Officials make progress on Provo River Delta Restoration Project
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources lent a helping hand this week with the Provo River Delta Restoration Project by transporting massive tree trunks and stumps that will be used as “habitat features” throughout the area.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources lent a helping hand this week with the Provo River Delta Restoration Project by transporting massive tree trunks and stumps that will be used as “habitat features” throughout the area.
Tanner Renshaw, of Heber City, fly fishes along the Provo River in Provo Canyon on Thursday, July 9, 2020. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
People propel themselves as they float down the Provo River on inner tubes in Provo Canyon on Thursday, July 9, 2020. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
Tanner Renshaw, of Heber City, fly-fishes along the Provo River in Provo Canyon on Thursday, July 9, 2020. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
People float down the Provo River on inner tubes in Provo Canyon on Thursday, July 9, 2020. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
Utah officials from various agencies and groups are making progress on the Provo River Delta Restoration Project after initially breaking ground on the 260-acre project last summer.
The restoration project is a multiagency effort to connect Utah Lake with the Provo River to aid in the recovery of the June sucker, fish native only to Utah Lake, as well as to increase access to trails and provide other recreational amenities around the lake.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources lent a helping hand this week with the project by transporting massive tree trunks and stumps that will be used as “habitat features” throughout the area.
On Thursday, the DWR, one of multiple state and federal agencies involved in the project, tweeted photos of the “strange cargo” loaded onto the back of service trucks.
“We’ve been busy loading and transporting tree trunks and stumps that will become habitat features at the Provo River Delta Restoration Project,” the agency announced.
The Utah Lake Commission thanked the state wildlife division for its help and said, “We’re excited to see the delta project coming together.”
Officials first broke ground on the project, which has taken more than a decade to plan and coordinate, in June 2020. They expect the project to be complete, with a new trail leading to the lake and “recreation features,” by 2024.
“The key thing about this project is we’re attempting to restore, if you will, the environment that was there in the past,” Mark Holden, executive director of the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission, said at the groundbreaking. “An environment that is supportive not only of the June sucker life history, but also for other species, other aquatic life that utilize Utah Lake and the Provo River.”
Throughout the latter half of 2020, officials excavated a series of delta river channels to divert the flow of the lower Provo River, according to the project’s website, which noted that officials will continue “excavating delta ponds and channels throughout 2021.”
Officials closed the north half of the Skipper Bay Dike Trail in mid-March to “lower” the section of dike and relocate the trail and noted that doing so is “needed for delta restoration.” The south half of the Skipper Bay Dike Trail will remain open throughout construction.
Included in the project is the Provo River Delta Gateway Park, which will feature “interpretive exhibits and a themed playground and will serve as a hub connecting the existing Provo River Parkway trail to the planned Skipper Bay trail that will be built along the southern boundary of the new delta,” according to a description of the park, which noted that “Phase 1 of (the) Delta Gateway Park was supposed to be constructed last fall, but the schedule has been delayed while needed agreements with Provo City continue to be negotiated.”
“Timing of park construction depends on the progress of these negotiations,” the project website said.
Throughout the coming months, the Provo River Delta Restoration Project will host tours to help the public learn about the restoration effort. The tours will take place on the second Saturday of the month beginning on April 10 and ending on Oct. 9.
To sign up for one of the tours, which will require masks and physical distancing, visit http://www.provoriverdelta.us.
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