From marina to parking lot: Boats removed from Great Salt Lake


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SALT LAKE CITY — The Great Salt Lake Marina was a very busy place Thursday and Friday, but not in the way you might think. Instead of heading out for a day of sailing on the lake, boat owners were putting their vessels in the parking lot, where they’ll stay all summer.

About every 10 minutes, one by one, a giant crane lifted about 80 boats out of the water.

“This time of year, ordinarily we're getting ready for a sailing season,” one boat owner said. “Now we're switching over and getting ready to take our boats out.”

Here’s why. The level of the Great Salt Lake is the lowest in years, making the marina extremely shallow.

“Right now we're 18 feet below normal,” said Sgt. Tony Santora with Utah State Parks. “By August if you have anything deeper than 3 feet in the water, you'll be in the mud.”

With the help of many volunteers, the crane lifted the boats out of the water, and dropped them onto a trailer in the parking lot.

The boats are being removed to prepare for a major dredging project. The Utah Legislature approved $3 million this year to bring in equipment to scoop out the marina by about 9 feet, making it usable again. But the project won’t begin for several months, essentially canceling the summer sailing season here.

“It's not a good day for us,” said another boater taking photos of the activity. “We're looking forward to when we get the dredging done and get everybody back out here with their boats.”

Many of the boat owners, and members of the Great Salt Lake Yacht Club, say they knew this was coming. Although disappointed that the summer sailing season is a bust, some say it gives them a chance to work on their boats. “So now we're thinking so how can I make the most of this time with my boat out of the water? I'll paint the hull, I'll do some maintenance that I haven’t gotten around to.”

With mild winters and low runoffs the last few years, the lake level has been dropping steadily. And, until Mother Nature comes to the rescue, the Utah State Parks Department will try to salvage the very popular recreational activity out here.

“So hopefully the dredging can extend our years out here and hopefully we have some better snow years that raises that level up so we can get back to where we should be,” Santora said.

Until the dredging project is completed, most likely next spring, a lot of boat owners will leave their rigs in the marina parking lot. Others have already hauled their boats away and plan to park them at home or will use them at other lakes around the state. Santora hopes everyone comes back when the marina opens again. “After that it'll be back to business as usual. People who want to put their boats back into the slip can, and we're hoping that everybody does come back that were here before.”

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Keith McCord

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