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Fw: Very Brief Update on Utah Lake Boundary Issue

Just keeping you up on Utah Lake boundaries. ====Reed
--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Wayne Martinson" <wmart.dsawyer@aros.net>
To: <sphelan@westernresources.org>,
         "Jeff Salt" <jeffsalt@greatsaltlakeaudubon.org>,
         "Sean Phelan" <seandphelan@yahoo.com>,
         "'Cullen Battle'" <cbattle@fabianlaw.com>,
         "Joro Walker" <utah@lawfund.org>,
         "Alan Matheson" <amatheson@tu.org>,
         "Jeff McCreary" <jmccreary@ducks.org>,
         "Chris Montague" <cmontague@tnc.org>,
         "Genevieve Atwood" <genevieveatwood@attbi.com>,
         "Amanda Eyre" <aeyre@tnc.org>,
         "Sam Rushforth" <sam.rushforth@uvsc.edu>,
         "Reed Stone" <sage2222@juno.com>,
         "Paul Dremann" <pdremann@xmission.com>,
         "Allan Daly" <allan.daly@attbi.com>,
         "Daren Tuttle" <DAREN_TUTTLE@BD.COM>, <maunsel3616@msn.com>,
         "Joel Peterson" <jpeterson@tnc.org>,
         "Darrell Mensel" <dmensel@xmission.com>,
         <wbodie@pheasantsforever.org>,
         "Bart Miller \(E-mail\)" <bmiller@lawfund.org>,
         <fishonsfw@aol.com>, "TWITCHELL,
         Marlyn" <MTWITCHELL@audubon.org>,
         "Lynn de Freitas" <ldefreitas@earthlink.net>,
         "Scot Chipman" <scotchipman@yahoo.com>,
         "Glenn Foreman" <glenn@mudbuddy.com>,
         "Robin Tuck" <robin@utahnature.com>,
         "Dennis Shirley" <dshirley@freeport.com>,
         <milton@utahbirds.org>,
         "Charles Hanson" <charleshanson1@msn.com>,
         "Lynn Tennefoss" <ltennefoss@audubon.org>
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 11:43:55 -0600
Subject: Very Brief Update on Utah Lake Boundary Issue
Message-ID: <006401c398c4$1eaef3e0$40dddb42@computer>
References: <DAEMLAMOFFJCPJKMDDINOELKCBAA.sphelan@westernresources.org>

Dear folks interested in the Utah Lake Boundary Issue,

The court hearing on Utah Lake was Oct. 8.  Below are excerpts from a
message that Darrell Mensel sent out to Utah Water Watchers on Oct. 10
summarizing much of the hearing.

Also, there was an article about the hearing in the Salt Lake Tribune on
Thursday Oct. 9.  However, I do not have a copy of this to send to you.

Below, Darrell's message is a message from Jeff Salt regarding potential
historical information regarding the water levels of Utah Lake.

Finally, when the judge provides a decision, you will be informed of what
he
says.

        Thanks for your interest.

                Wayne Martinson
                Utah Important Bird Areas Coordinator
                National Audubon Society


Water Watchers:  I attended the Utah Lake court hearing on Wednesday
morning, the purpose of which was to consider whether the state of Utah
should be released from its previous stipulation that it wouldn't contest
ownership of the lake bed down to 4481.    I only had time to stay for
the
oral arguments presented by Mark Ward from the A.G.'s office and Cullen
Battle, representing the sportmens and outdoor groups.


I won't bore you with all the details, but basically the arguments
offered
by Mr. Ward and Mr. Battle dealt extensively with the theory that the
state
of Utah didn't have authority to agree to such a stipulation because it
amounted to a giveaway of land that is supposed to be held in trust for
the
people.  I think both gentlemen offered very persuasive arguments.

Judge Kimball did not make a ruling at the hearing and indicated that it
could take up to two weeks or longer before he does.  I'll keep you
posted.

Stay in touch -- Darrell


The following message is from Jeff Salt - dated Oct. 16.

Wayne,
I just happened across some new historical information on Utha Lake
and lake levels from a regular citizen. Her great grandfather was the
Utah Lake commissioner at the turn of the 199th and 20th centuries,
and had some documents that probably have not been seen by our
generation before. I have left the collection with Mark Ward, he and I
went through some of them today, and were very surprised to see
some of the history of the lake and Jordan River in some of the
documents. We now know that the first dam on the Jordan River was
not the Turner Dam, but one constructed near Murray in 1850! We ran
into historical descriptions of Utah Lake dating back to settlement and
through the 1880's. Some of this new information might be very useful
for us. Mark is still sorting through the materials. These are documents
that are mostly near 100 years old, and very fragile.

If you would, please share this with our inner circle of Utah Lake users.
We might not want to spread the word too far just yet, unti l we assess
the content of these documents closer.


Thanks,
Jeff

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