Senators Escamilla and Dabakis and Representatives Hollins and Briscoe,

As part of a campaign to justify claims of ownership over federal land in Utah, some lawmakers have said (over and over again) that the state is in a better position to manage it.

Is it?

A first glimpse of how and for whom the state might manage federal holdings since HB148 became effective a month and a half ago might be seen in how it manages its own land; in how a proposed $1.5 million to dredge marinas at Utah Lake (in Senate and House districts represented by Republicans) and/or Great Salt Lake (in Senate District 1 and House District 23, represented by Democrats) is appropriated.

Both marinas have begun to silt up, and reduced snowpack runoff combined with normal summer evaporation this summer threaten to render the facilities unusable for sailboats with fixed keels. (Many sailboats with drafts of 6 feet or deeper were pulled out of the GSL marina at the end of the past summer because they could no longer access the lake.)

Politically savvy real estate developers, no doubt, see opportunities to build new subdivisions with view parcels of Utah Lake and Mt. Timpanogos, while the view from the south shore of the Great Salt Lake is Rio Tinto’s settling ponds, smelter and refinery. A fully operational state marina at fresh-water Utah Lake, with accessible ramps for motor-only boats and ultra shallow-draft sailboats, would continue to enhance recreation and add value to surrounding homes and businesses. A fully operational state marina on the Great Salt Lake would continue to nurture a nationally known sailing community — the “saltiest sailors” in the U.S. — a base for bird hunters, a Hawaiian canoe club, a long-established group of rowing enthusiasts, the lake’s brine shrimp industry, a small business that offers sunset-dinner cruises aboard a refurbished yacht, as well as a regular bus stopover for national and international tourists and I-80 travelers curious about a body of water that in some places is three times saltier than the ocean. The marina also provides a base for Department of Natural Resources rangers and other law enforcers conducting search and rescue and criminal investigation operations in the southern half of the lake and part of the agency’s mandated marine environment programs.

Great Salt Lake marina currently is home to about 200 sailboats. Most owners are watching the Legislature closely. The scuttlebutt among GSL sailors is that DNR will not dredge “their” marina this year; that all of the $1.5 million will go south to take care of the marina at Utah Lake and real estate interests with political clout. If that’s the case — if the state fails to allot funds to maintain its investment in the infrastructure of GSL State Park — most, if not all, of the sailors, including myself, would simply pull out their boats at the first opportunity. Many older boats would just be abandoned, stuck in the mud with the state assuming ownership and paying cleanup costs. The revenue stream of several hundred thousand dollars per year from slip rentals and on-site dry storage would, well,  dry up. Taxpayers would pick up the tab for what is now a virtually self-sustaining, if not exactly profitable-for-taxpayers, operation.

The long-established, close-knit sailing community and its DNR-supported summer events likely would be broken up, possibly never to return because of the high cost of taking down rigging and masts and transporting sailing vessels elsewhere — to Bear Lake, Strawberry Reservoir, Lake Mead, Lake Tahoe, Flathead Lake in Montana, San Francisco Bay, etc. — the kind of boats that in some cases have been in slips for years.

As a constituent of Sen. Dabakis and Rep. Briscoe with an interest in keeping my beautiful Beneteau 235 ("Sister Wife") afloat in the districts of Sen. Escamilla and Rep. Hollins, I would welcome an opportunity to discuss legislative opportunities to maintain both marinas. Perhaps over coffee sometime before morning hearings or later, in the afternoon.

A group of boat owners are meeting Friday at 7 p.m. at The Safety Consortium, 400 W. Lawndale Drive (2500 South, enter from 300 West). I would welcome all of you.

Here’s to smooth sailing,
Bill Keshlear