Water Documenters: Read meeting notes from the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council

Purpose of the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council

• “Advise on the sustainable use, protection, and development of the Great Salt Lake.”

• Advises the governor, the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Environmental Quality.

• Responsible for balancing the sustainable use, environmental health, and reasonable access for existing and future development of the Great Salt Lake.

Agenda for November meeting

Members of the council: Who they represent (All appointed by UT Gov.)

• Don Leonard: Chair & Aquaculture (Present)

• Joe Havasi: Extractive Industry (Present)

• Dina Blaes: Salt Lake County (Not present)

• Randy Elliott: Davis County (Not present)

• Gage Froerer: Weber County (Not present)

• David Livermore: Conservation (Present)

• Leland Myers: Publicly Owned Treatment Works (Present)

• Jeff Richards: Migratory Bird Protection Areas (Present)

• Lee Perry: Box Elder County (Present, Online)

• (Currently vacant position): Tooele County (Not present)

• Thomas Ward: Municipal Government (Sandy City) (Present)

Persons scheduled to speak

• Marcelle Shoop: Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust & National Audubon Society (Present)

• Keith Hambrecht: Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands (Present)

• Jeremy Shaw: Division of State Parks (Present)

• Tom Tripp: U.S. Magnesium (Present)

The scene

• Smallish sized conference room with white, plastic tables. All windows are closed, little to no natural light is let into the room. Most members are shaking hands and conversing before the meeting starts. There are two 360 degree cameras on a plastic table in the middle that are recording the whole meeting, while also streaming the meeting to persons attending virtually. About 38 people online, about 30 people in-person including the 15 council members and meeting speakers. Mood was light with occasional jokes being cracked and laughter filling the room.

Timeline

• 10:05: Meeting started with Don Leonard thanking the online participants for joining and said that the meeting has a quorum present. Leonard said that a new Great Salt Lake Advisory Council representative for Tooele county is likely to be confirmed.

• 10:06: All persons present in the room state their name and organization.

• 10:07: Leonard thanked everyone again, and entertained a motion to approve the agenda. Members unanimously voted to approve the agenda and the meeting notes of the September meeting. Leonard gave an introduction to Marcelle Shoop.

• 10:08: Marcelle Shoop, Saline Lakes Program Director for the National Audubon Society, gave an update about the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust (GSLWET). The trust is funded by H.B. 410, and co-led/managed by the National Audubon Society’s Saline Lakes Program and The Nature Conservancy. Shoop said that “we (the trust) have been given $40 million in state funding for the purpose to benefit [the] Great Salt Lake, its wetlands, and its hydrology.” The trust contains an advisory council with nine members that represent interests that are designated by Utah Code Section 65A-16-301(5). Shoop said that the trust has been “Working on a strategic plan, which we hope to make public in January.” Shoop is not sure that $40 million will be enough to fully preserve and protect the Great Salt Lake, but recognizes that “the trust is one of many solutions.” The trust partners with the State of Utah’s Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands (FFSL) and Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR), as well as the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Rio Tinto Kennecott, and other organizations to facilitate water transactions.

• 10:16: Adam Wickline, senior project manager for the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust, spoke about the benefits that the trust will provide to the lake and the projects that they will be funding to protect and restore the GSL and the surrounding wetlands. Wickline listed the hydrologic benefits that these projects will have for the lake, including protecting water flow so that water is more efficiently conveyed into the lake, reducing water loss from evapotranspiration and increased monitoring of waterways in order to accurately measure how much water is entering the lake. Wickline then talked about benefits to the ecosystem, such as improving about 13,000 acres of wetland habitats by reducing invasive species in the area and controlling water to create optimal conditions. Wickline went through all eight of the projects that they plan on funding and their purpose.

• 10:25: Shoop took over to give the closing statements of their presentation. Shoop answered questions from the members of the council about how the water is measured to make sure that the conserved water makes it to the GSL.

• 10:31: Leonard introduced Keith Hambrecht, Invasive Species Coordinator for state lands with the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands. The main project is getting rid of phragmites by spraying chemicals and trampling with tractors. Hambrecht said that herbicides are “the only way to kill” phragmites. Over the nine-year project, about 54,000 acres have been treated. Hambrecht showed short videos of tractors mowing the phragmites in Farmington Bay, and is optimistic that the treatment is working. He proposed increased funding, asking for one-time funding of $2 million. Graphs showed decreased phragmites cover and increased biodiversity. Hambrecht also proposed more prescribed fires and more revegetation. He hopes to be able to control phragmites around Antelope Island. Jeff Richards, Great Salt Lake advisory council representative for Migratory Bird Protection Areas, states that he applauds Hambrecht’s work and asked a question about what is being done to prevent phragmites that are upstream from the Great Salt Lake wetlands. Hambrecht explained that the Weber watershed is treating phragmites upstream, and hopes to expand this treatment to other watersheds and rivers.

• 11:06: Jeremy Shaw, park manager of Antelope Island State park, spoke about projects happening on and around Antelope Island. He talked about additions coming to the Antelope Island State Park Visitors Center. This includes a large conference room, education center, and IMAX theater. It is projected to be finished by July 2025. Over a million people a year visited Antelope Island this year, compared to about 260,000 in 2011.

• 11:12: Leonard gave an introduction to Tom Tripp, Director of Technical Services and Development at US Magnesium. Tripp spoke about the balance of water levels and salinity in the Great Salt Lake. Tripp explained that the North Arm of the Great Salt Lake has a much higher salinity level than the rest of the lake. With the low water levels of the Great Salt Lake, material extraction helps to moderate the salinity. He posed the idea of extracting water from the North Arm for mineral extraction. Advantages of the project include no water depletion from the South Arm of the lake and total water extraction reduced due to higher mineral concentration in the North Arm. The disadvantages include no salinity moderation in the South Arm, capital costs for equipment/facilities in the North Arm, and possible salt impurities. Tripp proposed an independent, third party study to better understand the effects of mineral extraction in the Great Salt Lake.

• 11:35: Leonard opened the floor for public comments. Jeff Richards, Great Salt Lake advisory council representative for Migratory Bird Protection Areas, proposed that, if the study is funded, that the results come back to the committee to be looked at before any other funding is approved. Craig Miller, hydrology and modeling section manager at the Utah Division of Water Resources, Tripp how long U.S. Magnesium will be in business, Tripp responds “I can’t tell you that.”

• 11:39: Public comments closed. Leonard proposed to fund Tripp’s proposal, and was met with approval from other members, but no official vote was held at this meeting. Meeting schedule approved unanimously. Next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, January 10, 2024 from 10:00am to 11:30 a.m. at the Eccles Wildlife Center.

• 11:41: The meeting adjourned.

Summary

• The Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust is planning on funding eight different projects to benefit the Great Salt Lake, its wetlands, and its hydrology.

• Projects are being enacted to get rid of phragmites, an invasive species of reed grasses found in the wetlands of the Great Salt Lake.

• Funding was proposed for an independent, third party study on the effects of mineral extraction in the Great Salt Lake.

Follow-Up Questions

• Are the tax dollars that go to fund these projects coming from all of Utah or only from the counties that are represented in the council?

• Do the herbicides used to kill phragmites have any negative impacts on the local ecosystems that they are used in?

Water Documenters is a collaboration between The Salt Lake Tribune and City Bureau and funded through grants from the Great Salt Lake Collaborative and the Rita Allen Foundation. College student journalists from all over Utah are hired to attend and take notes at public water meetings in Utah. These notes are then published for anyone to read or use. The project is aimed at providing better public access to meetings where major decisions are made about a limited Utah resource. For more meeting notes, click here. For more information, click here.