The High Lakes Stabilization Project this summer had its workers experiencing new adventures during their 58 days at camp and creating a little stabilization of their own.

Among the dozen workers in the Garfield Basin, there were two sets of newlyweds, and two engaged workers. Another worker, after spending some time in the mountains, used his week off to propose to his significant other.

Group members bonded as they dealt with unstable weather conditions and limited use of communications equipment. Four horses were on standby, the only means of travel in case of emergency.

“There were 11 other people besides myself in there,” said Randy Crozier, general manager of Duchesne County Water Conservancy District. “After three weeks we did a rotation of three to four on a weekly basis. Flying J (Outfitters) did the moving of the people in and out on horseback.

“We had a pretty nice camp set up,” Crozier continued. “We had walled tents with wood stoves and hot showers so it wasn't quite like your normal camping. We did breakfast at 6 in the morning, and went to work at 7. We worked through the day and wrapped it up at about 5:30 and did supper, then started it all over the next day.”

There were few problems, he said.

“We were very fortunate. We did not have any accidents or anything, things went well. We did have permission from the stake president to allow us to do a sacrament service on Sundays which was nice for those who wanted to participate.”

Flying J Outfitters also brought four coolers of food into camp a couple of times a week.

“Everyone worked hard all day and did what they were asked,” said Dex Winterton, assistant manager of the water conservancy district.

“We would be tired, but we took turns cooking at night. I really enjoyed working with this crew.”

Crozier's camp experience was a bit of a family affair this year, which was a huge support when he had to leave the mountains for his son's heart surgery. Back at camp, two of Crozier's children, one nephew and two of their spouses continued to work. The only contact with home was a satellite phone which each camper could use for five minutes a day.

“It was hard,” Julie Crozier Lamb said. “I always wondered 'what's happening,' but I got to talk to dad on the phone. I called my little brother a couple of times and my mom.”

AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

The federal, state and local project in the High Uintas Wilderness Area was created to modify historic dam structures at 13 mountain lakes. Five of the lakes were stabilized during this summer's project. There are two lakes left to work on next year.

The U.S. Reclamation, Mitigation and Conservation Commission and U.S. Department of the Interior oversaw the project, which began three years ago. The project was scheduled to end in 2012, but it's two years ahead of schedule.

“We had four reservoirs in the Garfield Basin that we went to take care of and stabilize and we completed them,” Randy Crozier said of the work this year. “There was five, but one of them was over in the Brown Duck Basin and the Bureau of Reclamation took (that one).”

Brian Paul, Duchesne Ranger District High Lakes Dam Stabilization Coordinator, said in the past, the water collected in the dams was released each year to water users of the Big Sand Wash Reservoir. That will no longer be the case.

“The purpose of the dams was to provide late-season irrigation water. Farmers needed it in the late summer and early fall,” he said.

Stabilization will restore wilderness characteristics by letting the water levels in the lakes and streams return to natural levels.

“We're actually cutting a notch through those dams and stabilizing that notch,” Paul said. “What it will do is allow us to not have to use motorized equipment to maintain those dams which is more consistent with the Utah Wilderness Act of 1984.”

In order to meet requirements of the wilderness act, Paul had to analyze every sub-task to decide if certain tasks could be done by hand in order to minimize the impact from motorized equipment.

He used information from the Bureau of Reclamation, Ashley National Forest engineers and Duchesne water conservancy district to plan how much and what kind of equipment would be needed to complete the tasks in a timely manner.

“We take surveyors up there and they survey the land, the dams and the natural lake level,” Paul said. “We get all of our data points in and run those through hydrological models. We use all that different information and all these variables and ... then we just develop the best mix. It's really a process.”

VISITORS FROM BELOW

Along with two alternating managers, three women and eight men labored 10 hours a day, six days a week, enduring sun, wind, rain and snow. They used track-hoes, skid-steers and worked by hand, but on the seventh day, they rested.

“I love the high country,” Randy Crozier said. “I always heard that every day you spent on the mountain, God gave you one more. So I try to spend as many days in the high country as I can.”

During their time off at night the group would play card games or listen to satellite radio. On Sundays they fished or hiked. However, this year Julie Crozier Lamb found a new way to pass the time.

“This year was a lot of fun, because I was a newlywed,” said Lamb, the second-year project veteran. “I enjoyed being with my husband, of course. He is a big fly-fisher so he taught me how to fly fish which was a lot of fun.

“Three of the people were engaged – two have since married and the third has set a date in October – while we were there,” Lamb continued. “It was hard for my sister (Hailey Crozier). At first she was doing really good because she got her phone call every day. Then the phone call wasn't enough, but her fiancé actually hiked up there a couple of times.”

Other campers also enjoyed visits from loved ones, and shared special memories on the mountain.

“My favorite time was when my then-fiancée was able to come up and visit me,” Steven Stansfield said about his now wife, Carlyn. “What was really unique was we actually took our engagement pictures up there. She road up on a horse with curlers in her hair.”

Worker Casey Long used his week off the mountain to propose to Daedree Holmes.

“I got engaged,” Long said. “Halfway through the summer we decided it felt right. It was pretty exciting. She did come up with her father and younger brother and their big dog, they hiked in all the way. It just brought us closer having her come up there.

“The work was good,” Long continued. “I was a track-hoe operator a lot of the times. It was fun working on the dams, knowing the history that had come from them. How they built them in the early 1900s. I'm sure they thought they'd be there probably forever. It was neat to see that and see all the hard work they put into it so we tried to respect what they did. The people we were with made it a lot of fun.”

The crew only cut notches out of the dam to breach them since the dams are on the historic register.

“We don't take down everything we can,” Paul said. “A lot of it is part of the historic structure, but we broke up bits of concrete and that's what we take out. The only thing that should be left is the dam structure itself with a notch in it and an outlet channel.”

The workers started on June 19. The heavy equipment, and everything that was taken into camp was transported out by helicopter in late August.

“Next year we have only two lakes out of those 13 left to do,” Paul said. “East Timothy and Deer Lake. Those are going to be the most complicated so far due to various constraints like topography or size of rocks and other material that will be removed.

“We had a successful year,” he added. “We stabilized the dams, and preserved the majority of the dam for the future for cultural benefit.”