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Great Salt Lake Sentinel Landscape coordinator reports early easement wins, federal funding bids
Summary
The newly hired Sentinel Landscape coordinator described recent conservation easements near Hill Air Force Base and Camp Williams, REPI and REPI-challenge awards, pending state legislation to codify the Sentinel Landscape, and potential federal grant opportunities for mule-deer corridor work.
Marissa (program manager/coordinator for the Great Salt Lake Sentinel Landscape) briefed the roundtable on partnership-building and early conservation gains for the Sentinel Landscape.
She said Hill Air Force Base and partners closed a permanent agricultural conservation easement last fall on a critical parcel near the south end of Hill's accident potential zone; the project was funded in partnership with REPI (Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration), NRCS and the Compatible Lands Foundation and carried a reported value of about $6,000,000.
"This was a $6,000,000 project, that was in partnership with REPI, NRCS, and the Compatible Lands Foundation," Marissa said, and added that two additional easements adjacent to the base are currently in development.
Marissa said the Sentinel Landscape was awarded a REPI Challenge grant for Hill Air Force Base in fiscal 2024 — $150,000 to support an off-base water-resilience study that will tie to on-base conservation and readiness needs. She said the study will evaluate off-base water supplies, tie those supplies to on-base water use, and identify future funding pathways (for example FEMA or NRCS) to support on-the-ground resilience measures.
The coordinator described ongoing outreach with other installations, including Camp Williams and Tooele Army Depot. She said Camp Williams has a long-established easement program and is targeting about 11,300 acres for conservation; Camp Williams has roughly 4,145 acres already encumbered and has received more than $90,000,000 in federal, state and partner contributions since about 2015.
Marissa said the Sentinel Landscape team is pursuing a bill to codify the Great Salt Lake Sentinel Landscape into state law in order to formalize partnership roles and authorities; she said a sponsor has been identified but did not name the legislator.
The coordinator also reported outreach to several potential funders and partners, including the Foundation for America's Public Lands (a BLM-associated funder) for projects aimed at mule-deer migration corridors adjacent to Camp Williams, and ongoing conversations about an application for a Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) grant with NRCS. She said the Sentinel Landscape has added new federal partners (FEMA, Army Corps of Engineers) and nonprofits (Audubon, Utah Lake Authority) to its consortium in Q1.
Why it matters: the Sentinel Landscape program pairs conservation and military-readiness priorities. Easements adjacent to installations protect training ranges and help secure habitat, water and agricultural lands that buffer encroachment on military operations.
Ending: Marissa said an implementation plan and a third-party synthesis are planned for completion by the end of the year, and she asked partners to stay engaged on matching-fund needs for incoming federal awards.
