Two awards from the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, along with the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust, will go to projects benefiting the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.

State wildlife officials will use about $710,000 to repair over 3,700 linear feet of a levee at the Ogden Bay Waterfowl Management area, as well as add control water structures to help with water release on the Great Salt Lake from the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area. 

The Nature Conservancy will also receive nearly $700,000 to design and install water control structures for stormwater runoff into the GSL Shorelands Preserve near Farmington Bay. That is expected to help the lake’s hydrology and biodiversity.

The two state agencies awarded a total $5.4 million toward projects along the lake over the next two years, stating that they will benefit about 6,000 acres of wetlands within the GSL 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.

“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.

Another grant for $1.5 million will 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. 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. 

A statement said project officials 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. λ