SALT LAKE CITY-If you plan to travel in Utah for boating excursions, or even hang around Wasatch County after the pandemic ends, there will be changes as of July 1.
HB-255, which was signed into law March 28 by Utah Governor Gary Herbert includes a $20 fee for non-Utah resident boaters who launch watercraft anywhere in the state. Per Utah Division of Wildlife Resources spokeswoman Faith Heaton Jolley, Utahns already pay $10 for this privilege.
Those fees go toward preventing the spread of quagga mussels or other aquatic invasive species.
All boat owners are also required to complete an online education course concerning the prevention of these species and show proof they have completed this course before they launch their boats in the water anywhere in Utah.
Boat owners must also drain water from all compartments of a watercraft before transporting a boat on any public road or highway in the state. Failing to do so is a class C misdemeanor.
Quagga mussels are deemed a nuisance because they alter food webs in bodies of water by removing plankton and clogging water-intake pipes and other water infrastructure, per the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
They can also be easily transferred from one body of water to another via watercraft.
Other new bills for the outdoors in Utah include:
HB125: Division of wildlife resources amendments. This allows the head of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to take “immediate action under certain circumstances” if big-game herd populations fall under the number sought by state biologists.
HB228: Livestock predator removal amendments. This bill concerns how livestock owners handle mountain lions or bears that “harass, chase, disturb, harm, attack or kill” livestock. This enables livestock owners, as well as family members or employees of the livestock owner” to harvest the predator within four days of an attack, provided they have a depredation permit by the DWR. This was previously allowed within three days of an attack.
HB233: Natural resources legacy funding amendments. This bill creates the Utah Natural Resources Legacy Fund. It assists in the research, monitoring and management actions, to reduce the probability of a species ending up on the endangered species list.
HB283: Outdoor Adventure Commission amendments. This looks into the future needs of outdoor recreation in Utah.
HB371: Wildlife tagging amendments. Herbert signed this bill on March 24. This allows the Utah Wildlife Board to clarify its rules concerning hunters tagging species at the site of a kill.
HCR 2: Concurrent Resolution Creating Old Iron Town State Monument. This designates Old Iron Town in Iron County as a state monument. This was an important gathering place in the 1860’s and 1870’s.
HCR 13: Concurrent Resolution Supporting the Protection and Restoration of Wildlife Corridors. This encourages the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, the Utah Department of Transportation and others to look for more “wildlife migration corridors” for future wildlife crossing spots.
HCR 19: Concurrent Resolution Opposing the Introduction of Wolves. State officials are called upon to block any efforts to force wolves upon the state of Utah. Wolves are carnivores and are known to eat livestock.
HCR 24: Concurrent Resolution on Quagga Mussels. This resolution urges the National Park Service and other federal entities to “prevent the spread of invasive quagga mussels and improve the inspection and decontamination for all watercraft leaving Lake Powell.”
SCR 1: Concurrent resolution creating Danger Cave State Monument. This resolution makes Danger Cave State Monument, in Tooele County, a state monument. It also adds Jukebox Cave as part of the monument. It has been occupied for 11,000 years, per state legislators.
