Authority reports 40,000 shoreline plantings, WRI grant and restoration mapping plans

Restoration and ecology staff for the Utah Lake Authority reported progress on habitat restoration, contracts and mapping efforts at the authority’s Aug. 6 meeting. Adi (program manager, conservation and restoration) said the authority received a Watershed Restoration Initiative (WRI) award of about $185,000 and has about $250,000 in restoration contracts under way. Staff said they completed roughly 40,000 planted stems this summer—four times the number planted the prior year—and secured 9,000 additional plants from partners. Adi told the board the authority will commission drone-flight surveys and mapping within the next two weeks to support planning and to target follow-up plantings and habitat work. Staff named partners on the effort, including Aggie Air and a USU spot team, and said equipment purchases and plant procurement are scheduled to spend the current grant by 2026. Board members and staff also discussed broader restoration levers—removing or reducing carp to support submerged aquatic vegetation, the potential for reintroducing native bivalves as filter feeders, and lake-bed restoration as long-term objectives. Adi and other staff emphasized that many of those actions are multi-year and partner-dependent; the authority described its role as funding and coordinating targeted restoration actions and monitoring. Staff said volunteers supported planting events and that the authority will continue community-engagement and school-based projects tied to restoration and monitoring.