PRESS RELEASE: Trust Awards Funding to Protect and Restore More Than 13,000 Acres of Essential Great Salt Lake Wetlands

Eight Projects Awarded $8.5 Million to Benefit Great Salt Lake Hydrology

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SALT LAKE CITY—The Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust (the Trust), co-led by National Audubon Society’s Saline Lakes Program and The Nature Conservancy, is pleased to announce the awardees of its Wetlands Protection and Restoration Funding opportunity for 2023. Eight projects from local, state, federal, and non-governmental entities were awarded a total of $8,525,343 in funding over the next two years to protect and/or restore wetlands and benefit the hydrology of Great Salt Lake.   

Great Salt Lake and its associated wetlands are an essential intertwined ecosystem that supports economic, ecologic, cultural, and public health benefits. The wetlands surrounding Great Salt Lake provide crucial habitat for millions of migratory birds, recreational opportunities, and many other public benefits including protecting water quality.  Projects supported through this effort can help build longer-term resiliency for these wetlands, particularly in the face of drought and climate change.  

Spanning more than 13,000 acres of wetlands and habitat surrounding Great Salt Lake, applicants and partners are providing at least $6.5 million in matching contributions.   

“On behalf of the Trust, we are excited to direct funding to collaborative projects that will conserve and restore wetlands and their important connections to sustaining Great Salt Lake’s water flows and the quality of life for surrounding communities,” said Marcelle Shoop, Executive Director of the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust. “We greatly appreciate the guidance from numerous Great Salt Lake experts who invested significant time to aid the Trust Advisory Council in reaching its award decisions.”  

No one organization can solve the challenges facing Great Salt Lake alone—partnerships and collaboration through projects such as these are crucial to achieving forward progress. These grants will help protect and enhance the incomparable services that wetlands provide—wildlife habitat and food, water filtration, flood control—while also benefiting the hydrology of Great Salt Lake.   

“Solving the challenges facing Great Salt Lake requires all of us working together leveraging resources, and sharing expertise,” said Brian Steed, Great Salt Lake Commissioner. “I’m grateful to the Trust for leading this charge to improve the lake’s wetlands to benefit the lake’s hydrology, and the grantees for doing this work that will benefit the lake and its wildlife.”   

Spread across the eastern and southern shore of the lake, the impact of each wetland project will be long-lasting and significant for the wildlife that depend on the health of the wetland ecosystems.   

Awardees and projects include:   

• Blackhawk Water Control Structures    
  State of Utah, Division of Wildlife Resources   
  Grant Amount: $125,625   
  Match: $41,875   
  Total Project Amount: $167,500  

• State Canal Dam-Burnham Dam: Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area  
  Ducks Unlimited  
  Grant Amount: $1,153,637   
  Match: $297,184   
  Total Project Amount: $1,450,821    

• South Shore of Great Salt Lake – Wetlands and Habitat Preservation and Restoration  
  Salt Lake City, Department of Public Utilities   
  Grant Amount: $2,226,195   
  Match: at least $4,456,000  
  Total Project Amount: $6,682,195  

• Burton Dam and Sewage Canal    
  Ducks Unlimited  
  Grant Amount: $683,112   
  Match: $176,373   
  Total Project Amount: $859,484    

• West Layton Marsh Restoration    
  The Nature Conservancy   
  Grant Amount: $789,443   
  Match: $363,954   
  Total Project Amount: $1,153,397    

• Bypass Canal: Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area    
  Ducks Unlimited  
  Grant Amount: $785,742  
  Match: $420,050   
  Total Project Amount: $1,205,792  

• Monitoring Flows from Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge to Great Salt Lake   
  US Fish and Wildlife Service  
  Grant Amount: $385,532  
  Match: $186,666  
  Total Project Amount: $572,199  

• South Run and Unit 2 Restoration: Ogden Bay Waterfowl Management Area    
  Ducks Unlimited  
  Grant Amount: $2,376,057   
  Match: $597,673   
  Total Project Amount: $2,973,730  

These projects were selected after a thorough process of eligibility review and scoring by a Technical Review Committee made of Great Salt Lake ecosystem experts. Final award decisions were made by non-applicant members of the Trust Advisory Council.   

Funding is provided through the Trust, which was established in January 2023 pursuant to the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Program with $40 million in funding from the State of Utah to enhance water quantity and water quality for Great Salt Lake and its wetlands. The Act provides that no less than 25% (or $10 million) of the funding will be used “to protect and restore wetlands and habitats in the Great Salt Lake’s surrounding ecosystem to benefit the hydrology of the Great Salt Lake.”    

“These projects and the organizations implementing them, with their expertise and drive will have long-lasting impacts on the Lake and its systems,” said Ben Stireman, Deputy Director for Lands & Minerals, Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands. “I’m looking forward to seeing the projects on the ground which will meaningfully restore and protect wetlands—an indispensable natural resource.”  

Click here for more information on each project proposal and their impact.  

The Trust will be working with the Grantees to enter into funding agreements so projects can get started in 2024. 

To learn more about project eligibility requirements, selection process, and to view a map of the funded projects, visit https://www.gslwatertrust.org/wetland-grants.  

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Contact:  
Shaela Adams, Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust Communications Manager  
Shaela.Adams@audubon.org; 385-355-4340