and outreach, habitat improvement, and a 'very aggressive' stocking program. As part of the stocking program, conservationists took some of the remaining individuals and propagated them, mostly at the Logan Hatchery in northern Utah, Lawrence said. They are raised in these hatcheries and then they are stocked into the lake. Lawrence told that there have been 'hundreds of thousands' of June suckers stocked into the lake over the years. Lawrence stated that while the recovery has been very successful, there are still threats to the June sucker population, including 'all the non-native potential predators and competitors that we have in the system.' Additionally, water flow continues to be a major threat. The Supreme Court reinstates federal approval in Uinta Basin Railway project 'At one time, the Provo River ran completely dry, you know, during the summer,' Lawrence said. 'Memory of the summers that that did happen, and so obviously that's not good for the fish, and so the program has spent tens of millions of dollars to try to purchase money and provide those flows when the fish need them.' Lawrence stated that they are monitoring the spawning run into the Provo Delta and Oville Creek, using PIT tag antennas, which passively detect tags put into some of the fish. June suckers are most vulnerable after spawning. 'They're very vulnerable, as you might imagine, when they're small,' Lawrence said, and he described getting them from the larval stage to 'age one' fish as a 'bottleneck.' The research to figure out how to get over that bottleneck is key, he said. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources reports increased populations in formerly endangered June sucker fish Car crosses median, causing multiple vehicle crash in Kaysville/Farmington One of two water wells in Hildale City back online after repairs Pride flag raising ceremony kicks of 2025 Utah Pride festivities Intermountain Health first in nation to expand stem cell collection for CAR-T Cell Therapy bringing innovative cancer procedure to Southern Utah Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
Low water levels lead to increased fishing limits at Crouse Reservoir
DIAMOND MOUNTAIN, Utah () — Due to low water levels, an emergency change issued by the (DWR) on Tuesday has increased the daily fishing limit at Crouse Reservoir, effective immediately. The change, issued by DWR Deputy Director Michael Canning to the Utah Fishing Guidebook, now allows anglers to keep up to eight trout of any species, doubling the previous limit of four. Utah's reservoir outlook: Why conserving water is key 'This emergency change will allow the public to harvest more fish from the reservoir so they can be used and not wasted as water levels continue to decline this summer,' Canning said in a press release. 'Increased harvest will hopefully improve the survival of any remaining fish, as well.' The low water levels in Crause Reservoir can be attributed to the lack of snow Diamond Mountain received during the 2024-25 winter season. 'Pot Creek, the creek that feeds all of them, doesn't run year-round anymore and it's mostly fed by snow melt runoff,' Trina Hedrick, Coldwater Sportfish Coordinator at DWR told Gov. Cox signs executive order to establish new council focused on Utah's future and 'quality of life' 'We hold water at Matt Warner and Calder Reservoirs up above Crause, so it often stays low,' Hedrick added. 'It's simply a matter of not getting enough snow, and it's hard to maintain three reservoirs because of it.' Hedrick also noted that DWR highly encourages anglers to take advantage of this opportunity, as the oxygen levels within the reservoir will suffer if the current fish population isn't reduced. She said the fish are 'really big and a lot of fun,' and that they feel 'it's best to encourage fishing there,' and for Utahns to 'harvest and enjoy the fishing while it's still there.' The change is currently in effect and will expire on December 31st, 2025. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Utah Department of Wildlife Resources inspects 11K boats for invasive species over Memorial Day weekend
SALT LAKE CITY () — The Utah Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) said it inspected about 11,000 boats for an invasive species this Memorial Day weekend. DWR said it was looking for quagga mussels and Eurasian watermilfoil. Quagga mussels can destroy fisheries, damage boats, and even pollute shorelines, DWR reported. Officers say they found about 140 boats with the invasive mollusk. Eurasian watermilfoil is an invasive plant that has made its way through Utah. It blocks out sunlight, killing native plants and hurting fish. According to DWR, bringing even one piece of watermilfoil to a body of water can start a new population. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said invasive species like mussels and watermilfoil impact everyone in Utah. 'We have pictures that show PVC pipes that are being completely closed off with these growing mussels within a year's time we can completely close off a 2-inch waterline. So, those costs go to even non-boaters,' Bruce Johnson, Lieutenant of AIS Operations at DNR, told in an interview. Sandy mom of six survives 15 years of blood cancer, helps other patients fight Johnson said that the solution is simple: When you leave the water, clean, drain, and dry your boat. 'Clean, drain, and dry. That program, that concept works for everything,' Johnson stated. 'As soon as a boater pulls out of any water body, pull all the drain plugs, let all the water drain out, let your boat air dry out, and that will prevent so many problems down the line.' However, it is important to drain and dry a boat at the body of water. Draining into a gutter or a storm drain is 'the worst thing you can do,' Johnson said. That can contaminate other bodies of water that the DNR may not be able to track, causing problems and clogging pipes. According to DWR and DNR, in order to keep Utah's water bodies healthy, boaters also must stop at an inspection station before going in the water. Inspection stations are found throughout the state. An inspection technician will help you and give you a receipt. 'It is mandatory that while we are open at any of these locations, those boaters are required to pull in and get that inspection,' Johnson told 'and it's a good thing for them, […] if they are carrying water, we're preventing that water from being transported from that infested water body and being deposited in a clean water body up here.' Carly Wasserlein and Nick Butts contributed to this story. Human foot found in shoe along Fish Lake shoreline may belong to man missing since 1997 Utah Department of Wildlife Resources inspects 11K boats for invasive species over Memorial Day weekend Experience the magic of your favorite Harry Potter™ movies up close at Harry Potter: The Exhibition RGS Exteriors is your one stop shop for home exterior upgrades and repairs See how Duct Brothers seals the costly leaks in your air duct system Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
