Rush Lake Fence

[Marty Lowe]

It looks to me like Patrica Wheeler, on the north side of the fence,
has the property that would be fenced, more than the willow springs people.

Do we want to really just cold call these people before we have a concensus on what we want to say to them?
Sounds like the people posting here like the letter idea,
instead of bombbarding them with a phone call and catching them off guard.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

-Marty

[lesvierra]

Marty, just want to "help" give you some contact info. You can do with it what you want. Let me know if you need any help with Patricia, see if (435) 882-6409 works for her or send letter.

[btjsfca]

Nice work, Les! I think it's a good idea to ensure that we know who we're sending the letter to. Might have been that the letter would have ended up in the hands of someone who is not the owner, and we'd never know.

If it comes down to a phone negotiation, then the ideas for the letter here can stand in as a "script" of sorts for whoever does the calling. I think everyone following this thread knows the issues, and could communicate our position with more or less the same level of accuracy. Les has been a good ambassador for the Utah kiting community, and I see no reason why he can't take point on this issue, unless the UWA leadership would rather be in that role.

I think at this point, it's best to enumerate what the UWA is prepared to do about this issue. So far, the offer of labor to move the fence has been put out there, and I think there was some mention of a bribe (gas cards, fruit baskets, ...). If it comes down to a negotiation, what can we offer?

-J

[Marty Lowe]

Sorry,
My personal issues with Les came through bad on this forum.
My appoligies to Les and all on this forum.
I'll back away now.

-Marty

[lesvierra]

I got a message back from Scott L SoelBerg. He is an attorney that represents someone that owns land at Rush. If needed you could probably get more info from Scott if you dont get what you need from Patricia. Let me know if you run into road blocks, I'll help.

[Marty Lowe]

As a professional engineer, I have mediated with a number of property owners, ranchers, homeowners, business owners regarding a lot of things from aquiring land with eminent domain, easement disputes, change of diversions, utilities, etc. I have conducted public meetings and have dealt with most personality types.
Les

After thinking things through, and Les communicating with me,
I believe he is the best man for the job, very well qualified and motivated.

I would like to put my support behind him to get this thing moving.

-Marty

[MikE mAy]

i'll second that- let us know how it goes les!

i'd love to offer whatever we need to get the job done. i dont' have a trailer, but do have a bobcat, dumptruck, and other machinery that i could donate or led to the project if need-be depending on the outcome. my business would also donate any barbed wire if we needed to relocate the fence and probably could re-use the posts already installed in the water.

let me know if i can be of any assistance....

[lesvierra]

Marty, you left this part out,

I think you'd be good to lead it. You are and will be at Rush quite often this spring, so if you can make some contact with the land owners or ranchers, go for it....Let me know if you need or want some help with anything. I dont mean to be confrontational, but I would like to help get this taken care of. Are you going to move foward with this? Let me know if you need anything.

hmmm, I'll see what I can find out. I'm heading to my step dad's funeral tomorrow am in Cali, it'll be a few days with coffee shop internet, let me know if anyone has any leads, I'll report what ever I find.

[lesvierra]

Brian,

Where did you get this map? How did you put it together?

The white boxes are parcel boundaries from Toole County. The names and addresses are for the owners, not necessarily the ranchers or fence builders. Anyone know any of these people?
Not sure why the Patricia Wheeler parcel overlaps the BLM. the BLM boundary is most likely correct.Attachments

[lesvierra]

Potentially great news. I think we have the right guy, Randy H. He leases his land to a rancher. His main priority now is keeping the cattle off the neighbors land. He was even talking about putting more fence up in the lake to accomplish this. BUT, he is more than willing to try and find a solution so that we both get what we want. He is out of town till Wednesday. We'll set up a time to meet out at Rush sometime after after he gets back.

Who wants to join in? I'd like someone who rides at Rush a lot to attend that might want to be the UWA/Randy point contact. I dont get out there enough, and I think we'll be talking with him much more in the future.

This gets better.

Remember the "save Rush" post. This might be the guy to help do it. Some interesting points: He owns a lot of land around Rush. He owns 550 acre feet of water shares. He has a history with the main water sources to Rush. He use to water ski on Rush back in the day. He wants to create a recreational type environment around Rush. He's entertaining the idea of a water ski lake like the one nearby. He'd be happy to let us use his land to park on the East side if we every ran into problems on the West side. He proposed we could make improvements as we mutually saw fit. I dont think we could have run into a better landowner. It'll be interesting to see where this goes.

