Major habitat restoration is coming to the Jordan River. Here’s where.

West Jordan • The Big Bend Nature Park and Preserve in West Jordan is one of the largest remaining untouched natural areas in the Jordan River corridor.

It still needs some work, though — even after a riverbank stabilization project and the installation of a yet-to-be stocked fishing pond — to become a healthy ecosystem that helps clean the waterway.

Now, it’s getting $3.5 million of a total $7 million investment from federal and state partners that aims to restore habitat, remove invasive species and promote water quality along the river and its delta at the Great Salt Lake. On Friday morning, GOP Rep. Burgess Owens, state environment officials and local leaders gathered to announce the grant and take a tour of the preserve.

“The work we’re doing here ties directly into a broader effort to manage water resources, improve water quality for these watersheds,” Owens said in remarks to the small crowd. “This isn’t just about today. We’re laying the groundwork for a healthier, more resilient environment for generations to come.”

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — which Owens voted against — provided some funding for the federal grant program, called the America the Beautiful Challenge Grant, run by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The project is just one of 74 awardees nationwide from over 450 applications.

At Big Bend, engineers and volunteers will widen the river’s floodplain, create a second channel and plant thousands of native species. The dual river channels will create an island where human access will be restricted.

“Big Bend is one of many restoration sites on the river, but it’s a really large one, which makes it really significant,” Jordan River Commission Executive Director Soren Simonsen said. “There’s been a concerted effort to try and preserve remaining land around the river that’s not developed with structures and parking lots and other things, because we need this for habitat. There’s millions and millions of birds that migrate through here. There’s also a lot of resident species that make their home here.”

Restoration isn’t just coming to Big Bend through this grant, though.

A portion of the National Audubon Society’s Gillmor Sanctuary at the mouth of the Jordan River Surplus Canal will see the removal of invasive, dense tamarisk. At more than a dozen riparian sites along the waterway, from Saratoga Springs to Salt Lake City, crews will be replacing invasives like phragmites with native greenery.

The riparian replanting work has already started and project partners are finalizing contracts associated with the grant. Simonsen said he expects most of the bigger work to start later this fall and continue through the end of 2025.