Utah’s strategy to fight invasive reeds at the Great Salt Lake? Play the long game and look upstream

Floods of four decades ago wiped out native plants and left the Great Salt Lake vulnerable to an expensive problem: tall, invasive, thirsty reeds crowding out other plants and covering up habitat for migratory birds. 

The good news is getting rid of the weeds in and around the lake could yield an estimated 82,000 more acre-feet of water, state land managers told legislators at the Utah Capitol this week. That’s more than enough to meet the yearly, indoor needs for a community the size of West Valley City.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle on the Legislative Water Development Commission agreed Thursday that killing the phragmites is “low-hanging fruit” in the state’s ambitious goal to deliver almost 10 times that amount — 800,000 more acre-feet of water — each year.

Administrators in the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands pointed to Utah Lake as a success story. There, similar efforts reduced the reeds’ cover of the lake bed by nearly 90%, said Keith Hambrecht, restoration manager with the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands. 

As for the Great Salt Lake, Utah’s gained ground against the invasive plants across thousands of acres, Hambrecht said. But the work will take more time and funding. 

Each year, $800,000 in state money goes toward that effort, and lawmakers set aside $2.2 million this year. Hambrecht said if the state keeps up its financial commitment, it could remove the majority of the reeds around the lake in the next decade.

But further from the lake’s shore, there’s more work to be done, especially when it comes to controlling upstream sources — work that is logistically more challenging and likely much more expensive, Hambrecht said.

“We’ve done a really good job in the wetlands, but phragmites is throughout the watershed,” Hambrecht said. “It’s in ditches, canals, streams. It’s all over the place.”  

The panel floated ideas for stepping up a response throughout the watershed, including greater coordination among counties, with help from the Great Salt Lake commissioner.

Success in tackling phragmites also depends on weather and drought: In dry years, the herbicide the state uses is less effective, so the state prioritizes those treatments in wet periods.

“We probably need to just be aware that we can do a lot of damage on these phragmites if we’re if we’re paying attention and get the money at the right time,” said Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork.