Utah House Speaker Mike Shultz wasn’t kidding that there would be a pause on major water legislation this year.

Very little water legislation is moving through the 45 day process. Still, we have an update on funding priorities below.

• Youth activists want to see lawmakers do more 
• Despite low snowpack, Colorado River forecasters are hopeful
• Could Trump's tariffs impact farmers?
• New billboards show lake levels 
• Despite a freeze, new water rights granted in Great Salt Lake basin
• Avian influenza kills thousands of birds
• Flexible water use is helping one farm conserve 
• Places to see migrating swans
• Ways to get involved

This week, lawmakers on the Natural Resources Agriculture and Environmental Quality Appropropriations committee prioritized what they’d like to fund.  

Here’s what made their list:

• $16 million for the Great Salt Lake Commissioner’s Office to lease enough water to raise the lake to 4,195 feet. Right now the lake stands at 4,192.8 feet.

• $651,000 to get more monitors to track dust from the Great Salt Lake and staff to analyze the data. As we’ve reported, the state can’t say how often dust comes off the lake, if it affects our health and which communities are being impacted.

• $750,000 for wetland restoration and management at the Great Salt Lake. A state official said it would help get rid of an invasive weed called phragmites at the Great Salt Lake, which suck up water from the lake. 

• $420,000 to create a training and certification program to incentivize and accelerate waterwise landscaping plans.  

Here’s what was left off the priority list:

• $6 million to enhance Great Salt Lake wetlands and suppress dust on the dry lakebed.
• $119,100 to start work on what’s being dubbed the Center for Utah Water Information to collect data across a variety of agencies and modernize data management. 

Next steps: Lawmakers still have until the end of the session, March 7, to get their items approved. 

ST. GEORGE NEWS
'More profitable with less water': How flexible use helps this Southern Utah farm to conserve 

Newcastle farmer Kimball Holt said Utah laws have historically encouraged water overuse on the state's farmlands, but a change in how water is allotted gave Holt and others a chance to branch out crop-wise while conserving.

KSL NEWSRADIO
Thousands of birds dead due to avian influenza at the Great Salt Lake

he Utah Division of Wildlife Resources reported at least 15 thousand birds have died at the Great Salt Lake due to avian influenza.

This new pathogenic avian influenza was first discovered in Jan 2022 on the East Coast and has since spread into Utah. 

SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
Amid a freeze, Utah granted millions of gallons of new water rights in the Great Salt Lake basin. Here's where the water will go. 

In two years, the state approved about 2,500 acre-feet of new water rights within the Great Salt Lake basin under exceptions in a moratorium – including hundreds of acre-feet within view of the lake’s north arm.

While water use varies from home to home, the average Utah household uses around 0.5 acre-feet a year, according to the Utah Division of Water Rights, meaning those rights are the equivalent of about 5,000 new homes.

KSL NEWSRADIO
New Great Salt Lake billboards show lake's status 

New Great Salt Lake billboards display the lake’s current water level. They were designed and put up by Grow the Flow, a water policy and advocacy nonprofit. 

Ben Abbott, the executive director of Grow the Flow, said the Great Salt Lake billboards were designed to raise awareness. 

SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
'Year of uncertainty': Utah farmers could feel the pinch from Trump's tariffs, immigration policies 

Retaliatory tariffs and the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration have Utah farmers on edge.

The 10% tariffs the Trump administration levied against China on Feb. 4, and China’s retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. that go into effect Feb. 10, could hurt Utah’s alfalfa exports. Roughly 14% of Utah’s alfalfa crop was exported to China in 2019, compared to just over 5% in 2024, according to Ryan Larsen, a Utah State University agriculture economics professor.

SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
Snowpack in the Rockies is lagging well below average. Colorado River forecasters still see hope on the horizon. 

This year’s dry January hurt forecasts for the Colorado River, but February may position the basin for a comeback.

The Colorado River relies heavily on snowpack in the Upper Basin states — Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — that melts into the river and its tributaries. That water then flows into Lake Powell.

But lackluster January precipitation led snowpack to decline in those states. Last month, snow levels above Lake Powell were 94% of average. (“Average,” in forecasting, refers to the average precipitation between 1991 and 2020.)

FOX 13 
Youth activists push lawmakers to do more for Great Salt Lake

Dozens of youth activists fanned out across the Utah State Capitol, texting and calling lawmakers.

They beckoned them outside the House and Senate chamber doors, cornered them in hallways and spoke with their elected leaders about pieces of legislation they wanted to see passed to support the Great Salt Lake.

KSL NEWSRADIO 
Migrating swans will soon soar through Utah, here are 3 places you can see them

As warmer weather approaches, migrating swans will pass through Utah as they journey north. If you’d like to see them, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources recommends three prime viewing spots near Great Salt Lake. 

The unique species is just one of the hundreds of species that make their way through Utah each year.

KSL.COM
Utah Inland Port Authority bill sent to Senate floor despite opposition

A small cadre of Utah Inland Port Authority critics argued against a proposed bill that would expand the entity's abilities to make land purchases and influence development on parcels adjacent to current project areas boundaries, among other amendments.

Proposed amendments would allow land purchases of plots within the project area boundaries or adjacent to them. The port authority would also be able to conduct its typical business, facilitating development and establishing infrastructure districts, in areas adjacent to demarcated project areas.

• City Creek Canyon, Feb. 16 at 8:30 a.m.
• Day-Riverside Library, Feb. 19 at 8:30 a.m. 
• Farmington Bay Wildlife Management Area, Feb. 22 at 8 a.m.