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Show facilities, and DWR manages the fish and wildlife. Visitation to Willard Bay State Park in 1997 was 276,059. This level of use is causing some user conflicts and degradation of the park facilities. The first phase of a Bureau of Reclamation- sponsored Resource Management Plan ( RMP) has been completed. Major renovation of facilities will begin in the spring of 2000. The RMP effort will identify management goals and objectives for the reservoir. Some important issues which have emerged include improving coordination with other entities, resolving user conflicts and expanding educational and interpretive opportunities. Water quality, management of concession services, visitor needs for additional recreational facilities to reduce congestion, improved safety and resource protection are other issues to be addressed in the RMP. Recreational Activities on Great Salt Lake Most of the recreation that occurs on GSL is dispersed in nature and visitor counts are not well quantified. Navigation The navigability of GSL, which is a key component of establishing state ownership under the Equal Footing Doctrine, was challenged by the Justice Department early in the contest over ownership. This challenge was based on the theory that the shore lands were remote, and in most places along the shore the water was so shallow that it would be impracticable to construct facilities for meaningful navigation on the lake. Utah was successful in proving that, both before and after statehood, the lake had been used for a variety of navigational purposes ( Utah Geological and Mineral Survey, 1980). Historical navigation includes watercraft use during construction of the Lucin Cutoff ( the original northern railroad trestle and earth- fill), and tour boating during the heyday of resort development on GSL. Present navigation includes recreational sailboating, most of which occurs within six miles of the two marinas operated by DPR, a small tour boat which occasionally operates out of the Antelope Island Marina, commercial brine shrimp harvesting, salvage of the old railroad trestle, air boating, some power boating and law enforcement. Brine shrimp sampling, water quality monitoring and lake bottom measurements collected by the state and extraction industries along with search and rescue activities require boat access. Two box culverts in the northern railroad causeway between Little Mountain, Promontory Point and Lakeside initially allowed small watercraft to pass between the north and south arms of the lake through the causeway under certain lake levels. The culverts are no longer useful for this purpose. The breach near the west end of the causeway is not generally deep enough for navigation by deep bottomed craft. However, during 1997- 98 numerous large brine shrimp harvesting boats navigated through the breach. Some crafts as long as 44 feet, 14 feet wide and less than 2.5 feet draft successfully navigated through this opening. In addition to the constraints associated with the causeway, navigation on the north arm is limited by the lack of launch and harbor facilities. Islands in the north 138 |
