USU Engineering Students Tackle Environmental Concerns at Bear Lake

Each year, thousands of visitors flock to Bear Lake to take advantage of its blue waters and sandy beaches, but those thousands of visitors are also disrupting one key thing that makes the lake so pristine: its ecosystem.

Brody Whiteaker, a third-year student studying environmental engineering at Utah State University, is a part of an ambitious research project to safeguard Bear Lake’s natural environment.

"The main threats we are monitoring are eutrophication, harmful algae blooms and the spread of pathogens," Whiteaker said. "With more people visiting each year, it’s essential to understand how these changes are affecting the lake’s ecosystem."

The Bear Lake Project will create a detailed profile of the lake’s water quality and microbial ecosystem across the four seasons. While there are several ongoing studies on Bear Lake’s water quality, this project is unique in its focus on shoreline sites — specifically beaches and boat launches — where human activity is concentrated.

This research could offer valuable insights for managing Bear Lake’s future, ensuring that the lake’s iconic beauty and ecological health are preserved despite increasing human pressure.

Over the next year, the team will collect water samples each season with the goal of correlating water quality changes with visitor traffic. They will also create an abundance map of harmful algae bloom species and monitor fecal indicator genes, which could indicate potential health risks associated with water contamination.

The research team has already conducted two sampling sessions in July and early September, with plans to finish analyzing the data this winter. Sampling will resume next spring, providing a full year’s worth of data on Bear Lake’s water quality and microbial dynamics.

“It will be fascinating to see how microbial communities change throughout the year and to understand how we can better protect our natural resources,” Whiteaker said.

Whiteaker’s journey began with his interest in working alongside students and professors at the Utah Water Research Laboratory. After consulting with one of his professors, he was offered a position as a lab assistant under the guidance of Liyuan Hou, a leading researcher at the Water Lab. He, along with graduate student Tahira Rahman and fellow undergraduate Kesler Hortin, will work on the project for the next few years.

As tourism at Bear Lake continues to grow, projects like this play a crucial role in safeguarding its ecosystem for future generations.