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Senate committee backs study of Gooseberry Narrows site after debate over water rights and fisheries

Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee · February 9, 2026
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Summary

The Natural Resources committee voted to favorably recommend Second Substitute S.B. 209 directing Utah State Parks to study Gooseberry Narrows as a potential state park and reservoir site; testimony highlighted long‑standing water rights (filed 1941), an estimated 14,500 acre‑feet authorization and competing concerns about impacts to downstream fisheries.

A Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee on [date not specified in transcript] voted to favorably recommend Second Substitute Senate Bill 209, which asks Utah State Parks to study whether the Gooseberry Narrows area could become a state park and to evaluate water‑storage options.

Sponsor Senator Owens told the committee the proposal is intended as a fact‑finding study rather than an immediate authorization to build infrastructure. He said the project’s water‑rights record stretches back to filings in 1941 and that current permits authorize roughly 14,500 acre‑feet of diversion and storage per…

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