[Marty Lowe]

Good Job!!

-Marty

[tjacques]

les
i defieneately will help with any labor needed to help relocate. but a guy i work with is a long timer out there. i have been talking to him about the problem. he knows alot of the ranchers out there. if you want i can drop him randys name and see if he knows him? maybe someone that actually knows him could help out?
todd

[RickHeninger]

Nice work, Les! I think it's a good idea to ensure that we know who we're sending the letter to. Might have been that the letter would have ended up in the hands of someone who is not the owner, and we'd never know.

If it comes down to a phone negotiation, then the ideas for the letter here can stand in as a "script" of sorts for whoever does the calling. I think everyone following this thread knows the issues, and could communicate our position with more or less the same level of accuracy. Les has been a good ambassador for the Utah kiting community, and I see no reason why he can't take point on this issue, unless the UWA leadership would rather be in that role.

I think at this point, it's best to enumerate what the UWA is prepared to do about this issue. So far, the offer of labor to move the fence has been put out there, and I think there was some mention of a bribe (gas cards, fruit baskets, ...). If it comes down to a negotiation, what can we offer?

-J

Just read the whole thread for first time...

Les is UWA kiteboard leadership! So, whatever we need to do Les to help you out, just let me know... I'd be happy to join you in any meetings. But it looks like this problem is probably not going to make it to any kind of "Town Meeting" yet... If it does get to where the drive get's to be a pain... Those in this thread are your committee... Looks like you've got as much help as you'll need. I think Marty is right that there needs to be as he put it, older farts, that can relate with those farmers who have been there in the valley for years.

Les mentioned the liability of them having their fence where it's dangerous to us. It was one of my first thoughts. But then we run into BIG probs with them fighting us even BEING THERE! And that's suicide (maybe sewercide out at Rush). I think the best way is to mention that we simply want to keep it safe. No big deal. Keep the legal stuff out of it until LAST resort. Maybe some alternative methods, cows go to the end of the fence and cut around it, but I think there are methods where you can put cattle guards at the end of fences and cows won't walk much further than the end of the fence if they can't get around close to it, of course it would be an underwater cattle guard. Maybe help them come up with less expensive effective alternatives to the fence. I don't know, just some thoughts. It's kind of a tough dilemma.

But I agree with what somebody said, offering anything is probably going to be laughed at. Their cows are worth way more than we can offer them. A 1980's windsurf rig, with a free lesson on how to rig it! he he... But token gifts would be nice. Dinner gift certificates for their time.

We need 600 inches of snow to fall in that watershed, then the fence would be under enough water... But it would be nice to get out all the stray fences before the lake fills back up! Yes, I said fills up! Wishful thinking doesn't hurt. I remember one time a group of us removed a huge piece of rotted out barbed wire fence. I'm sure there are plenty willing to help with the labor part if the debate part is done.

[Marty Lowe]

Les has contacted Randy H.
according to Les, he sounded very interested in our fence concerns,
and is easy to talk with.

Les is unable to go meet with him.

I have Randy's phone number and have left him a message.
When he returns my call, we (UWA) will make a plan.

-Marty

---------------------
I am at Rush now. Randy just called me back. He is coming to meet at 5:00. I'll voice our group questions and see where he stands. I have a gas gift card to give him for his time.
Wind is gusty 8-20mph 55 degree

[brian.doubek]

Brian,

Where did you get this map? How did you put it together?

I am a GIS (geographic information system) analyst for an environmental consulting firm in SLC. The Toole county parcel data is less than 6 months old, and the BLM boundary is current as well. All the data displayed on this map is freely available from the state GIS office, I compile it with a software package called ArcGIS.

I am happy to make more maps for this effort if needed. If we need big, paper copies (up to 36x54") to take to meetings, I can do that as well.

If anyone can think of other useful features to be displayed on a map, please let me know and I will work on it.

The only other feature I can think of to map for this effort would be the extent of the shoreline at a couple different water levels. This is easy to do but I may not get around to it for few days.