This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The June sucker is dead and beyond saving. The proposed experimental dike and channel at the mouth of the Provo River to save the sucker is an expensive boondoggle destined for failure ("Group wants agricultural zone to thwart Provo River delta," Tribune, April 11).
To save June suckers in Utah Lake, you must first eliminate the predators: the voracious walleye pike and channel catfish. Producing infant June suckers in the proposed diked and new channel areas will only provide feed for pike and catfish. The small June suckers are slow swimmers, much easier prey than white bass and carp minnows.
The economic and recreational benefits portrayed by the backers of saving the June sucker are pure fantasy without a basis in fact. Rather, there will be irreversible private property damage and serious damages to existing business livelihoods and recreational activities.
The state of Utah, the Utah County Commission and all citizens should vehemently protest using taxpayers' money for such an extravagant, failure-prone experiment under guise of the Endangered Species Act.
Unless predators are eliminated in Utah Lake, June suckers will not survive.
Donald C. Cole
Salem