© 2009 Alan Murray and Brian Davidson/Uncharted Staff 

Photographs by Alan Murray

Blocks of hay checker the rich green landscape. A rattling tractor brushes across a canvas of acres. Just behind an old barn, a water skier trails a speeding boat. Canoes emerge silently from a wetland passage. From every vantage point, the marsh is evident. Cattails and rushes provide a curtain along the riverbanks whereas elsewhere you might expect sagebrush and wild grasses. Farmlands pepper the marsh. All weave together a vast tapestry: threads of wildlife, recreation and vegetation, forming a peninsula of beauty and life in arid Northern Utah.

Jim Watterson is just one of the tapestry’s many observers. The rattling tractor is his. His gray hair and summer tan reveal decades of hard work and perseverance.

“This old baler has baled a million bales. It’s been a good one,” he says as he climbs down from the tractor. “I always like a field that’s finished. Somehow the old cows tend to look for us come winter time, and it’s nice to have something to feed them.”

For 46 years, Watterson, aptly named, has farmed along Cache Valley’s Cutler Marsh. With his wife Barbara, he carries a legacy spanning five generations. “I’ve lived here all my life,” says Watterson. “My great-grandfather came and homesteaded here. The house has been here since 1878.”

Before Europeans entered the valley, the land was known only to the Shoshone Indians. Then, in the mid 1800s, pioneer families including Jim’s great-grandfather, William Watterson, arrived. William, an immigrant from England, made the long journey across the plains with a company of Mormon settlers. William entered a realm full of challenges. There was no irrigation, so he found lowlands where the water flowed and began farming. Indian relations were rocky. Once, a tribe kidnapped an infant. The men rallied, William among the company, to recover the lost child.

In time, towns sprung up with canals, sawmills, and gristmills, allowing for irrigation, lumber, and grain. What was once thought by early explorers as barren wasteland became filled by farmland as far as the eye could see.
    
And while his forbearers no doubt faced many pioneering difficulties settling this new frontier, Jim Watterson faces his own challenges today. Rising fuel prices make small acreage farming a fragile trade. “Every time you fill a tractor up, it’s $150. It doesn’t last very long,” he says. Equipment is expensive too, with prices for a single combine soaring to $150,000. “It’s just not feasible with small acreage to pay a high dollar for the equipment you need, so we get by with used equipment and look at dull paint.”

With the threat of large corporate farms offering lower prices per acre, coupled with a dry stretch raising alfalfa, wheat, and beef cattle, the Wattersons finally had to find more creative ways to bring in extra cash.

And they did find a way: in the water that attracted William Watterson to the spot in the 1800s. With the spring marsh flooding reaching to their backyard, they started renting canoes to paddlers interested in sneaking a peek at the marsh’s prolific wildfowl population. The trips do not disappoint. Only seconds after leaving the launch area, paddlers pass underneath a bridge home to hundreds of swallows that have built their mud nests on the bridge’s concrete beams. Further along, it’s easy to spot barn owls, Clark’s grebes, pelicans, gulls, red-shouldered blackbirds and the majestic sandhill crane. Visitors in spring can also spy Canada geese herding their goslings through the reeds and cattails on the riverbanks.

The river is mild even in spring, with the current lolloping along at just a few miles an hour. With only moderate paddling, the five-mile journey from the marina to the Wattersons’ property takes only about 2 ½ hours.

In addition to the canoe rentals, the Wattersons also started raising pheasants as part of a private hunting club. Three or four times daily they feed the birds, housed in spacious mesh cages, just outside their home. With no membership fee – they pay a fee per bird -- hunters can enjoy nearly 250 acres of cover, full of wetlands.

The marsh and reservoir could have fallen victim to competing interests, which have instead found a way to cooperate for mutual benefit. The reservoir, which regulates the flow of the Logan, Bear, and Little Bear rivers, is operated as a hydroelectric and irrigation project by PacifiCorp, the local electric utility. The 9,700 acres of wetland and upland encompassing the protected marsh area is owned by both the utility and private landowners. It also encompasses the Bud Phelps Wildlife Management Area owned by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and an additional 146 acres owned by the Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Amidst this recreational cooperative, the Wattersons – in-between bailing hay, repairing equipment, and feeding cattle – haul canoes back and forth across the reservoir, helping people try on life jackets and giving beginners some pointers on how to steer their boats. They even allow boaters to enjoy a quiet campfire on their land at the end of their river journey.

Jim also took on an extra job monitoring over 100 flow meters, which measure water usage along the river for the state of Utah. “We’re unable to make enough dollars to pull a living out of it without these other adventures we’ve started,” he says, hoisting a heavy bag of feed over his shoulder. “It’s a hard time for the small farmer.”

While the future of small acreage farming is uncertain, he’s hopeful that life along the marsh will stay intact. “We love it here. We have water around three sides of us. Our hope is that it stays a farm; that it doesn’t go into housing. It would be easy to take that easy dollar and grow houses,” he says. “This is a corner of earth that really shouldn’t go into development. There’s wildlife all over and everything needs a spot. I guess we kind of help provide that spot.”

For More Information:

Bridgerland Audubon Society:

http://www.bridgerlandaudubon.org/wetlandsmaze/links.html

 

Canoe Rentals: Uncharted recommends renting canoes from Jim and Barb Watterson at Muddy Road Outfitters.

Canoe rentals are $10 per person. Canoes, life jackets, paddles, and maps are provided, along with assistance in loading and unloading canoes. A grassy picnic area at the end of the canoe route, complete with outdoor lights, toilet and fire pit, is available at no additional charge. The Wattersons will also move one vehicle from the launch area to the picnic area for transport back to the launch area, at no extra charge. Additionally, for those warmer days and rowdier crowds, the Wattersons will also provide high-powered squirt guns.

The Wattersons may be contacted via cell phone: Jim (435) 213-0506; Barb (435) 213-0504. Check with them for canoe availability and seasonal conditions. They can also be contacted via e-mail through their website at http://muddyroad.net.

Canoes are also available from the Utah State University Outdoor Recreation Center for $12 for ½ day use and $18 for an entire day, but transportation of the canoes to and from the marsh is not provided.

 

Getting There: From U.S. Highway 89 (Logan’s Main Street) turn west on 200 North towards Benson and the Cache Valley Airport. Travel on the road for about six miles to the marina. About a half mile before you reach the marina, you’ll hit at T intersection. Turn right (north) and proceed past a church. You’ll see the marina on the right. If you cross a bridge over the Bear River, turn around, you’ve gone to far. The marina is at the bridge along the river’s eastern bank.

What to Bring: If you have your own canoes, life jackets, and other equipment, they’re welcome. Also bring mosquito repellent, binoculars (for bird watching), a camera, a waterproof bag in which to carry your equipment, and lunch. If you use Muddy Road Outfitters, your lunch and any other gear (camp chairs, firewood, et cetera) can be brought by vehicle to the end point.

What to Expect: In spring when the water is high, expect the trip to take about 2 to 2 ½ hours. When the water is lower in mid to late summer, the trip may take longer because you might have to turn around to get back to the marina or walk out a bit across a shallow marsh to dry ground.

If you exit at the Muddy Road Outfitters dock, plan on a walk in the summer from the river channel. The channel to the Watterson’s dock is marked on the main river by two scarecrows made up to resemble fishermen. In high water, the channel and pond to the dock is full, but stick to the pond’s western and southern shores as you paddle, as the middle of the pond is shallow and you’re likely to get stuck.

 

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