Another chapter in the saga of the battle for Utah Lake's shoreline

[cat_man]

Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - 12:00 AM [url "http://www.harktheherald.com/print.php?sid=63318"][/url] | [url "http://www.harktheherald.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Recommend_Us&file=index&req=FriendSend&sid=63318"][/url]

Utah Lake land public, judge says

Caleb Warnock DAILY HERALD


A federal judge has protected public access to a portion of Utah Lake.
One of the longest-running land battles in Utah Valley's modern history has come a step closer to resolution.
State officials are claiming victory after a federal judge ruled that disputed land along the eastern boundary of Utah Lake belongs to the federal government and not a private owner. [url "http://heraldextra.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=display_ads&file=index&func=display_ad&ad=00273252"][/url][url "http://adserver.harktheherald.com/adclick.php?n=a1d19a67"][/url]
The ruling means establishing the boundary of the Powell Slough portion of the lake is now a contest between only the state and the federal government, which have "similar management goals," said Michael Johnson of the Utah Attorney General's Office.
"Public access will be protected," Johnson said. "We are confident the public's interest will be preserved since it won't be in private hands."
Although there is an ongoing lawsuit over the boundary of the entire lake, the judge chose to settle the question of ownership in the Powell Slough area first because it was the only place where three groups -- private owners, the state, and the federal government -- were all claiming to own the same land.
According to court papers, James Clinger took out a patent on land in the Powell Slough area in 1881. It is the lakeside boundary of that land which has been in dispute. The state originally sued 12 landowners in the Powell Slough area, and has recently settled with all but the Clinger Family Partnership, said Johnson.
M. Dayle Jeffs, attorney for the partnership, could not be reached for comment.
A judge must still decide the boundary of public and private ownership on disputed land around the rest of the lake and the Powell Slough decision will speed up that case, Johnson said. Eighty percent of landowners have settled with the state.
The court case over the remaining 20 percent is expected to take at least a year.
Protecting public access to Powell Slough was especially critical because "it is a large tract of good habitat for birds and fish and so forth, and of interest to the public and fishermen and hunters," Johnson said. "There are a lot of people who like to go down and use that area and we've been concerned about having private areas where people might be barred from going."
The judge in Thursday's ruling also reiterated that the boundary around the entire lake will be based upon evidence of the shoreline as it existed on the date of statehood in 1896, Johnson said. The Attorney General's Office will use old photos, water-level records and interviews from lakefront property owners from the turn of the century to help guide the decision.
In December 2003, attorneys on both sides of the controversial lawsuit over the boundary of Utah Lake claimed victory in a judge's decision to disallow fixing the boundary of the lake at 4,481 feet above sea level. At that boundary line, Provo Bay would become private property.
In that decision, Judge Kimball denied the landowners' request for judgments fixing the lake boundary at 4,481 feet, and the court vacated a previous boundary judgment on one piece of property that was based on that stipulation.
Kimball also told all Utah Lake shoreline landowners to cease diking and fencing land that state attorneys claim belongs to the public.
The Utah Attorney General's Office said at the time that the state was prepared to show evidence that the boundary line should be set as high as 4,492 feet above sea level.
Beginning in 1994, 80 percent of private shoreline landowners settled a boundary dispute with the state, but 20 percent have refused to do so, prompting the state to file the 1997 suit -- now one of the longest-running land battles in Utah Valley's modern history.
For nearly 150 years, farmers around the lake have expanded and retracted their farms to follow the lake's changing water levels, often without a clear legal definition as to where their property ended and where the state-owned lake bed began.
According to Utah's constitution, the state owns the bed of the lake, but ownership of the land surrounding Utah Lake was given to pioneer landowners almost 50 years before Utah's constitution was ratified in 1895.
An earlier U.S. Supreme Court ruling had said landowners owned to the high-water mark on the day of statehood, but did not define the high-water mark.

[i] Caleb Warnock can be reached at 756-7669 ext. 19 or cwarnock@heraldextra.com.[/i]This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A10.
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[Bigcat]

Can anyone tell me where Powell slough is located and how do you get there???? Thanks!
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[cat_man]

Sure thing. Powell Slough is located on the East shore of Utah Lake, west of Orem. If you take the University Parkway exit in Orem, head West over the overpass and down to the stoplight, which is at the junction with Geneva Road. Continue on straight through the stoplight (do not turn either left or right) and head down to the very end. There is a dirt road at the end that you can walk down to get to the edge of the slough (aka, swamp), or, just before the end of the road there is a side road on the left (south) side of the street that heads to a formal parking area (also a dirt road). That turnoff is marked with a sign. The slough is mainly used for duck hunters, but some also hunt pheasants and dove out there. As for fishing, I really don't know how good it is. The slough has a canal/river that runs through it that empties from a pond adjacent to the new Orem golf course, and there are also several springs that come up from underwater in the middle of the slough. Even when the lake is frozen over, at least part of the slough is open water. None of it is very deep. Most places are 2 - 4 feet deep, but some could be 5 feet or more. I've seen carp out there, and in the canal draining the pond I've seen bluegill before. I would imagine it would hold mudcats and maybe even channels at least part of the year. Most of the slough is separated from the main lake by a "dike" which is really just a flat shallow sandbar. When the lake gets high water, it sometimes flows over this sandbar in many places. Most years, however, there are only a couple of places where water drains out of the slough and into the lake. It is a pretty place where there are lots of wildlife, birds, Great Blue Herons, minks, raccoons, foxes, etc. If you go thinking to fish it, you better go with a canoe, jonboat or pontoon or other craft that can successfully float shallow water, AND be prepared to carry it a ways through thick weeds and cattails and/or very muddy mucky black mud that smells oh so sweet.

You used to be able to access the canal that enters the slough from a pond behind the sewer treatment facility (and adjacent to the new golf course) on a gravel road that goes right to the canal, but I haven't been there in a couple of years and I don't know if the construction of the golf course has blocked access to that side (you would access this location by turning north on Geneva Road instead of crossing over it at the stoplight, and then turning left (west) on 1000 south and heading to the end past the sewer treatment facility). I grew up a few blocks away from there and used to go out there all the time, and went duck hunting out there back in 1998.

Sorry if you asked a simple question and got a freaking documentary but I really do love that place and it just got the old memories flowing!! If you decide to go check it out post a report![cool]
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[Bigcat]

Thanks for all the info. I need to check the place out. I sent you a PM with some more specific questions. Thanks!
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