Public Utilities Advisory Committee Meeting of June 26, 2003

Presentation by the Utah Council Trout Unlimited

LeRoy W. Hooton, Director

Department of Public Utilities

1530 S. West Temple Street

Salt Lake City, UT 84115

Re: Management & Conservation of the Bonneville Cutthroat Trout

Dear Mr. Hooton:

The Utah Council Trout Unlimited (UTU) would like to recognize the Department under your leadership for the cooperative works you have you have accomplished, and are continuing, in providing for the management and conservation of the State Fish, the Bonneville cutthroat trout (BCT) in municipal watersheds along the Wasatch Front.

Left to Right: LeRoy Hooton, Jim Scott, Russ Hone, Don Duff (USFS/UTU), Ed Kent (UTU), Florence Reynolds and Paul Dremamn (UTU).

Over the last several years the Department has worked cooperatively with the UTU, its Chapter the Stonefly Society, and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) in conservation activities designed to restore, enhance, and protect this rare cutthroat trout. The Department's water quality and habitat related management activities in watershed of City Creek, Little Dell Creek, Parley's Creek and Lamb's Canyon Creek have been outstanding examples of the cooperative works you and your staff's have initiated with UTU for the conservation of this species. The designation of Little Dell Reservoir as a BCT catch and release recreational fisheries has established this water and its watershed as one of the DWR's key recovery sites in the State.

The cooperation and communication with UTU and the DWR in these efforts by your staffs has been worthy of their recognition as they exemplify the spirit of public involvement by the City. Members of your staff we wish to recognize for their efforts are Florence Reynolds, Russ Hone, and Jim Scott. Much of the success we have enjoyed in working with the Department and accomplishing works for the BCT are a result of these employees cooperative spirit.

In recognition therefore of these efforts and accomplishments by the Department and these Staff members, the UTU would like to present you with these Awards of Recognition and Appreciation. We enjoy working with the Department and look forward to continuing these cooperative efforts for the conservation of the BCT in the City's municipal watersheds.

Ed Kent, President, Utah Council of Trout Unlimited

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In accepting the recognition, Mr. Hooton noted that he had grown to understand how important it is to protect threatened and endanger species, and expressed his pleasure in being able to participate in this worthy effort. He praised the employees of the Parley's Water Treatment Plant who took a special interest in conserving the Bonneville cutthroat trout during the spring of 1996. Plant operators set up a temporary fish hatchery at the water treatment facility and hatched 2,500 fish, which grew to 3 inches in size before being transplanted into Lamb's Creek later in October. This effort continued the following year using a low tech incubator system comprised of a cooler.  Several of these devices were installed in Parley's streams. Success was measured by the fact that in May 1997, Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt visited the Little Dell site and praised efforts to replenish this native fish population.

During Spring 2003, Trout Unlimited was able to strip eggs from spawning Bonneville's in Dell Creek above Little Dell Reservoir producing 30,000 fingerlings for release in the mountain streams. These continuing efforts demonstrate the impact voluntary programs enlisting the aide of many organizations and individuals can have on improving our environment.

Don Duff congratulated the Department of Public Utilities for being co- parents of 30,000 Bonneville cutthroat fingerlings