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Ducks Unlimited’s efforts to save the Great Salt Lake got a major boost this week thanks to nearly $5 million in grants from The Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust.

On Tuesday, the trust announced DU received the grants to implement projects that will benefit the struggling Great Salt Lake’s wetland ecosystem. The grants in total are the single largest award DU has ever received in Utah.

The projects include:

  • Fixing miles of ailing levees and restoring high-quality wetland habitats in the Ogden Bay Waterfowl Management Area.
  • Replacing a dilapidated water delivery system with state-of-the-art management infrastructure at the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.
  • Replacing three aging dams on the Jordan River that regulate water for the New State Duck Club and the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.

The projects benefit a combined 11,688 acres of wetlands. They are expected to be completed in 2025. Ducks Unlimited is also helping pay for the work with funds raised from DU’s Great Salt Lake Initiative.

“Ducks Unlimited is thrilled to use these grants to augment our ambitious Great Salt Lake Initiative, which seeks to replenish the lake through wetland conservation,” said Jeff McCreary, Ducks Unlimited’s director of operations for the Western Region. “We’re grateful to The Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust for financially supporting DU’s work to save these habitats that are so important to waterfowl and other birds.”

The Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust is co-led by the National Audubon Society’s Saline Lakes Program and The Nature Conservancy. The trust also awarded $3.5 million for other projects led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and Salt Lake City’s Department of Public Utilities.

The Great Salt Lake is critically important to millions of waterfowl and other migratory birds. But last year, the lake dropped to its lowest level in 170 years, and the ecosystem was on the verge of collapse. In response, Ducks Unlimited launched its ambitious Great Salt Lake Initiative to raise more than $5 million in private funds and $10 million in public funds to replenish the lake through wetland conservation. That’s on top of the more than 40,000 acres of habitat in Utah DU has conserved over the years. Learn more at www.ducks.org/greatsaltlake.

Ducks Unlimited Inc. is the world's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving North America's continually disappearing wetland and grassland habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has restored or protected more than 16 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science, DU’s projects benefit waterfowl, wildlife and people in all 50 states. DU is growing its mission through a historic $3 billion Conservation For A Continent capital campaign. Learn more at http://www.ducks.org.

Media Contact:
Ryan Sabalow, Western Region - Communications Coordinator
(916) 805-1210
rsabalow@ducks.org