This project is being proposed to address three needs on the Ogden River 1) Water Quality, 2) Fish Passage and 3) Aquatic Habitat Stability. After restoration of the Ogden River within the city of Ogden, the community has rallied around the project and helped to sustain it through an adopt-a-river and adopt-a-trail program, both of which have been incredibly successful. Recreational use by the community is extremely high, especially during the summer months when people fish, swim and float along the restoration reach of the Ogden River. Even local elementary classes are using the river as an outdoor classroom. This continued engagement by the community has highlighted that additional work needs to occur outside of the boundaries of the original stream restoration project. The specific area of this project focuses downstream of the original restoration project. In this location, the river is still heavily channelized and degraded. Along this reach, the Ogden River flows in proximity to a junk yard on the North Bank and the 21st Street Pond on the South Bank. Within this reach of the Ogden River, the Marriott Ditch irrigation diversion structure interrupts the flow of the river, with a drop structure composed of waste concrete. This forces the water of the river into the embankment of the 21st Street Pond. In addition as seen in the attached maps, the water diverted at this structure snakes through the junkyard before hitting the Marriott Ditch Company headgate. The Marriott Ditch Water Company takes the water they need for irrigation and bypasses water back to the river, flowing through the junkyard again. As the water flows through the junkyard it picks up pollutants and carries it back to the river. Recent discussions between TU staff, Ogden City and the junkyard have highlighted the need to develop a better diversion structure to improve water quality, habitat quality and public access to this section of the river.

The objectives of this project are to: 1) Improve fish passage at the Marriott Ditch Diversion 2) Improve water conveyance through the intake canal 3) Stabilize the river bank and embankment of the 21st Street pond

This project addresses several threats and risks. 1) Habitat fragmentation is a uniform threat to stream habitats across the entire Weber River Basin. A basinwide barrier assessment completed by TU and partners in the Weber River Basin during 2013 indicated that habitat within the Weber River basin is highly fragmented by the presence of almost 400 complete and partial barriers. Habitat fragmentation threatens species such as the Bonneville cutthroat trout and bluehead sucker by limiting the populations of these fish into smaller reaches of stream which do not contain the array of habitat features needed to ensure that their populations will be stable over the long term. This diversion structure was identified as the #1 priority for removal based on an analysis of the barrier assessment. This barrier prevents the movement of brown trout and mountain whitefish. Historical records of Bluehead sucker in the Ogden River, suggests that this structure may be acting a barrier preventing them from repopulating the lower Ogden River. 2) Water quality has been repeatedly impacted by the intake channel for the Marriott Ditch, which snakes through the junkyard, picking up chemical pollutants as well as debris. 3) The current configuration of the diversion structure directs flow into the embankment of the 21st Street Pond. The river has been slowly undermining the embankment for several years. Another series of high flow events could result in complete erosion of the embankement. This project would protect the bank as well as provide an accessible area for the public to access the canal.

This project, along with the prior Ogden River Restoration Project, will directly restore the degraded condition of the lowland riparian and lotic habitats within and around the Ogden River. In 2011 Ogden City was nominated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as one of ten cities nationwide to be included in the Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory Birds. That determination was based largely on the ongoing success of the Ogden River Restoration Project. Ogden City General Plan: Involve Ogden, Plan Your Future: This community derived plan emphasizes increased outdoor recreation, creation of additional open space and protection of natural resources, including the Ogden River. Mountain View Community Plan: This neighborhood plan call for the completion of the Ogden River Restoration Project to enhance the quality of life of those that live in the neighborhood that surrounds the project. 2015 HUD Proposal: This project and this area was identified as a priority in the 2015 HUD grant proposal, which was focused on improving habitats and resiliency within specific zones of the city where populations are economically disadvantaged.

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Water quality concerns are driving this project. We are targeting two primary sources of pollution. 1) Industrial overland pollution caused by live water flowing through a junk yard and returning to the river. This represents a chronic source of degradation both through passive flow of water through the junkyard and past intentional dumping (http://kutv.com/news/local/ogden-business-indicted-for-polluting-ogden-river). 2) Concentrated flows caused by the vertical drop over the existing diversion structure, direct the full force of the river into the embankment of the 21st street pond. This is causing chronic fine sediment to enter the Ogden River, but also represents a potentially catastrophic impact to water quality in the Ogden River, if the river erodes into the 21st Street pond.

As with all aquatic projects we anticipate applying for a joint stream alteration permit. This permit process will incorporate cultural resources.

Using previous funding we worked with RiverRestoration.org to work with the Marriott Ditch Irrigation Company, Utah Pick-a-Part and Ogden City to develop a comprehensive plan for this diversion and the river downstream of the structure. The overall methods will be as follows: 1) Install a pipeline from the existing diversion structure to the Marriott Ditch Headgate ~420 feet. 2) Fill in the former side channel that was carrying irrigation and river water through the salvage yard. 3) Develop new sidechannels and floodplain habitat downstream of the irrigation diversion structure to offset wetland loss in item 2. 4) Rebuild the irrigation diversion by reconstructing the structure with a new rock sill. 5) Develop a constructed riffle downstream of the diversion structure to stablize the river and ensure fish passage at the diversion structure. Because of the high cost of the project, we are proceeding with it in phases. Phase one of the construction project will include items 1 and 2 above.

Consistent with the past Ogden River Restoration project, a long-term monitoring plan was developed to track the success of the project. Project partners, including TU, UDWR and Ogden City, citizen water quality monitoring and fish population assessments will continue within this reach of the Ogden River at historical monitoring frequencies.

Trout Unlimited Ogden City Ogden Pick-A-Part Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

This area of the Ogden River has been impacted but has high potential value for the community of Ogden. If this project is funded, then we anticipate taking further steps to accomplish the other project areas in future phases.

This project reflects a great example of establishing a partnership among diverse stakeholders. The salvage yard wishes to operate in a contiguous area, Ogden City, UDWR, and TU are interested in sustaining water quality for the community, and the water company is interested in sustainably using their water. This project will provide benefits to all of the stakeholders and is complementary to restoration actions on both the lower Weber and Ogden Rivers.

07/01/2020

06/30/2021

2021

This project was modified due to existing efforts on this reach of the Ogden River. Instead of developing the pipeline, we were able to reconstruct the irrigation diversion and make it fish-passable. We did this by modifying the structure composed of a single drop into three smaller drops of 1 foot each and spaced with constructed riffles. The design spec for the drop structures was to pass Bluehead Sucker, which have historically been found in the lower Ogden River. The invert of the diversion intake was not modified and flow measurements this year indicated that water users were able to take their full allotment of water.

As we were developing this project, Weber County and Ogden City were coordinating on an Emergency Watershed Protection project on the Ogden River. This funding allowed us to contribute and modify that project, which would have just included riprap and rebuilt the diversion structure as a larger single drop. This project was significant in that it reconnected the entire Ogden River to the Weber River for the first time in decades. The Marriott Ditch diversion has been a massive drop structure creating backeddy problems as well as blocking fish movement for a long time. This project stabilized this feature and re-established fish passage. This should open the door for all species of fish in the Weber River to regain access to the Ogden River.

There is a lot of work still needed within this section of the Ogden River. Although disputes between the junkyard and Ogden City over landownership exist, we still need to build a pipeline and reduce the water flowing through the junkyard. Project partners will continue to attempt to achieve this goal.