GSL commissioner reports Year 1 as 'incredibly fruitful,' releases strategic plan

Becky Ginos
The Davis Journal

In an effort to save the Great Salt Lake, the Utah Legislature created the office of the Great Salt Lake commissioner in 2023 to help coordinate efforts across the state. The office recently released its Year 1 report and strategic plan.

“The first year of the commissioner’s office has been an incredibly fruitful and busy time. We have met with people throughout the Great Salt Lake Basin to hear their hopes, fears and solutions for the long-term health of the lake,” Great Salt Lake Commissioner Brian Steed said. “We now have a common long-term vision for the lake that is embodied in the Great Salt Lake Strategic Plan. As a result, all Utahns can now work together, in the same direction for the lake.”

The Great Salt Lake fell to its lowest-ever recorded level in 2022, said Deputy Great Salt Lake Commissioner Tim Davis. “There was already a lot of work going on but there wasn’t a single agency coordinating all 12.”

The commissioner’s office was tasked with developing a strategic plan for the long-term health of the lake, he said. “It was submitted to the governor to approve in December 2023, which he did.”

It lays out different goals for the next 30 years, Davis said. “In the short term it builds upon the work others have already done. It establishes a target range to get the lake to. We don’t want it to fall like it has in the past.”

According to the report, the past two years have provided time to make the necessary changes. “Two good water years have allowed the south arm of the lake to rise six and a half feet from its historic low of 4,188.5, set in November 2022, to 4,195.2 feet above sea level in May 2024. The north arm has also seen an increase in elevation since 2022 to 4,192.1 feet. As a result, the lake reached its intermediate target elevation (4,195.0 feet), where it has begun to transition out of adverse effects but remains below the healthy target range of 4,198 to 4,205 feet. Lake levels have now begun to fall again. Salinity levels have also stabilized and remain at or below the target levels for brine shrimp and brine flies in the south arm.”

Local and federal agencies have partnered on the strategic plan, said Davis. “We want to make sure everybody is pulling in the same direction for the lake.”

The report lists four objectives:

• Ensuring better coordination of the 12 state agencies, five federal agencies and the districts, municipalities, businesses and stakeholders involved with the Great Salt Lake.
• Getting more water to the lake so it rises to its healthy target range over the next 30 years.
• Ensuring decisions for the lake are based on the best available science.
• Protecting air and water quality.

“Brian (Steed) and I have been going out talking to groups five to 10 times a week continually telling them why the lake is important and how to get it back to a healthy range,” said Davis. “We’ve got additional staff that can sit with city councils to help them conserve water and make sure the excess is given back to the lake.”

There are two big messages and lessons learned this inaugural year, Davis said. “It’s going to take everyone around the lake, farmers, churches, residents, etc., to work together to conserve water — every year, not just when there’s a drought.”

The commissioner’s office encourages people to look at what they can do to conserve water, he said. “Things like replacing your parking strip and using water-wise landscaping. We’ll work with the cities to see how much excess they can dedicate to deliver to the lake. We want to ‘conserve, dedicate and deliver’ to the lake.”