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February 2023

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Winter 2023 Marina Newsletter
by Dave Shearer 27 Feb '23

27 Feb '23

GSL Slip Renters and Marina Users It has been a while since I've done a Marina Community Newsletter. I'm going to try and be better at doing that on a quarterly basis. I know many of you have lots of questions. The three most common questions are 1) Lake Levels and Predictions, 2) Dredging, 3) the road damage and upcoming repairs. Road Damage - Repairs As you all know, Great Salt Lake State Park and Marina was at the epicenter of the earthquake in March 2020 (almost 3 years ago now). There was quite a bit of damage at the marina including the visitor center, water lines, Marina Office/Shop, parking lot and the road coming into the marina. Most of the repairs were completed quickly but we still have some work to do. The visitor center had minimal damage other than toppled/broken shelves and gift store products. Those repairs were completed right away. The propane line to the main shop was also damaged when the building and sidewalk shifted and separated from each other. There was a lot of shelves toppled over and damage to tools. That has all been repaired. The main water line to the park was also separated and damaged in two areas. Those repairs were completed immediately The three areas that still need to have repairs completed are the road coming to the marina, the parking lot near the shop/office, and the entry gate. Here is where we are on those: * The entry gate had temporary repairs completed right away. The electronic gate near Saltair works but is very fickle. If the gate is closed you will need to pull all the way up to it to activate the temporary sensor. If the gate does not open but beeps then it is jammed. Please call me and we will reset the gate and get you out. This usually happens during snow storms. Once the road is repaired the new sensors will be reinstalled and a new gate will also be installed. Security lights at the gate will be repaired. These cannot be completed until the road is repaired. * The parking lot near the shop/marina office was heavily damaged. This will require extensive repairs. These repairs will be completed at the same time as the road is repaired. To do this we will need to temporarily move all the boats near the shop that are on pavement. Luckily all these boats are on trailers and should be easy to move. But many of these trailers are in disrepair or have flat tires. This will need to be addressed by the boat owner BEFORE work can start. More on that later in this newsletter. * The road has been the big stumbling block. Because of the way Utah Statute was written funding and repair issues for repairing the road were complicated. As it turns out, the State and the County co-own the road. Yet the earthquake was declared a natural disaster by FEMA (Federal government), which means you have three government jurisdictions and their entities involved. To make a very long story short, it took about 2 ½ years to work through the FEMA grant (for money) and negotiate all requirements to satisfy all involved entities. Much of the delay was because COVID was in full swing and much of the inspections and negotiations had to be handled through COVID meeting protocols. Negotiations have been completed and now we are waiting for the weather to warm up enough so asphalt repairs to start. We originally tore out the sections of the road that had buckled and failed. These sections were considered hazardous and required emergency temporary repairs. But there is much more damage to the road that has not been torn up yet. Sometime in March (whether permitting) work will begin on repairing ALL sections of the road FEMA has determined to be compromised by the earthquake. Work should be completed sometime mid to late Spring. I know the road has been a real problem to navigate the potholes. For someone who drives this road every day I am acutely aware of how bad it is. We have spent quite a bit of money regrading the road four times to no avail. It seems like every time we regrade the road we get slammed with another round of heavy moisture which just tears it up again. We are out of money for emergency repairs and just need to wait until permanent repairs can be completed. Luckily this is just around the corner. We do not anticipate road closures during this construction time but there may be traffic delays. We will keep you posted when work begins. Until then please drive very slow and safely on the road. Lake Levels and Forecast If you listen to the local weather forecasts it appears we are having a great winter. There is even talk of flooding concerns. Based on this one would think the lake is going to have a banner year and we will come up a lot. The truth is that its too early to tell. The water watch year begins October 1st and ends May 31st. October was on 50% of normal precipitation. November was 126% starting off a trend that stayed with us most of the winter. December was a phenomenal 194%. January was close at 193%. But February wasn't as good. We are only at 64% near the end of February. The snowpack picture is a bit better. Currently Great Salt Lake Drainage area sits at 142% of normal with Bear River contributing 133% of that number and Provo/Jordan providing 162%. Local meteorologists are predicting many more storms through March. Yet NOAA is predicting that the drainage area has an equal chance of being wet or dry for the next three months. March and April are the most critical months for Great Salt Lake snowpack. The good news is that we have already received all the normal snowpack that we would normally receive for the whole snowpack year. That is 2 1/5 months early. But there is more to the picture than all this. December and January saw the lake raise an incredible 1.5 feet from our all-time low. That is 1 foot more than we normally come up. And the snow hasn't begun to come down yet. So here is the rest of the picture. Before the runoff gets to the Great Salt Lake it has to flow through all our reservoirs. And then it has to fill up the aquafers and groundwater supply. All three of those are very low. Utah will retain as much water as they can to replete the reservoirs. They will have to release some water to control flooding though. Great Salt Lake is the last to get any water in this flow of water downhill. How much will actually get to us? It is really too hard to say yet. I have heard many people think we will still come up 2 to 3 more feet. These are people that have good data and follow these numbers. We