The Idaho Senate Resources and Environment Committee on March 6 endorsed a bill that would add Bear Lake to a statute that aims to preserve lakes and other waters that are popular for recreation.

The committee voted to send Senate Bill 1112, which also has irrigation and power-production implications, to the full Senate with a do-pass recommendation.

Idaho and Utah share the turquoise-colored, natural lake.

Water that is not already appropriated for another beneficial-use right must be managed in the public interest — such as for recreational, scenic or nature-related considerations — at nine lakes and other water bodies specified in Idaho Code Title 67, Chapter 43. The state’s view of, and priorities for, Bear Lake would be made clear if it is added to the statute, and doing so may strengthen the state’s position in future management discussions with Utah, bill advocates said.

Adding Bear Lake to the statute would recognize the lake as a highly valued resource and for its unique characteristics, provide for its preservation, specify the state’s desire to prevent degradation, “provide that the state supports enhancement of the operational utility of Bear Lake for irrigation storage purposes,” encourage that agencies and stakeholders work together, and “provide that provisions shall not change any water rights or appropriate any water,” according to the bill text.

The bill “recognizes Bear Lake’s unique qualities to the people of the state while acknowledging its current uses for irrigation storage, power generation, flood control and recreation,” its purpose statement reads in part.

Idaho Parks and Recreation Director Susan Buxton and Claudia Cottle of Bear Lake Watch testified in favor of the bill.

Bear Lake and the Bear River are home to the unique Bonneville Cutthroat trout, which is not protected under the Endangered Species Act but has been the subject of past efforts to do so.

“If those fish get threatened, we’re all in trouble,” Cottle said. “And we have to be careful about the Clean Water Act.”

Should conflicts occur over federal environmental law, the state would be in better position if SB 1112 passes, she said.

“Water is an increasingly important, and in some cases scarce resource,” Sen. Mark Harris, R-Soda Springs, the bill’s sponsor, said in an interview. “It’s crucial that we protect Bear Lake because it provides water for irrigation, power generation and recreation — all three of which are important for the economy and the livelihoods of southeastern Idahoans.”

The state in mid-2021 started the Bear River Basin Adjudication. The legal process reviews and confirms surface water and groundwater rights.

“Both together should strengthen Idaho’s position in retaining and protecting ownership of Idaho’s water,” Harris said, referring to the adjudication and the proposed SB 1112. Given population growth, “there is an increasing demand throughout the West on water.”

The Idaho Water Users Association supports the bill, said Paul Arrington, executive director and general counsel.

Irrigation is an important use in the Bear system, he said.

“So you’ve got the normal pressures associated with multiple uses, and the interstate pressures,” Arrington said. The river flows in Wyoming as well as in Utah and Idaho.

Utah is dealing with Great Salt Lake decline, and “looking everywhere they can to address that,” he said. SB 1112 “is an arrow in the quiver to help Idaho protect its interests in and uses of the lake.”