The Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands held a public webinar on Oct. 17 to share information and gather public opinion on updates to the management plans for the Great Salt Lake.
The two plans in question are the Great Salt Lake Comprehensive Management Plan and Great Salt Lake Mineral Leasing Plan.
“These plans will ensure that the ecological health, scenic attributes, extractive industries and recreation opportunities will be maintained now and into the future,” the division’s website states.
The plans will also help to manage, allocate and appropriately use the Great Salt Lake’s sovereign land resources, as well as define goals and application strategies, according to the website.
The current management plans were established in 2013, but because of significant changes in the land and resources, the division had decided to update them.
The public webinar was only one step in the planning process. The division is still in the “scoping” phase of the updates, but intends to have a final draft by fall of 2025 and a complete adoption of both plans in spring of 2026, according to the website.
As part of the planning process, the division has also invited the public to provide input on issues and concerns with the plans through a survey. The survey will guide the planning committee in knowing what issues are most important to public citizens.
At the Oct. 17 public webinar, the division gave an overview of the plans and how they would benefit people living near Salt Lake. They also took questions and comments from the public to see how community members viewed the development of these plans.
Jeff DenBleyker, a project manager for the plans, said the plans are a combination of efforts from the division and the public in order to most productively and efficiently manage the lake’s resources.
“Effectively, as we look at the Great Salt Lake,” he said, “what we see is a story of collaboration.”
The updates, still in the information-gathering phase, are seeking to find the overlap between what matters and what can be controlled, so that time and effort are devoted to those areas, according to the division.
At the end of the presentation, viewers could post questions in the public webinar chat. Several attendees wanted to know how they would be impacted and what the significant changes to the plan would look like.
“Rather than just acknowledging that there are impacts that occur, we will look at those different beneficial uses,” Deputy Director of Lands & Minerals Ben Stireman said, “and try to have management actions or recommendations for our division to follow.”
The main changes to the plans will allow the department to be more flexible when taking action, he added. They hope the new plans can be flexible and develop as they receive more information.
“A lot of our information is going to be more of where the rubber hits the road but hopefully more adaptive as well — things that can be updated more frequently than once every ten years,” Stireman said.
The division plans to hold several more meetings in upcoming weeks around Salt Lake City and other counties to gather public opinion and spread awareness for the new plans.
New management plans are also in the works for Utah Lake.