Completion Form

2017

The Spanish Fork River, like many rivers in the State of Utah , has long been a source of agriculture irrigation.  Additionally, as the city of Spanish Fork has developed and population has grown, property along the river has become desirable for development.  Due to these factors and many others including misguided attempts at flood control, the Spanish Fork river has lost much of its natural channel geomorphology.  In addition to losses to stream structure, invasive species now populate the limited riparian area.  Invasive species removal is a great place to start with a restoration project because results are evident immediately and it generally doesn't require excessive permitting. 
TU employees began meeting with Utah Division of Wildlife Resources in the winter of 2016 to plan details of the invasive species removal portion of the project and began to develop a concept plan with River Restoration.org.  
Utah Conservation Corp Crew-Leaders-in-Training spent one week on the project from April 10-14.  They used chainsaw and loppers to remove vegetation along 1/2 mile of the north bank of the river from Spanish Fork Main Street into the Sports Park Complex.  They removed all of the vegetation from the vicinity as per the City of Spanish Fork request to an area where the city chipped the woody vegetation and burned the phragmites removed.
In the meantime, TU and DWR employees met with River Restoration.org engineers and environmental scientists to begin the concept for stream restoration.  Draft restoration reports were delivered in late summer 2017 and are currently being reviewed by all partners.

Jordan Nielson

10/02/2017 12:25:40