Long after wildfires are put out, impacts are felt in the environment. Debris flows, charred landscapes, threatened watersheds and, of course, longstanding impacts on wildlife are some of the issues in the aftermath of fires.
The Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative works to clean up after fires. In 2024 and 2025, it restored nearly 150,000 acres, improving high priority watersheds.
Created in 2006, this Utah Department of Natural Resources partnership-based program focuses on:
- Improving watershed health and biological diversity
- Increasing water quality and yield
- Improving opportunities for sustainable uses of natural resources, including restoring fish and wildlife habitats
“These proactive projects to improve wildlife habitat and watershed health throughout the state are crucial, not only for our fish and wildlife species, but also for the residents of Utah,” Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative Program Director Tyler Thompson said.
“It takes a great deal of coordination and funding to make these projects possible, and we are very grateful to our many partners and their continued support of wildlife conservation and improving water quality. Along with proactive improvement projects, we also do a lot of work to restore areas impacted by wildfires, like we saw this year. These efforts are vital for maintaining healthy ecosystems.”
Utah wildfires, risk and being proactive
The state has been acting diligently to stop cataclysmic results from an out-of-control wildfire on the urban Wasatch Front, particularly the Big and Little Cottonwood canyons.
But it is not easy, especially when you have so many players involved, including the federal government, state agencies, county and city government and homeowners, all with a different vested interest.
Authorities want to prevent outcomes like the Tubbs Fire in northern California in 2017, which saw 5,636 buildings lost, or the Camp Fire, also in northern California, which was even more disastrous. The Camp Fire was the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.
The Camp Fire lasted 18 days; 85 people were killed, and the town of Paradise lost 18,804 structures — 85 percent of its buildings. There were 754 structures the fire did not totally destroy, but even in buildings that did not burn, it was often necessary to remediate interior smoke exposure.
The Utah Watershed Initiative wants to not only mitigate risks but provide a solid landing to restore landscapes.
In the last year, its accomplishments include:
- Restoring 144,433 acres across Utah, including 13,960 acres burned by wildfires last year.
- Mixing and spreading 743,787 pounds of seed on various landscapes (including those burned by fires) across Utah.
- Completing a total of 120 habitat restoration projects.
- Improving 142 miles of streams.
- Creating an estimated 539 jobs in the state.
Over $31 million in funding was invested by more than 63 partners to pay for the different restoration projects. Part of the funding for these projects comes from the DWR Habitat Council, which is funded by a portion of revenue from the fees that customers pay for licenses, permits, stamps and certificates of registration. Other funding partners include the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, conservation groups and many other non-government organizations.
Habitat work through the Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative includes:
- Aerial seeding after a wildfire.
- Removing encroaching trees for sagebrush preservation and rangeland fire management.
- Prescribed fires to reduce fire fuels in an area (which reduces the risk of a catastrophic wildfire) and to enhance the aspen habitat used by many wildlife species.
- Stream restoration through various techniques, including an innovative method of building artificial beaver dams. This unique dam-mimicking technique was conceptualized in Utah and decreases erosion, raises river levels and even improves water quality.
- Planting shrubs and sagebrush to provide feed and shelter for mule deer, sage-grouse and other wildlife species.
Reseeding efforts are currently underway for areas impacted by this year’s wildfires, including the Monroe Canyon Fire, France Canyon Fire, Forsyth Fire, Deer Creek Fire, Willard Peak Fire and others through this effort.
Since 2006, this program has improved nearly three million acres of Utah’s landscapes through more than 2,900 restoration projects. Visit the WRI website to see where these projects have taken place across the state.