Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Fred Austin I am 68 years old and retired. I have sailed on the Great Salt Lake for 34 years and I am a member of the Great Salt Lake Volunteer Emergency Response Team. At the Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environmental Quality Appropriations Subcommittee meeting on February 6, 2015, 1.5 million dollars was allocated to dredge the Utah Lake Marina. I am requesting that this decision be reconsidered and that the1.5 million dollars be allocated to dredge the Great Salt Lake Marina. Please consider the following: . The Utah State Parks & Recreation Rescue boats operate out of the Great Salt Lake Marina. These boats, crewed by the Harbormaster and members of the Great Salt Lake Volunteer Emergency Response Team. They have rescued duck hunters, kayakers, paddle boarders, swimmers, sailboats and their crews, brine shrimpers, located downed airplanes and recovered pilots and passenger's bodies. It is absolutely critical that the rescue boats can navigate in and out of the marina safely. On January 10, 2015, Rescue One retrieved the body of a downed pilot, located the downed aircraft and at the direction of the NTSB towed the downed aircraft into the Great Salt Lake Marina. . Great Salt Lake Marina has been in its current location, in one form or another, for nearly 100 years. . The current Great Salt Lake Marina was rebuilt and opened in 1980. It was and still is a world class marina. However, the entire marina has never been properly dredged since its 1980 opening. . Of 43 Utah State Parks, only 5 are operating in the black. Great Salt Lake Marina State Park is one of those 5, generating excess revenue to help support other state parks. . Fiscal year 2014 Great Salt Lake Marina brought in $455,000 in revenues. Roughly $300,000 was slip rent. The Great Salt Lake Marina brought in a net profit to Utah State Parks of about $154,000 (which is used to support other state parks and marinas). . The Great Salt Lake Marina has 320 boat slips. Due to low water levels and silting that has built up over the last 30 years, many boats have lost the ability to navigate out of the marina. In the past 3 years, 80 of those boats have left the marina, resulting in a loss of revenue to the state of Utah of $120,000 annually in slip rent. . If dredging does not happen in the marina this year many more boats will be leaving, losing more slip rental fees, property taxes and registration fees. The loss of many more boats will result in the park being unable to continue to operate at a profit, and will likely join the other 37 parks that operate at a loss. . The boat launch ramp inside the Great Salt Lake Marina is not currently usable to most boats. Until dredging occurs, this launch ramp is only accessible to very shallow draft boats, not sailboats and it is very difficult to launch and retrieve large power boats such as Rescue One the Parks Rescue Boat. . Every spring the Great Salt Lake Marina has a crane available to put sailboats in and out of the water. Cost of the crane is split among the boat owners using it, not the State. Typically, more sailboats go in the water in the spring than come out. This year could be the exception. Many people are now considering pulling their sailboats out (permanently) in the spring, before their sailboat gets stuck in the silt (mud) or they can no longer navigate to the area needed to be removed by the crane. . Once these sailboats leave the state, Utah also loses the registration fees, which is lost revenue for State Boating Restricted Funds (which pay for Search and Rescue Boats and fuel for these boats) . Without dredging, it is likely that many more boats will leave the Great Salt Lake Marina this year. These boats don't just sit in someone's driveway waiting until they can once again get out of the marina, most boat owners will re-locate their boats to other states, mainly California, and never come back. Transporting a boat is very expensive, and once these boats leave they are not likely to be brought back to the Great Salt Lake. Not only is this the loss of slip rental, but property tax dollars as well (and property taxes benefit education). . Being only 15 minutes from downtown Salt Lake, the Great Salt Lake Marina is one of the most visited state parks. Numerous tour buses are in and out of the marina every day of the week. In 2012 it was reported that 254,000 visitors came to Great Salt Lake State Park. . The newly constructed Visitor Center, brought in revenue of $97,000 last year, and is on track to at least double that this year. . Great Salt Lake Marina is the home of Gonzo Boat Rentals and Tours, and Sailing Solutions. These are two small charter businesses that give opportunities to tourists to get out on the lake and learn more about this unique state resource. If we have a weak snowpack both these concessionaries may well be trapped inside the undredged marina, eliminating a valuable resource for tourists to venture out on the lake. I want to thank you for your time and consideration. But I also want to make sure you understand that the Sailors on the Great Salt Lake are not a "bunch of rich guys". The average sailboat is 25 feet in length and the value is approximated $3,000 to $5,000 dollars. What is really unusual about the Great Salt Lake Marina is that once a boat is placed in the Marina and a slip is rented the boat is used year round and stays in the marina, paying slip rental, an average of ten years. If you have any questions or if I may be of further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, Fred Austin 4403 S. 4625 W. West Valley City, Utah 84120 (801) 541-9122 fmaustin@comcast.net