SALT LAKE CITY — The Great Salt Lake's rebound is still a work in progress, but the lake's vital ecosystem is about to receive another boost.
The Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands and the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust announced Monday that they've awarded a little more than $5.4 million toward projects over the next two years that the agencies say will benefit about 6,000 acres of wetlands within the Great Salt Lake area.
"These grants will help protect and enhance the unique services that wetlands provide — wildlife habitat and food, water management, flood control — while also benefiting the hydrology of Great Salt Lake and the quality of life for surrounding communities," said Marcelle Shoop, the trust's executive director and director of the National Audubon Society's Saline Lakes program, in a statement.
Ducks Unlimited received almost $2.7 million toward its project to improve the Salt Creek and Public Shooting Grounds wildlife and waterfowl management areas within the Bear River watershed near the lake's North Bay, marking the largest grant handed out.
The nonprofit will match nearly $900,000 to fund the project, which seeks to repair Salt Creek's Bypass Canal and the Pintail Lake levee within the Public Shooting Grounds. New water monitoring equipment would also be installed to help make water management "more reliable" within the estimated 2,828 acres of wetlands that would benefit from the project, according to the agencies involved.
Monday's announcement comes after state land managers awarded Ducks Unlimited a $5 million contract for projects that seek to repair the flow of the Bear River as it dumps into the Great Salt Lake. Ben Stireman, deputy director of the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, explained earlier this month that all of those projects will focus on water quality, erosion and invasive species issues along a 65-mile stretch of the Lower Bear River.
"One of (Duck Unlimited's) priorities is improving water quality in the lake and its major tributary streams," Chris Bonsignore, manager of conservation programs for the nonprofit, said in a statement after the deal was reached.
Meanwhile, state land managers and the enhancement trust awarded other grants that fund three other projects around the lake's ecosystem. These are:
- $1.5 million to help the National Audubon Society's Rockies chapter stabilize the banks of Goggin Drain west of the Salt Lake City International Airport, which aims to protect 400 acres of "critical" saline wetland playas near the southern end of the lake.
- About $710,000 to help state wildlife officials repair 3,7000 linear feet of levee at Ogden Bay Waterfowl Management Area to combat invasive species and improve the area's ecosystem diversity. Another item in the project seeks to add new water control structures to boost direct water releases to the Great Salt Lake from the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.
- The Nature Conservancy will receive almost $700,000 to fund its project to design and install water control structures that manage stormwater runoff into the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve near Farmington Bay, benefitting the lake's hydrology and biodiversity.
Funding for the project comes from money directed to the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Program, which was created through a $40 million Utah Legislature allocation in 2022. Monday's announcement follows about $8.5 million that the trust directed to eight wetlands conservation projects last year, which was expected to benefit more than 13,000 acres of wetlands.
Project officials said they believe all of the projects will help build "longer-term resiliency" for the wetlands, which are considered a key habitat for millions of migratory birds every year as the region bounces in and out of drought and other climate challenges.
The lake reached a record low of 4,188.5 feet elevation in 2022, which brought its ecosystem to the brink of collapse at the time. Its southern arm is now back to 4,192.4 feet elevation, while its northern arm is up to 4,191.5 feet elevation — a vast improvement but still about 5½-6½ feet below its minimum healthy level.
"Collaboration on every level — including funding mechanisms and diverse recipients — is a vital part of the solution when it comes to addressing the challenges facing Great Salt Lake and its wetlands," Stireman said.
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