‘Largest single, coordinated riparian restoration effort’ for Jordan River unveiled at opening day of festival
Sep 10, 2024 12:08PM ● By Rebecca Olds
These volunteers’ boats are full of trash from a successful River Canoe Cleanup event at a previous year’s Get to the River Festival. (Courtesy of the Jordan River Commission)
The annual Get to the River Festival is in full swing during September along the length of the Jordan River Parkway. During the opening day of the festival on Aug. 30., a new restoration project with an accompanying $7 million added even more purpose to volunteers’ efforts.
“This will be the largest single, coordinated riparian restoration effort ever around Utah’s Jordan River, and will support a continued focus on the ecological health of the Utah Lake, Jordan River and Great Salt Lake watershed,” said a Jordan River Commission release, the commission is a government entity comprised of cities, counties, state agencies, and special districts working together to improve, restore and revitalize the Jordan River Parkway.
The Jordan River in Saratoga Springs. (Rebecca Olds/City Journals)
Kim Shelley, the executive director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and the lead grant recipient and manager said she’s grateful for all the partnerships making this project possible.
“Together, we're embarking on a journey to restore and rejuvenate this habitat, while fostering sustainable ecosystems for generations to come," she said in a release.
The majority of the funding—about $5 million—comes from the “America the Beautiful Challenge Grant” awarded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The grant also funded 74 other projects across the United States, totaling $141 million.
Sen. Mitt Romney said he was “proud to support the Commission’s efforts” which he expects will “accelerate critical projects related to the Jordan River’s watershed restoration and enhancement.”
“Utah continues to deal with a long-term drought problem,” Romney said in a commission release. “The Jordan River Commission’s programs are leading state conservation efforts to change the way water is used in the Salt Lake Valley—using public/private partnerships and community-oriented engagement to achieve measurable outcomes.”
The remaining $2 million in funding comes from state and local government contributions, private donations, and organizations such as the Jordan River Commission and the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands.
It’s anticipated the project will last two and a half years and include restoring wildlife habitats along the shores of the river, improving outdoor recreation facilities, expanding the local conservation workforce and enhancing the watershed area.
Four large-scale projects will happen to reach those goals including the restoration of Big Bend nature park and preserve, managing invasive species while restoring native species along the whole river, restoring the Gillor Sanctuary’s wetland and upland, and involving the wider public through community science.
“Community science is a way to bring people who are not professional scientists—everything from high school kids, college students, people who are interested in birds or plants, retirees,” said Chris Cline, a contaminants and restoration specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in a video, “people from all over the valley and bringing them together to not only connect with nature but also learn about how nature works.”
Riverton community members learn more about the Jordan River and its inhabitants. Community science is a term the project team uses to describe efforts to get the broader community involved by learning how to care for natural resources, no previous experience (or degree) required. (Courtesy of the Jordan River Commission)
Three projects including species management is headed by the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands, Gillmor Sanctuary efforts are managed by Audubon Rockies and public outreach efforts are managed by the Jordan River Commission. The Big Bend project is the only one of the four to be managed by a city in the state, the City of West Jordan.
Efforts to preserve the Big Bend region in West Jordan have been ongoing since 1998, Cline said on the project but since 2011, efforts have been stop-and-go.
“This has been going forward and picking up momentum and we’re making a ton of progress,” Cline said. “We’re seeing the light at the end of the river here.”
Throughout the process and in what is to come in the project, volunteers and community members will be invaluable in protecting the river, Cline said.
“You really have to start with the community that [the restoration project] is in,” Cline said. “If you don’t have a site that has stewards, it won’t succeed.”
Students pull invasive puncturevines along the Jordan River during a community event. (Courtesy of the Jordan River Commission)
Events run all month during the Get to the River Festival, from service projects to just getting out to see the river. Find a full schedule of events at www.jordanrivercommission.gov/get-to-the-river-festival/.
The Jordan River is a 51-mile, Utah-based river that flows through 16 cities in Utah, Salt Lake and Davis counties, from Utah Lake to the Great Salt Lake. It is also known as Pia Okwai (Big Flow) by the Indigenous Shoshone and Goshute people, per the Jordan River Commission.
