Provo River Delta Updates

[TubeDude]

We've had a bit of chatter on the board about the new "Provo River Delta".  A lot of folks have missed news releases from local media and from DWR.  Here are a couple DELTA WEBSITE NEWS RELEASE   DWR NEWS RELEASE

And here is a map...enlarged from the DWR news release.


Even though the river has been diverted into the new channel, it is still a work in progress and is off limits to the public until some time next year.  It remains to be seen how this new lower river will affect fishing...or the overall ecology of the area.

[Fritzfishin]

What's the point or theory in this other then to spend money?

[TubeDude]

What's the point or theory in this other then to spend money?

The whole thing...just like the "carp eradication" program (failed) is the brainchild of the June Sucker Recovery Program.  They want the baby Junies to have more cover and protection from predators after they spawn.  So they split the river up into several shallow channels and ponds rather than one good outflow. (Let all the other fish we fish for find their own way upstream and downstream for their spawning) 

I am as environmentally minded as most Utahns...and oppose any species going extinct because of man-created ecological problems.  But in some cases I think the "Chicken Littles" get a bit carried away to the detriment of all other species.  Millions of dollars spent to net carp and reroute a river that was doing just fine already...all in the name of protecting one essentially worthless species. 

Now pardon me while I change addresses to avoid the folks with hoods and burning crosses.

[Therapist]

This was all spawned by the "success" of the Hobble Creek restoration project. They are/were totally different projects. Hobble Creek emptied into Mud Lake/Provo Bay. It was a total channelized water after the floods of 83, when they put a trackhoe in the stream and removed all the undercut banks from Springville down to the lake. The "Delta" from west of I15 to the lake looks nice and it appears to be attracting fish. I have not walked out from the turnout to peruse the result though.

I did drive by the Provo project yesterday and observed as much as possible from the road. There is a good flow from the diversion out to the fields to the west. There is also a large "lake" to the north of the channel. Not sure if that is a permanent feature. Further down on the Provo channel there is a noticeable drop in flow., At the bridge over the river at the entrance of the park, they are removing some of the big Cottonwoods along the bank. So changes are taking place.

As to the June Sucker !! My feeling on that have been expressed many time over, it is a sham! From what I have learned over the past 20 years is that there are NO true June suckers ( there NEVER were ). The last "true" junie was found about 20 years ago. Since that time the project has been the preservation of " june sucker genetic material" harvested from the hybrids in the lake. The early young of the process had to be genetically tested and only those fry that met a "standard" ( no one has ever said "how much" genetic material qualified as a june sucker) . Many batches of those early fry were destroyed as they did not meet the standard. There is some theory that a species will "preserve" their genetic material by hybridizing with another species until such time that it can recover it's true genetic's. How that happens I do not know and have not read any papers that document it. So the June Sucker boondoggle continues. WE and Utah Lake have benefited from the expenditure of money to improve the ecosystem of Utah Lake. How long those improvements will last has yet to be determined.

Enjoy things while we can and we'll see how things play out !! A couple of things to watch. The rise of the Northern Pike population, how fast the carp return, and what will happen to the WB population after the winter kill in 2022. Also it appears that the "island builders" are trying to revive their scheme, we'll wait and see !!

PS: I am going to continue fishing the pond, enjoy the new Saratoga Springs marina on the north end and the rebuild of AF harbor when they are done !! Can't wait to see what they do !!!

[Kent]

"The whole thing...just like the "carp eradication" program (failed) ..."

You mean that they didn't reach the "tipping point" that they were confident that they would reach and that in doing so all would be well and the carp problem would be fixed forever?

I remember attending one of their meetings, and in a polite manner, I offered my doubts that reaching their goal of a "tipping point" would solve the problem. In an equally polite manner, I was instructed that this was a well-thought-out plan that would work. I wasn't convinced but hoped that they were right. I take no comfort in hearing that I was right all along.

[Therapist]

Now Kent!! Just because the pointed headed academics didn't have a clue, doesn't mean it would not work!! I read the papers that the project was based on. The first one was a paper based on several "saltwater species". There was one paper that was based on a project in fresh water going after carp, but it was a SMALL body of water and they were not trying to remove the number of carp that they were trying in Utah lake. I think that one of the issues on Utah Lake was there was only the Loy family doing the netting. They could only remove a limited number of carp in a year, which while significant, did not put enough of a dent in the population. While they removed large numbers, those removed were being replaced at an equal or faster rate. The study that started all of this was over fishing of menhaden, a species used for fish meal. There were hundreds of boats, removing millions of pounds per season, which did not allow the stocks to replenish. To be successful, there needed to be say a dozen or more boats on the lake removing thousands of pounds per day, all year long. Another problem they had was how to dispose of them. The ability to dispose of hundreds of thousands of pounds of carp never materialized. No one ever set up processing plant to convert to fish meal or whatever they were going to do with them. You can only dump so many on an open field !!

There has been a small reduction in the numbers of carp, a definite decrease in size, but overall, it was a bust. I believe the Loy's did their best, they just needed more help and a way to dispose of them, which Fish & Wildlife did not provide !!