Protecting Bear Lake: Invasive species pose a growing threat

Thirty-eight miles west through Logan Canyon lies Bear Lake, nestled within the sleepy town of Garden City. Often dubbed the “Caribbean of the Rockies,” Bear Lake is beloved to locals and visitors alike. In recent years, concern has risen over invasive species and rapid development posing serious threats to the area’s rich biodiversity.

Utah State University has gathered scientists, students and stakeholders under the Bear Lake Needs Assessment project in order to outline and address critical issues facing Bear Lake.

Kori Kurtzeborn is a data analysis and communications assistant for the project.

“There are a lot of questions right now about the health of Bear Lake’s ecosystems,” Kurtzeborn said. “It’s not in crisis, but there’s a lot of emerging threats. There’s sedimentation issues in the lake and emerging invasive species like Eurasian watermilfoil and quagga mussels.”

The project encompasses three main branches: a comprehensive report of information and management plans for Bear Lake, research programs run by USU and outreach coordination.

One of the biggest concerns which research from the project hopes to address is the presence of Eurasian watermilfoil. Likely brought to Bear Lake by a boat carrying Eurasian watermilfoil, this aquatic plant creates thick, densely-packed clumps which crowd out other native plants, deoxygenate the water and have serious impacts on biodiversity.

Mirella Ortiz is an assistant professor at USU and has conducted extensive research on invasive species in Bear Lake.

“Eurasian watermilfoil was first identified in Bear Lake in 2019,” Ortiz said. “They did the first treatments with herbicides in 2020 on the Utah side. They sprayed herbicides in 2021 and in 2022, and when I first visited the sites, they weren’t seeing a good control of the watermilfoil with herbicides that should be highly effective. I was very puzzled.”

To investigate anomalies surrounding Eurasian watermilfoil and its interactions with herbicides in Bear Lake, Ortiz and her research team tested how the watermilfoil grew and interacted with herbicides within samples of Bear Lake water and samples of tap water.

Results showed the watermilfoil not only grew faster in the Bear Lake samples, but were harder to control via herbicides.

“The plants were growing almost twice as fast and were a lot more vigorous,” Ortiz said. “We were able to 100% control the plants in tap water but not the plants in Bear Lake water. Either the herbicide is being degraded faster by the water chemistry, or the plant is metabolizing the herbicide a lot faster because it has more vigor.”

Further research indicated herbicides do not degrade faster in Bear Lake water, suggesting Eurasian watermilfoil in Bear Lake are especially hardy. Ortiz’s research will now focus on internal processes of the watermilfoil.

“The next question is, once the herbicide gets inside the plant, what happens to the herbicide?” Ortiz said. “Are the plants absorbing differential amounts of herbicides, and once it’s inside, how is it being metabolized?”

The sturdiness of Eurasian watermilfoil is only one obstacle towards eradicating the species. A native type of watermilfoil exists within Bear Lake and has the capacity to form a hybrid with the Eurasian species, which is harder to control and is more aggressive.

“In all of the genetic testing, we did we did not detect any hybrids yet,” Ortiz said. “But if we don’t control the Eurasian watermilfoil in time, the potential of us finding hybrids soon is pretty high.”

Eurasian watermilfoil spreads quickly in Bear Lake due to the lake’s popular recreational use. Boats frequently pick up and fragment watermilfoil, spreading its seeds across the lake and giving rise to infestations.

To further combat Eurasian watermilfoil, Ortiz emphasizes preventing these infestations from occurring.

“There’s always a chance these plants will come in through boats,” Ortiz said. “If every single boat owner were to follow requirements from the state — like washing your boat — the problem would not be there. Part of the solution is stopping new invasions and the public being aware of regulations when you’re launching your boat into the lake.”

According to Bear Lake Watch, boaters should stop at boat inspection stations, avoid boating through infested areas, remove visible plants or debris and report any sightings of Eurasian watermilfoil.

Other solutions apart from herbicide involve physical removal and understanding water movement, however these come with their own unique challenges. Physical removal, while a good short-term solution, requires significant manpower and does not completely remove the plant.

“Usually, an integrated weed management plan where you first remove all the biomass and then do a chemical control is the best option,” Ortiz said.

Understanding sediment transport within Bear Lake can help predict where invasive plants are likely to grow, allowing for efficient management and halting population growth.

“If we can know where to go, it will make life a lot easier,” Ortiz said.

According to Ortiz, Eurasian watermilfoil have been identified early enough where Bear Lake can still recover from its effects.

“We are actually in a good spot where the department of natural resources and the department of agriculture took action early enough where the situation is still manageable,” Oritz said.

