Great Salt Lake Advisory Council hears trust and commissioner updates; authorizes FY26 project scoping

The Great Salt Lake Advisory Council met May 14 and approved its agenda and March minutes before hearing a series of updates from state and trust officials and voting to authorize scoping for proposed FY26 projects.

Aspen Johnston, Great Salt Lake Water Coordinator for the Office of the Great Salt Lake Commissioner, announced Hannah Fries (Utah Department of Agriculture and Food) will become deputy Great Salt Lake Commissioner effective June 1, 2025. Johnston said the Bureau of Reclamation’s previously announced $50,000,000 grant for a Great Salt Lake water delivery program is no longer frozen and that the office expects to issue an initial request for proposals this summer and assemble an evaluation committee to review project applications.

"The freeze has since been lifted," Johnston said of the Bureau of Reclamation funds, adding the office is on track to meet its milestones for issuing the RFP and standing up an evaluation committee.

The council also received a detailed briefing from Marcel, presenting on behalf of the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust. Marcel summarized the trust’s origins (landmark 2022 legislation setting up a $40 million state fund), governance with National Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy as implementing partners and the Community Foundation of Utah as fiduciary, and the trust’s strategic targets through 2028. Marcel said the trust’s baseline water transactions began at about 54,000 acre-feet in 2023 and exceeded 69,000 acre-feet in 2024 toward a 100,000-acre-foot annual goal by 2028. Marcel said the trust has completed multiple donations and leases of water (naming the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Kennecott and local water districts among partners) and has executed a 10,000-acre-foot release from Utah Lake routed down the Jordan River in coordination with Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District.

Marcel also reviewed the trust’s grant and restoration work: 2023 awards funded roughly $8.5 million of projects with $6.5 million in match covering about 13,000 acres; 2024 awards (in partnership with Forestry, Fire and State Lands) funded about $5.5 million plus $1.7 million in matching funds for another ~6,000 acres. Marcel said the trust council recently approved adding approximately $1 million in joint funding with Forestry, Fire and State Lands and expects to advertise that funding opportunity in June. On finances, Marcel reported a trust balance of about $38.2 million plus a $2 million endowment, with pending commitments estimated between $21 million and $27 million and roughly $11 million to $16.5 million uncommitted.

The council then considered steering-committee recommendations for how the council’s $125,000 FY26 allocation could be spent between July 2025 and June 2026. The steering committee proposed three priorities: an update to the 2019 "Consequences of Drying Lakes" report (estimated $35,000), a communications-oriented "win-win solutions" package (case studies, short report and video; estimated $50,000), and a phase‑1 effort to rehost and better link Great Salt Lake web resources plus a groundwater forum. The steering committee asked council members for feedback on relative weighting and scoping.

After brief discussion and public comment, the council moved to authorize the steering committee to proceed with scoping the proposed FY26 projects. The motion passed by voice vote with no opposition recorded.

The meeting concluded with public comment on additional measures (including a suggestion to study floating solar on reservoirs and the lake) and a request from several participants for fewer presentations and more time for in‑depth question-and-answer sessions at future meetings.

Next steps: the Office of the Great Salt Lake Commissioner will proceed with RFP preparations and the trust expects to announce the June funding opportunity; the steering committee will return refined scopes and cost estimates for council approval.