The Yellow Lake wildfire incinerated more than 33,000 acres in the autumn of 2024.
The blaze burned parts of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache and Ashley national forests in Utah and Wyoming and impacted the Provo and Duchesne watershed headwaters.
One of those tributaries was the Soapstone Creek, which feeds the Provo River — deemed priority water by environmental nonprofit Trout Unlimited and as a Blue Ribbon Fishery by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources — because of the native Bonneville cutthroat trout, mountain whitefish and the brown and the rainbow trout that call it home.
High Country Fly Fishers, the Park City chapter of Trout Unlimited, understands the waterway’s importance and is currently working with Trout Unlimited, the U.S. Forest Service and the Utah Division of Wildlife to help restore the area.
To do this, the Park City club is recruiting volunteers, said Jayne Guyse, High Country Fly Fishing vice president and conservation committee chair.
“We have Work dates — Aug. 8, 12, 14 and 15, and we’re working on about a mile-and-a-half along the banks of Soapstone Creek,” she said. “We need 200 volunteers scattered throughout the four days.”
Volunteers will basically do handiwork and not run heavy equipment, said Pat Ronneburg, conservation committee member, past chair and Utah Fly Fishing Hall of Fame inductee.
“We will do some willow planting, cutting and staking willows to stabilize creek banks, reseeding native vegetation to stabilize soil, building beaver dam analogues to slow water and reduce erosion and staking straw wattles that help reduce larger flows of debris,” she said. “It’s basically gardening, and we’re good at that. I can’t run a backhoe, but I can garden.”
Volunteers can sign up by visiting highcountryflyfishers.com/activities, said Guyse, who along with Ronneburg and past chair Bruce Pope compose the conservation committee.
“When you sign up, you will get emails from us with updates as we approach the dates, and those emails will give you more information,” she said.
The project, which is dubbed the Soapstone Creek Post-Yellow Lake Wildfire Restoration, is designed to prevent more ash and debris from flowing into the Provo River, as well as to revegetate and prevent erosion, Guyse said.
“Fish can’t breathe with all the gunk in the water,” she said. “That’s what kills them. It’s not the degrees of the fire’s heat so much as it is the ash.”
High Country Fly Fishers got involved with the project through Trout Unlimited, according to Guyse.
“They received some grants to work on the Provo River, and there are some sister projects that we’re working on the Duchesne side, which is where the Soapstone Basin is,” she said. “Because of where we’re located, we applied for those project grants.”
High Country Fly Fishers worked with Trout Unlimited Project Manager Kayleigh Mullen to get the grant applications submitted, Guyse said.
“Kayleigh also rounded up additional funds,” she said. “She also organized much of the planning and secured the heavy equipment. But our part is matching with in-kind support with labor, mileage and some small equipment like gloves and things like that.”
If people want to help but can’t volunteer, they can join the club or donate money through High Country Fly Fishers website at tinyurl.com/527vve8p, Ronneburg said.
“When they do that, they should send us an email to tell us what their donation is earmarked for,” she said.
Ronneburg said the Yellow Lake wildfire hit a nerve.
“Our family owned a family up on Pine Springs at one time, and my brother and I had sold it prior to the fire,” she said. “One of the reasons we sold it was because of the enormous beetle kill in that forest, especially on the Duchesne side, where the fire started.”
Ronneburg heard about those who had to evacuate when the fire jumped into Soapstone Basin, and it brought back memories of her own experience when the 2021 Parley’s Canyon fire scorched 541 acres and forcing the evacuation of up to 10,000 residents from roughly 6,000 to 8,000 homes in nearby Summit County and Salt Lake County.
“That was really scary to me, so when the Yellow Lake fire hit Soapstone, I was greatly touched,” she said.
The Yellow Lake fire also came within a few hundred yards of burning Guyes’ cabin.
“It stopped a quarter of a mile from our place because the wind changed and blew the fire back on itself,” she said, “While we didn’t experience any damage, the river ran ash for weeks.”
Because of these experiences Ronneburg doesn’t just want to help with restoration projects. She wants to help raise awareness of how to prevent wildfires.
“I think it’s critically important for people to understand what the effect of their behaviors are and how important it is to learn how to put out your fire before you leave the campsite or don’t drag car chains that can cause sparks,” she said. “The devastation of these wildfires is irreversible in my lifetime, but we can do things to begin the restoration. That’s what this is about. It’s about taking the first baby steps in the area.”
For information about the Soapstone Creek Post-Yellow Lake Wildfire Restoration project, visit highcountryflyfishers.com/projects.
For information about High Country Fly Fishers, visit highcountryflyfishers.com.