Steed Pond low, but not forgotten
Trevor Byington, in blue, fishes with his father, Dennis, and borther, Tyler, at Steed Pond in Clearfield on Saturday, March 7, 2015. The water levels in the city-owned pond are getting low and will be discussed with the Weber Basin Water Conservancy.
The Byington family fishes on Steed Pond in Clearfield on Saturday, March 7, 2015. The water levels in the city-owned pond are getting low and will be discussed with the Weber Basin Water Conservancy.
The Byington family fishes from the muddy shoreline of Steed Pond in Clearfield on Saturday, March 7, 2015. The water levels in the city-owned pond are getting low and will be discussed with the Weber Basin Water Conservancy.
Tyler Byington removes a hook from a fish he caught in Steed Pond in Clearfield on Saturday, March 7, 2015. The water levels in the city-owned pond are getting low and will be discussed with the Weber Basin Water Conservancy.
Sam Ross fishes in Steed Pond in Clearfield on Saturday, March 7, 2015. The water levels in the city-owned pond are getting low and will be discussed with the Weber Basin Water Conservancy.
CLEARFIELD — The water level in Steed Pond is as low as it has ever been, but Clearfield officials stress the city-owned pond has not been forgotten.
“We realize it is an asset to the city,” Clearfield Community Services Director Eric Howes told the Standard-Examiner.
The city recently received a letter from a Sunset woman complaining of the pond being a “mess,” with debris in the pond bottom now clearly being visible due to the low water level.
“It is the lowest our staff remembers having seen it,” Howes said of the pond located at about 450 North and 1000 West in Clearfield.
Steed Pond is currently between six to eight feet shallower than it normally is at this time of year, he said.
Due to the dry season, as well as seepage and evaporation, the pond level is way down, Howes said, but within a month the city should be able to remedy that problem once its secondary water lines have had a chance to fill.
“They (Weber Basin Water Conservancy District) won’t charge those secondary water channels until April 15,” Howes said.
After that it will take about a week to bring the pond up to a suitable level, he said.
Regarding the debris the public can now see resting in the pond bottom, Howes said, that debris will remain in place where it provides protection for the fish habitat living there.
“There is still fish in there,” Howes said of the pond stocked with fish at least twice a year by the State Division of Wildlife Resources.
“We had considered dredging both (Steed and Mabey Ponds) to clean the bottom of the ponds out, but the (Department of Natural Resources) discouraged us from doing so because the pipes, logs and concrete chunks improve the habitat for the fish that live in the ponds,” Howes said in an email to the Sunset woman.
“With the low level of the water, many of those items are now visible and unsightly,” he said.
Ogden fishery biologist Chris Penne corroborate’s Howes’ explanation.
“After receiving a few complaints about garbage at (Steed) pond, I took a trip out there recently to see things for myself. Maybe the garbage had already been cleaned up, because I saw little in the way of litter and trash,” Penne said in his email addressed to the Sunset woman.
Penne, who works in cooperation with Clearfield City in managing the pond, said while it’s not as pleasing to the eye when the water is down like it is now, most of what he observed there was structure installed over the years to provide habitat for the fish.
Howes said he assures the public the city ponds will continue to be cared for.
“I love that pond,” Howes said of the popular fishing hole, currently being fished by some.
Contact reporter Bryon Saxton at 801-625-4244 or bsaxton@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @BryonSaxton.