could see that. We could see more than that. Or less. Another important part of the equation is when does it get hot and the lake starts to evaporate. If the lake continues to come up through May and half way through June, we should be in pretty good shape. This will mean less "evaporation days" and less the lake will drop this summer. On average, the lake tops off early May before dropping 2 feet from summer evaporation. The longer we go before the lake tops off means the lake will drop less during the summer months. This is very important to the lake's long-term recovery. The Legislature is paying a lot of attention to Great Salt Lake this year. As of today there are still several bills in front of the legislature this week to address saving the lake and ensuring more water gets to GSL. The 2023 Legislative session ends this Friday. We should know more about the State's effort to save the GSL by then. I will keep you posted on what develops. You can also go to the Current Water Watch page of www.gslmarina.com<http://www.gslmarina.com> to track direct precipitation, snowpack, and lake levels. Dredging The legislature appropriated funds to solve problems in the railroad breach and to dredge the Great Salt Lake Marina. Initial focus was on repairs to the breach. This has mostly been completed and now efforts will probably refocus on Great Salt Lake Marina dredging. I wish I had more to talk about right now but I just don't know enough details. We have been having regular meetings with prioritizing areas to dredge, where we can deposit the spoils and the best or most efficient methods for dredging. We are still in that process. Once we have a better idea including timelines I will keep you posted. There IS money for dredging and Army Corp of Engineers are sympathetic to the situation. Will this dredging alone be enough to get all the boats back into the marina? Unlikely. Will it get some of the shallow draft boats back in the marina? Possibly. I wish I knew more but we should be able to offer more information soon. Will we be Able to Put Boats Back In this Spring? Maybe. I don't think there is any hope for the deeper draft boats this year. Maybe next year. But I think there is a chance for the shallow draft boats. Many of you have indicated the desire to go in even if it means only a few months of sailing before having to pull back out. If this is possible I am in favor of this happening. The launch ramp is not deep enough to launch yet but should be able to launch swing keel boats late spring. Once again I will keep you posted as we see where the snowpack and spring runoff will fall. Storage of Boats and Storage Fees Please remember that there is a monthly storage fee for storing your boat at the marina. Several people have not paid in some time. The State has already classified several boats as abandoned and have had them removed. Please make sure to pay your storage fees. The parking lot is $25 a month with secured dry storage being $75 a month. Maintain Your Trailers and Boats As stated earlier, We will be needing to do repairs to the parking lot. We will also need to remove a lot of K Rail from the frontage road and store it in the parking lot while the road is being repaired. This will require us to move boats around. In order to do that your tailers need to be in working order. There are SEVERAL trailers in the parking lot with flat tires. It is YOUR responsibility to maintain your trailers. PLEASE come out and check on them. Also, we are now in windy season. Please secure your boats, masts, rigging, tarps, etc. Shrink wrapping is the best to cover boats. Tarps just shred in the next wind storm and actually causes damage to your boat and your neighbors boats. Visitor Center / Cambria Room Renovations We were able to secure some funding to upgrade the visitor center and Cambria Room. The visitor center was showing its age. We are trying to give it a face lift. Right now a new floor is being installed and its looking great. Next will be some improvements to the exterior. The Cambria Room just went through a face lift and looks great. Some of you may be wondering what the Cambria Room is. This is the room the Yacht Club used to rent on a regular basis. With the low lake level and drop in membership, the Yacht Club decided it was financially prudent to rent the room out as needed rather than as an exclusive rental. We remodeled the room to make it more functional for multiple groups. It is available for reservations and for rent. Come by and check it out. If you are interested in holding an event at the Cambria Room please reach out to me or Angelic. The funding we secured for these two buildings was enough to pay for supplies but not labor. All the labor for renovations has been donated labor. Linda has provided most of this labor time and has done and incredible job. But we could really use some help. If you feel like giving back to your community we would love to hear from you and utilize your talents and time. WIFI at the Marina WIFI is available at the marina at this time for free. It is called CAPNET. It is a bit spotty in areas but we are constantly working on improving connectivity and speed. Getting in touch with me I have been a little tougher to get in touch with lately. Some of this is due to the many meetings that have gone on for road repair and dredging. But, as some of you know, I had major back surgery about a month ago. I am working every day but am not able to make a full day of it yet. The best way to get in touch with me is through email. It may take me a day or two to get back to you but I will. As long as I have an email in my inbox it stays on my task list. I WILL get back to you. Please be patient while I go through the recovery process. I hope to be back functioning at full speed and strength in another month. Interpretive Programs and Tours We do quite a bit of interpretive programs and tours throughout the year. These can range from full-moon walks, shipwreck tours, legends of GSL tours, etc. Angelic does a great job with these programs and would love to have you attend. The schedule for these tours is in www.stateparks.utah.gov<http://www.stateparks.utah.gov> and will soon be on www.gslmarina.com<http://www.gslmarina.com>. If you have a good idea for an interpretive program or would like to assist in these please let Angelic or myself know. Further Newsletter Emails I will try to do these newsletters on a quarterly basis or even monthly basis during the busy summer months. If you have a subject that you would like me to cover please reach out.

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