Bear Lake Initiative – Sediment & Nutrient Reduction
The Bear Lake Initiative Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Workshop was held October 15, 2024 at the Utah DEQ in Salt Lake City. This collaborative meeting was focused on developing a strategic action plan to mitigate the excessive sediment and nutrient inflows into Bear Lake. These inflows are harming water quality, reducing usable shoreline, escalating invasive species, and threatening endemic species as well as the unique chemical balance of Bear Lake.
Presented by the partners of the USGS Platform Study: USGS, Utah DEQ, Idaho DEQ, Bear Lake Watch, and PacifiCorp; in collaboration with Utah State University, USFWS Bear Lake Refuge, Bear River Water Users Association, and other agencies and policymakers.
We extend our gratitude to everyone involved for sharing your invaluable expertise and ideas as we work together to develop an innovative plan to reduce the harmful sediment and nutrient inflow into Bear Lake.
Bear Lake Initiative
Sediment & Nutrient Reduction
October 15, 2024 at the Utah DEQ
AGENDA
FRAMING – Bear Lake history and issues
DATA – Reports
- USGS 6-yr Platform – Buiding robust baseline dataset; water quality, weather, evaporation, and limnology processes
- USGS Inflow Sampling – Rainbow Inlet Canal & Causeway
- Bi-State DEQ Tributary Monitoring – Update
- BL National Wildlife Refuge & PacifiCorp – Sediment effects on management
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LUNCH PROVIDED – Unstructured networking time
WORKING SESSION – Possible solutions; spark innovation; hear from experience; theories
WORKING GROUPS – Solution seeking; divide and imagine
- Physics to Civics – Sciences, funding, agriculture, operations, policy, organization and more
RECONVENE & REPORT – Formulate a plan and define next steps
CONTACT
Gregory Critchfield, MD, MS
Bear Lake Watch
(435) 535-1538
info@bearlakewatch.com
Dr. Patrick Belmont
Utah State University
Watershed Science
patrick.belmont@usu.edu