Bear Lake Watch
General Membership Meeting

Saturday, July 9, 2008 at 10:00 a.m.
Canyon Cove in Garden City, UT

Pres. Merlin Olsen called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m.

The level of the water in the lake is pushing 5910 ft. We are lucky that Bear Lake does not have problems that other lakes have.

It has been a good year for Bear Lake Watch because of David and Claudia’s participation. Bear Lake needed to have a voice and be protected. David and Claudia are providing us with that much needed represention.

We are very happy to have Friends of Bear Lake with us.

Thanks to Warren Lee and Jim Kimbal for all of their hard work in the past. They are a wealth of knowledge.

Bear Lake Watch 2004 Financial Report - Carol Braun

There is approx. $54,000 in our account

Merlin noted the continuity provided by David and Claudia,
attending 100's of meetings and driving 7,861 miles, effectively and efficiently represents BLW . We have to keep them and we will have to spend some of this money to do so.

Election of Officers
Duncan King made a motion to retain the current slate of officers and executive committee. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

Lake levels and operations - David Cottle
W ater is still coming into the lake. They may start to pump in a week or two. The water you see going down the outlet canal is natural flow.

The allocation for 2005 is 141,000 acre feet. Ther is lots of runoff and natural flow in the Cache Valley area. There is a good possibility that the lake will stay up.

Woodruff Narrows Reservoir, by Evanston, has stored 6-10,000 acre feet more than they should have due to very high flows and clogged outlets. PacifiCorp and irrigators consulted BLW and worked out a method to shepheard the extra water into Bear Lake. This is the first time that this has happened.

Many of the guages on the Bear River above the lake and on the diversions are automated. This give everyone (modelers, managers and anyone with access to the internet) real time data. This means less water that comes out of the lake

Directors Report - Claudia
Gary Burgener (Transwestern Insurance) donates all of the printing for the newsletters and membership letters. We very much appreciate this.

The symposium was a great opportunity to get acquainted agency people who work on and around Bear Lake and to swap information. There were also scientists and academia from Utah State University and students from Rich County High School and USU.

The impact of the fluctuating water levels in unknown.

Bear River Basin received an EPA grant for $700,000 for water quality in the Bear River Basin. Pollution trading will be evaluated downstream. The Watershed Information System (WIS) will be a depository for all of the information on Bear Lake.

At the Utah Water Users Association meeting in St. George there were two hours dedicated to the Bear Lake Settlement Agreement and the advantages of this agreement. Without the agreement the irrigators would not have had water for the last two years.

Utah legislators have passed a law that the state engineers can prosecute those who wouldn’t shut off their water. The state is also looking at the groundwater / surface water connection. The Wasatch Front is (still) looking for more water.

We are working on by-laws and updating the mission statement. It should be revised by this time next year.

Last year we talked to 100's of people at Raspberry Days. We have a booth this year and need volunteers to help out.

Membership is at 968

David Cottle -
We are no longer doing Beach clean-up at the Utah State Parks per a vote of the membership.

Upcoming projects:
- A one day clean-up in Sept. for weed control on the North End of the lake - cutting and spraying the larger Tamarisk .
- A one day restoration planting willow clumps and grass seed on the new St. Charles Creek levee - date TBD.
- The Bear Lake Regional Commission has asked if we can help lay sod on Thomas Fork and Bear River streambank projects - standby by for further info. on this.

Classic Boat Show at the Bear Lake Marina on Sept. 9th and 10th , 2005.

Dick Strong asked about the buy-out of PacifiCorp by Mr. Warren Buffett. Merlin commented that we think that he is environmentally friendly, however, time will tell.

Meeting was adjourned.