A quarter-million dollars of stimulus is going to the carp.

The money will be used to remove 1.2 million pounds of carp by using commercial seine nets, said Reed Harris of the June sucker recovery program, which is working to restore Utah Lake's habitat and water quality in order to keep alive its namesake fish, one of the most endangered in the world, and native only to Utah Lake.

"We are happy," Harris said. "I think everyone realizes how important this is to the June sucker, but also to the water quality in the lake."

The carp project beat out stiff competition to win the money, said Leah Ann Lamb of the Utah Division of Water Quality. Eighty-seven projects asking for a total of $102 million applied for the stimulus money, and of those only nine were chosen, covering the $4 million the water quality board had to disperse.

Utah Lake rose to the top of the list because removing carp is expected to have a large impact on water quality in the lake.

"The water quality board and staff went through a tremendous effort in ranking projects," Lamb said. "It was a pretty Herculean effort."

The quarter-million will be added to another $1 million grant from Fish and Wildlife, allowing work to begin this fall to rid the lake of the carp. The entire effort is expected to take six years, and will need further funding in years to come.

A pilot study, completed last year, has already removed 1.5 million pounds of carp from the lake, he said. In order to return Utah Lake to something resembling its natural condition, 7.5 million adult carp must be removed from Utah Lake. With an average of 120 days each year when it is safe or productive to fish, program managers must find a way to remove about 46,000 pounds of fish per day -- each fish weighing an average of 5.8 pounds -- in order to remove 1 million carp a year for six more years.

In addition to Utah Lake, stimulus money is also headed for the Jordan River to remove sediment, restore the stream channel and help build a storm water biofilter to treat runoff from a new "green" education building before it enters the Jordan River. None of this work will be done along the Utah County portion of the river, officials said.

Where the money is going

Division of Water Quality projects receiving a total of $4 million in federal stimulus money:

• Ogden River, $1 million to restore the river's channel as part of a major redevelopment.

• Cutler Reservoir, $500,000 to reduce the phosphorus in Logan's wastewater lagoons by harvesting the algae to convert into biofuels that would power the city's garbage trucks.

• Sevier River, $206,000 for stream restoration to remove phosphorus.

• Utah Lake, $251,600 to remove 1.2 million pounds of carp using commercial seines.

• Jordan River, $577,500 and $484,200 to remove sediment and restore the stream channel and $150,000 to help build a storm water biofilter.

• Strawberry Reservoir, $520,788 to restore the stream and remove phosphorus.

• East Canyon, $300,000 to remove sediment and phosphorus.

Related

• Signs of June sucker success, at last
• State crews test health of Provo River