History of human impact on Bear Lake

The immediate uses of the water in Bear Lake, local surrounding streams, and the larger Bear River, were primarily for fishing and irrigation. After building a few aspen cabins, the newly settled pioneers began the task of constructing irrigation canals. Within its valley, the Bear River and its tributaries water over 50,000 acres of land in Rich County. The largest irrigation sources are Big Spring and Swan Creek. Settlers in Laketown, Round Valley, and Meadowville continued to construct a network of canals still being used today; these included the Crawford and Thompson Canal, the Beackwith Canal, and the Chapman Canal (Parson, 1996)...

Soils of Bear Lake, Utah

The most common soil at 40,350 acres in Rich County is the Pancheri cool silt loam. This is followed by the Solak gravelly loam at 32,150 acres, the Duckree loams at 29,460 acres, and the Kearl loam at 28,100 acres (Soil Conservation Service, 1982). Generally speaking, the soils immediately surrounding Bear Lake are strongly alkaline, gravelly to cobbly sandy loams, rapid to moderately rapid permeability, with low to extremely low sediment loads...

Hazards within the Bear Lake basin, Utah

The Bear Lake basin developed from fault subsidence that continues today, slowly deepening the lake along the eastern side. The Bear Lake graben is about 5 miles long and 4.3-8.6 miles wide. It extends across the Utah-Idaho border and involves faults on both eastern and western sides of Bear Lake...

Hydrology of the Bear Lake Basin, Utah

Bear Lake’s natural watershed is made up of relatively low mountains covered with sagebrush at lower elevations and southern exposures and fir-aspen forests at higher elevations and northern exposures. The basin is traversed by the Bear River that begins high in the Unita Mountains and flows through Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming before feeding the Great Salt Lake. The Bear River is the major river in the watershed but does not directly feed Bear Lake...

Bear Lake basin : Rich County, Utah

Rich County, located in the upper northeastern corner of Utah, is approximately 18 miles wide and 56 miles long. It is bordered on the east by Wyoming, on the north by Idaho (with the southern half of Bear Lake extending into Utah), on the west by Weber and Morgan counties and the Wasatch National Forest, and on the south by Summit County

Climatology in the Bear Lake basin, Utah

The climate in the valley is warm and dry during the summer, with the first snowfall coming during fall. Fog and snow are common during the winter. The lake is icebound during winter and most of spring. Generally the climatic conditions in Rich County are considered rather severe. Killing frosts are common until June and again in early September affecting a short growing season...

Organizations and agencies in Bear Lake management

There are two major organized private interest groups in the Utah side of the Bear Lake area, Utah Power and Light Company and the Bear Lake Home Owners Association. Several agencies concerned with the water and the immediate land area around the lake exist at the federal level...

Recreation in the Bear Lake basin

Bear Lake has a long history of recreation and tourism. Activities such as waterskiing, swimming, and sailing are popular during the summer seasons. In the winter snowmobilers and ice anglers are drawn to the area. In January, fishing for the rare Bonneville cicso is a major event for local fishermen and tourists. No other lake in the continental United States offers such an opportunity...

Paleo-biology and paleo-hydrology of the Bear Lake Basin, Utah

Many ancient clam and snail shells have been found around the shoreline of Bear Lake. Local residents have at times gathered the shells as a source of calcium for their chickens. These shells are well preserved and have been dated to be 10,000 years old (Smart, 1963). Curators at the Smithsonian Institute identified all 6 species of snail and one species of clam. Carbon dating performed by Columbia University estimated shells gathered from the Ideal Beach area of Bear Lake to be 12,000 years old...

Biological resources of the Bear Lake basin, Utah

The Bear Lake basin has a range of land types that provide habitat for aquatic, riparian, and terrestrial wildlife and plant species. Near the lake a limited ring of semi aquatic plants grow in association with spring and creek waters. Agriculture lands are used as pasture and to grow feed crops such as hay and alfalfa. Larger stream inflows host riparian and aquatic meadow plants. The low hills of the valley support sagebrush, grasslands, pinion, juniper, maple, and brushy communities. In the higher mountains brushes give way to large tree complexes of aspen, spruce, pine, and their associated undergrowths. The very tops of the mountains contain alpine growth and parkland..