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- Federal funds of $122.8 million were allocated for Utah's drought mitigation projects.
- Despite a funding freeze, Utah officials are confident the funds will be delivered.
- Projects aim to improve habitats and water functions, benefiting both state and tribal entities.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah wildlife officials say they're confident that federal funds the state received last week, which they believe are "crucial" for improving habitats for fish and wildlife in the state, will still be delivered despite a freeze in the law that created the funding source.
The recently allocated money to Utah and tribal entities in the state may also help improve water functions in the Colorado River Basin.
In all, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation directed about $122.8 million toward projects in and around Utah through its Upper Basin Environmental Drought Mitigation Program last week. It marked one of the agency's final acts under President Joe Biden's outgoing administration.
The program itself was created by the Inflation Reduction Act, which included substantial funding for drought mitigation along the basin.
However, Utah's allocation was quickly put into question with the shift in administrations. President Donald Trump, on his first day in office Monday, signed an executive order that, among other things, directed an immediate pause on the "disbursement of funds appropriated" through the bill Congress passed in 2022.
Officials with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, which helped secure $37.2 million of the recently allocated program funding, believe Utah will still receive the funding though, Faith Heaton Jolley, the division's spokeswoman, told KSL.com on Thursday. That's because the order mentions the Green New Deal and many energy-related programs, but it doesn't mention the Bureau of Reclamation, drought or the Colorado River.
The White House also clarified through a memorandum that the pause applies to projects supported by an energy-related section of the bill.
"We are so excited that these important projects were selected for funding through this program," Daniel Eddington, the division's habitat conservation coordinator, added in a statement. "Investing in the continued maintenance and improvement of habitat is crucial for the health of Utah's fish and wildlife species."
Should Utah secure all the funding, the division's projects aim to improve fish and wildlife habitats along Huntington Creek, Price River, Scofield Reservoir and Willow Creek within central and eastern Utah. The largest of those — receiving up to $28 million — is a project to build a new reservoir along the lower Price River as well as replace irrigation diversions to create more "strategic" water releases.
Those projects represent a portion of the up to $72.4 million directed to 10 Utah projects spearheaded by the state across the Colorado River Basin. Another $50.4 million was directed to tribal nations for projects that also improve water functions in the state.
The other Utah-related projects include:
- Up to $25.4 million toward a restoration of the Chinle Wash Watershed within the Navajo Nation in southeast Utah and northeast Arizona. The project aims to remove invasive riparian species to boost the ecological health of a "key watershed" that has been impacted by long-term drought.
- Up to $21 million toward the construction of a new tertiary wastewater treatment facility, as well as wetland habitat revitalization projects within the Scott and Norma Matheson Wetlands Preserve in Moab. Another $6.5 million would go toward a new river diversion and pump station that would provide water to the preserve, as well as other wetlands improvements in the Moab area to improve fish and migratory bird habitats.
- Up to $18 million for the completion of a watershed assessment and restoration plan, as well as project implementation within the Ute Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation. The project would restore stream channels and aim to improve the health, habitat and water quality of the Duchesne and White rivers.
- The Ute Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation could receive up to another $5.9 million to design and implement aquatic habitat restoration projects at Hill and Pole creeks within the Green River Basin.
- Up to another $4.8 million would go toward restoration projects along the Price River by restoring high-elevation wetlands and streams to improve water quality, increase flows and stabilize eroding banks that would be beneficial for Colorado River cutthroat trout and greater sage-grouse.
- Up to another $2.9 million would go toward restoration projects to improve the Green River riparian corridor and San Juan River Basin watershed, combatting invasive species and mitigating drought effects in the areas.
- Up to $1.1 million would go toward restoring riparian habitat along the Colorado River within the Navajo Nation near Glen Canyon by the Utah-Arizona border.