Initiatives like the Bear Lake Watch and the Bear Lake Needs Assessment project have been working to address these issues and ensure other concerns are heard.

“There’s a lot of people concerned about Bear Lake Watch — they’re just a group of concerned citizens who drive a lot of these concerns up to the department of natural resources and USGS [the United States Geological Survey],” Ortiz said.

Alex Theophilus is a graduate research assistant involved with the project. Theophilus spoke with 28 full-time and seasonal residents, highlighting the personal stake many people have with Bear Lake.

“Bear Lake is special to a lot of people for a lot of reasons — that was one of the biggest takeaways,” Theophilus said. “There are lots of people who visit for a weekend and enjoy recreating, but there are also a lot of people who live there, and it’s home for these people.”

According to World Population Review, Garden City houses 750 people as of 2024.

“They’re passionate about the lake and about their communities,” Theophilus said. “People love where they live, and they love the lake. They just want to see some things changed or planned for so the lake can be protected in the future.”

Concerns from full-time and seasonal Bear Lake residents, apart from invasive species, centered around growth and development. According to the Institute for Land, Water and Air and Utah State Data Guide, the area has seen a 300% increase in visitation and use over the past decade and a 20% increase in population.

Residents are concerned about proper planning around this new growth in relation to housing prices, water quantity, effects on wildlife habitats from housing development and impact on septic systems.

“Most people said it’s better growing than not growing,” Theophilus said. “But they want to make sure that their kids who grow up in the area are able to afford a house in the future.”

Holistic planning and policies, which consider the needs of the local community and environment, are major goals of concerned residents in order to protect the future of Bear Lake.

“There are a lot of community members that care deeply about the lake and where they live,” Theophilus said. “Talking to people, I realized there are folks either currently engaged in action or very interested in action to make sure the future of Bear Lake is bright.”

The last branch of the project ties all prior research and local calls for change together into implementation via outreach targeted at the state legislature.

“The third part is us compiling and synthesizing all of this work,” Kurtzeborn said. “We also do a lot of logistical stuff, like what exists planning-wise for the valley, what the implementation and update plan looks like and then connect stakeholders and people who should be working together.”   

The outreach aspect of the program seeks to actively involve stakeholders and residents in protective efforts.

“Because of this research and communication between shoreline property owners and Forestry, Fire and State Lands, we’ve been able to set up training for beach property owners to know how to remove Eurasian watermilfoil on their own,” Kurtzeborn said. “Nobody wants it there, but Forestry, Fire and State Lands don’t have the personnel to get rid of it — so why not let property owners do it themselves if they have the skillset to do so?”   

The core of the project’s outreach is to ensure the voices of local stakeholders are heard by those who have the capacity to make lasting change.

“Stakeholders in Bear Lake Valley are witnessing these emerging threats,” Kurtzeborn said. “They see Eurasian watermilfoil on their beach. They see sedimentation in the lake.”

Jurisdiction over Bear Lake is split between several entities: the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands oversees comprehensive management, PacifiCorp owns storage and water rights and the state of Utah owns the land.

All of these entities are based in Salt Lake City, over 100 miles away from Bear Lake.

“To them, it’s very real that the people who have power to make a change can’t observe these threats because they and their legislatures live in Salt Lake City or Boise,” Kurtzeborn said.

Outreach coordinators for the project are able to advocate for the needs of local stakeholders by translating the data coming out of Bear Lake to legislators, effectively bridging the communicative gap.

“Science, data and results are really the language of these legislators,” Kurtzeborn said. “To get the people who can make change, they need that kind of communication. The stakeholders in the valley don’t speak the language of the legislature or have the science to communicate the problems they’re experiencing.”

A combination of public policy and collective efforts have historically gone a long way in enacting environmental change. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative of 2010 is a hallmark example — according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, over 4,000 acres of habitat were restored and invasive species threat was significantly tampered across these five lakes.

The initiative cites respect for public opinion, community and agency partnership and federal funding as the driving forces behind preservation of the Great Lakes.

“I don’t think we can really see big, lasting change without policy and legislative action,” Kurtzeborn said. “That’s why it’s important to engage political stakeholders. It’s a matter of getting political and community stakeholders to speak each other’s language.”

Research and community action continue in Bear Lake as the community fights to preserve this local treasure.

“None of this stuff is to a point where we can’t intervene and preserve the beauty of Bear Lake, but they’re very real threats,” Kurtzeborn said. “What I will say is that residents and people of the valley are deeply attached to the lake and are fiercely fighting to protect it.”