Renn Lambert Co-Presents on the H2Oquirrh Plan at the Salt Lake County Watershed Symposium
November 20, 2023
Renn Lambert, an Environmental Engineer at LimnoTech, participated in the 17th Annual Salt Lake County Watershed Symposium, November 15-16, in Salt Lake City, UT. The symposium is hosted annually by Salt Lake County’s Watershed Planning and Restoration Program to bring together stakeholders to provide networking and learning opportunities. Topics covered during the symposium include the current state of the watershed and water quality and watershed issues with local, regional, and national relevance.
Renn co-presented “The vision and ongoing work to develop H2Oquirrh, a comprehensive vision plan for the waterways of Southwest Salt Lake County and the Oquirrh Mountain Range.” The co-presenters were the project leads Dylan Bagnasco (Project Manager, Design Workshop) and Jason Wolf (Canyons Management Program Director, Salt Lake County Office of Regional Development).
The presentation abstract is provided below:
There is heightened attention on water in the Great Salt Lake Basin, with dwindling water resources and a shrinking lake making national news. Drought has caused intermittent streams to have longer dry periods, and changes in stormwater runoff have exacerbated issues with water quality and flooding. We will share the vision and ongoing work to develop H2Oquirrh, a comprehensive vision plan for the waterways of Southwest Salt Lake County and the Oquirrh Mountain Range. The latest County Watershed Public Opinion Survey found that “residents would like to see more wildlife habitat, river corridors in their natural condition, and protection of open space.”
As the west portion of the valley continues to increase in population, it will be critical to conserve and enhance spaces that connect people to nature, scenic views, and educate them about water resources. The Waterways in the Southwest portion of the Salt Lake Valley, Including Bingham, Rose, Midas, Butterfield, and Barney Creeks, have received less attention than the creeks flowing out of the Wasatch Range, making the vision plan an opportunity to discover community-led solutions. Flowing out of the Oquirrh and Wasatch foothills, these waterways are significant environmental and natural systems that provide community benefits.
The H2Oquirrh Vision Plan is an opportunity to harness attention on critical natural resources and channel it into impactful improvements that have both environmental and community benefits. The project team will develop a plan that will aggregate a variety of topical expert and community inputs and have a targeted and holistic regional approach. It will identify specific opportunity areas to reap economic, social, and environmental benefits and prescribe broader measures such as ecological enhancements from projects that could include wetland or stream restoration, infrastructure improvements such as tails systems, or stormwater policies such as implementing low impact development (LID) and wetlands that could apply to all corridors and benefit the entire downstream watershed. This talk will present the initial findings of the study and will provide a way for stakeholders to provide feedback on what they would like to see in these waterways. We will also invite you to continue to follow the study and submit your ideas going forward.
If you have questions or want more information, you can reach out to Renn Lambert at rlambert@limno.com.
