Watershed Symposium 2022

Welcome to the 16th Annual Salt Lake County Watershed Symposium!

Managing resilient watersheds and water resources, especially during a time of rapid change and unprecedented challenge, requires institutions and governance structures that are also resilient, robust, and nimble. Effective and adaptive institutions emerge when we invest in the people that are at their core and ground them in thoughtful governance structures. Utah has excellent examples of how the linkages between people, institutions, and water resources have resulted in innovative and collaborative solutions to some of our biggest challenges. There are other examples of governance structures that may need to be redesigned to effectively manage the complexity, magnitude, and urgency currently facing western water managers. As a community of water professionals, working together to solve some of the most challenging water resources issues in decades, we must also ensure that we have the governance frameworks and institutional capacity to be successful. 

The Colorado River Basin is facing a daunting new reality with our region getting drier, yet most of the water policies governing the region are 100 years behind the times. This workshop explores what the aridification future of the Colorado River holds for the Wasatch Front and what we need to do now to prepare for this drier world.

The Colorado River has shrunk 20% in the last two decades in the face of climate change’s shrinking of headwater snowpacks in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. More than just a drought, scientists have reframed the problem around acidification, the idea that the entire region is drying out and this change will likely continue for decades to come. Home to 40 million people, the Colorado River Basin’s water problems have attracted attention from around the globe and forced an entirely new set of policy paradigms evolving out of this drier world. Many Wasatch Front residents wonder whether the Colorado River Basin’s water problems might affect them. Amidst record-low reservoir levels for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, millions of Wasatch Front residents are concerned about the plight of America’s two largest reservoirs, but they feel disconnected from the Colorado River problems being debated across the seven state region of the Basin. Is the Wasatch Front insulated from the challenges on the Colorado River?

In this workshop we deconstruct how much water the Wasatch Front receives from the Colorado River Basin that are feeding our cities and farms and we explore how susceptible we are to the impacts caused by aridification on the other side of the Wasatch Mountains. We will look back at some of the recent impacts caused by aridification in the Basin, bring participants up to speed on the lightning-fast policy changes being discussed today, and we will explore some of the daunting new problems emerging around the bend which threaten Salt Lake County’s water supply. With the rapid depletion of Lakes Powell and Mead in recent years, the seven Colorado River Basin states, Mexico, and 30 tribes are all rushing to find sustainable solutions to the western water crisis. In June of this year, the Bureau of Reclamation announced that the Basin States must come up with a plan to cut use by 2-4 million acre feet, nearly one third of the river’s annual flow. Meanwhile Glen Canyon Dam is dropping near the level at which it can no longer generate hydropower, and more importantly, the level at which it becomes physically impossible for Utah and other Upper Basin states to release our legally required water deliveries downstream. We will offer strategies and adaptation policies we could implement to sustain our water supply on the Wasatch Front, protect our state’s best interest and live in relative peace with neighboring states and Mexico. Water policy is changing rapidly across the entire Colorado River Basin, and while it may seem removed from the Wasatch Front, the reforms taking place in the coming years will likely have direct impacts on all Utahns.

While the basin states still haven't come up with a solution for the drastic water cuts called for by the Bureau of Reclamation, one thing is clear: every city, town, and farm will be forced to adapt to life with less water.

The implications of misconceptions surrounding Utah Lake have become clear as wildly diverse proposals have been made for the lake’s management. This interdisciplinary panel will discuss Utah Lake research, management, and education to try to uproot misinformation and encourage evidence-based stewardship of this unique ecosystem.

Utah Lake is a large and unique waterbody at the heart of Utah Valley. Upstream of the Jordan River and Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake’s status is central to the functioning and resiliency of the Great Salt Lake watershed. Though it is one of the largest freshwater lakes west of the Mississippi River, many in the broader community know little about Utah Lake’s history, ecology, and importance to our future. This cultural disconnect has led to widespread misconceptions about the status of the lake, the effectiveness of management interventions, and the setting of restoration targets. While some of the Utah Lake debate has stemmed from legitimate scientific uncertainty, much of the confusion and controversy has its origins in political and regulatory pressures. The proposal to build islands on Utah Lake and the creation of the new Utah Lake Authority have intensified the political “heat”.

In this panel discussion, we will provide a brief overview of the Utah Lake ecosystem and then jump into its controversies regarding management, perception, research, and legislation. We will try to identify areas of consensus and continued scientific debate. We will also address the ideological and structural struggles that have occasionally hampered effective management and messaging about Utah Lake. Specifically, we will discuss trends and causes of algal blooms, habitat restoration, invasive species removal, and approaches for improving public understanding and management of Utah Lake and the Great Salt Lake watershed more broadly.

The poster session is a forum for presenters to highlight programs and to share successful ideas with colleagues by presenting a research study, a practical problem-solving effort, or an innovative program or project. Posters are listed alphabetically by title.
==> Full Abstracts

Adaptive Management Strategies at Big Bend Habitat Restoration Area
Anders Eckert, Utah Conservation Corps & West Jordan City Parks
The Big Bend Restoration Project is located along the Jordan River and is filled with a high abundance of biodiversity. The Big Bend provides a native home for many different species offering reprieve from the Urban infrastructure found around the park. This presentation will inform Adaptive Management Strategies and plans for the Big Bend Site.

