The Utah Inland Port Authority is contributing $2.5 million to help preserve shoreline along the Great Salt Lake.
During a Wednesday news conference on the lake's southeast shore, the state agency announced funds will go to the Utah Department of Natural Resources to help purchase and preserve shoreline land.
Inland Port Authority Executive Director Ben Hart said the investment builds on the agency's broader conservation efforts.
"Please believe me when I say we know the important asset and resource that the Great Salt Lake is," he said, "so much so, last month our board put aside $2.5 million, which complements a prior $5 million — so we're about $7.5 million to the protection of wetlands and the Great Salt Lake.”
The funding comes as state leaders continue looking for ways to protect the shrinking body of water. According to the Great Salt Lake Commissioner's Office, the lake remains more than seven feet below its minimum healthy level.
Officials say low water levels threaten habitat for millions of migratory birds and increase the risk of toxic dust blowing from the exposed lakebed into nearby communities.
The funding announcement hasn't quieted longtime critics of the Inland Port Authority.
Environmental groups and some nearby residents have argued the agency’s industrial development projects around the lake threaten a fragile ecosystem.
During a board meeting earlier this month, one public commenter questioned whether the new conservation funding goes far enough.
"Throwing a couple million dollars at environmental mitigation projects," she said, "while accelerating the rate of extractive development beside our lake is a band-aid solution to a much bigger issue."
Deeda Seed, with the Center for Biological Diversity, echoed that sentiment.
"What you're doing is incentivizing development in the Great Salt Lake Basin in areas that are severely stressed with regard to water resources," she said. "How are you going to manage that kind of intense industrial development in an area that right now is facing a really severe crisis?"
State officials say negotiations with the landowners are still underway, and protecting more shoreline will likely require additional funding.