An Urban Canal and the Logan River: Bugs, Leaves, and Water Quality
Ellie Smith-Eskridge, Utah State University
For my masters research, I compared water quality, freshwater invertebrates, and leaf decomposition between an urban canal and a natural stream, the Logan River. The canal showed faster leaf decomposition relative to the Logan River, and leaf-shredding amphipods were abundant in the canal.

End-Member Mixing Analysis of the Upper Provo River
Alyssa Thompson, Brigham Young University
The Provo River is an important water source for Utah County, but little is known about the sources of water that feed into this river. This study identifies these main sources of water, what the chemistry of these sources look like, and calculates the percent contribution from each of these sources to understand how these sources change over time.

Green Infrastructure Microbial Community Response to Storm Events
Yvette Hastings, University of Utah
Have you ever wondered what stormwater green infrastructure (SGI) bioswales are? In this presentation, I will describe what these are and how soil microbial communities respond to precipitation events in experimental bioswales.

How Dry Must the Great Salt Lake Be to Produce Hazardous Dust?
Thorn Merrill, University of Utah
Airborne dust effects the air quality of the Wasatch front in Utah. One of the closest dust sources is the Great Salt Lake Playa. Surface crust and soil moisture are two main dictators of dust emission in an emissive area. Where there is broken or absent crust dust emission decreases as soil moisture increases.

Investigating Ground and Surface Interactions within Utah Lake, UT
Justin McCurry, Courtney Brown, Kyle Johnson, Daren Nelson, Utah Valley University
Our team is investigating the effectiveness of identifying groundwater and surface water interactions of cold water springs at Utah Lake, UT by integrating traditional flow analyses with thermal imaging cameras from small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Jordan River Channel Improvements at Brighton North Point Diversion
Hannah Murphy, Salt Lake County Watershed Planning & Restoration
Removal of the Brighton North Point Canal diversion structure provided a seamless, navigable river system, reestablishing flood plains, improving instream habitat, and mitigating invasive weed species throughout.

LGBTQIA+ DEI Efforts of Birding & Bird Conservation Organizations
Georgie Corkery, Utah State University
The goal of this research is to develop a DEI handbook template for the birding community, with a completed section on LGBTQAI+. This will be executed via an analysis of DEI efforts of 16 birding and bird conservation organizations, interviews with queer birders, and a look into queer ecology.

Mapping Flows of Influence Across Utah's Two Largest Lakes
Shannon Lambson, Brigham Young University; Ben Abbott, Brigham Young University
An interactive look at how information and influence move between stakeholders, using the Utah Lake islands proposal as a case study. We invite input during the session from the community about how to improve coordination and communication in conservation and restoration efforts for the integrated Great Salt Lake system.

Microbial Community Analysis of Anaerobic Digesters
Maliea Holden, Brigham Young University
Caldicellulosiruptor bescii, when used as a pretreatment of waste activated sludge, increases gas production and decreases solid waste in anaerobic digestion effluent.

Microbial Community Composition to Fingerprint Dust Emission Sources
DeTiare Leifi, Brigham Young University
Particular microbial communities unique to land use and location may serve as general indicators in dust fingerprinting.

Muddy Snow and Hazardous Air: Dust Transport from Great Salt Lake
Maura Hahnenberger, Shane Schmidt, Salt Lake Community College
The decline of the Great Salt Lake has exposed large areas of shoreline that now produce hazardous dust when winds blow. Continued episodic drought and consumptive water use will make recovery of Great Salt Lake levels a challenge, posing the threat of continued hazardous dust transport into the future.

Nutrient Release from Utah Lake Wetting and Drying Cycles
Kate Scanlan, Brigham Young University
Utah Lake littoral sediments are subject to frequent drying and wetting cycles that are a result of annual variability in water levels across Utah Lake. These changing water levels result from a combination of natural and anthropogenic factors, and can lead to potentially increased nutrient release rates of N, P, and organic C.

Opportunities for Increasing Mass Transit in Suburban Utah County
Katie Lawrence, Brigham Young University
Transportation is a large source of air and stormwater pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. This pollution has only increased with suburban sprawl. Thus, we are proposing a framework for changes to Utah's mass transit infrastructure based on a local spatial analysis, and discussing the implications for air and water quality.

Seasonal Nutrient Limitations of Various Microbes in Utah Lake
Sarah Chan, Brigham Young University
Cyanobacterial and algal blooms present unique issues to be understood thoroughly. We found that the nutrient limitation of cyanobacteria, and to a lesser extent phytoplankton, was influenced by season and space.

Thermal Spring Interactions at Utah Lake via the use of UAVS
Kyle Johnson, Justin McCurry, Courtney Brown, Daren Nelson, Utah Valley University
Our team is investigating the effectiveness of utilizing thermal imaging cameras from small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to better understand how thermal hot springs are interacting with Utah Lake and its surrounding ecosystems.

Toxic Algae in a Changing Climate: Protecting Recreational Health
Hannah Bonner, Utah Division of Water Quality
Warming water temperatures, declining reservoir levels, and increasing human disturbance all foster the growth of harmful algal blooms (HABs). The Utah Division of Water Quality (UDWQ), in partnership with local health departments, works to mitigate this risk through cooperation, communication, and proactive monitoring in Salt Lake County.

Toxin Producers or Non-Toxin Producers: What causes them to Bloom?
Shadman Kaiser, University of Utah; Ramesh Goel, University of Uta