Skip to main content

Spanish Fork Watershed (Sponsor = Utah County)

The project is funded through authority of the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act.

Project Description

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), with Utah County as the project sponsor and co-sponsors Payson City, Elk Ridge City, Salem City, Woodland Hills City, Spanish Fork City, Strawberry Highline Canal Company, and Strawberry Water Users Association, are proposing to partially fund through the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act [Public Law (PL) 83-566], improvements within the Spanish Fork Watershed. This plan will address flooding, water quality, and agricultural water management issues in the watershed. The U.S. Forest Service is a cooperating agency.

The Proposed Action consists of ten measures: 

  1. Flood control measures to protect the Strawberry Highline Canal from the 100-year storm; 
  2. Improvements to the Strawberry Water Users Association Diversion dam and appurtenances; 
  3. Flood control measures along the Dry Creek channel to protect against the 500-year storm; 
  4. Reconstruction of the dams at Maple and McClellan lakes; 
  5. Flood control measures to convey stormwater flows from up to the 100-year storm through Loafer Canyon; 
  6. Construction of the Salem debris basin and conveyance pipeline to protect against the 100-year storm;
  7. Construction of a detention basin above Woodland Hills to protect against the 100-year 
  8. Improvements to the Strawberry Highline Power Canal; 
  9. Bank armoring along the Spanish Fork River to provide erosion protection from future flooding events up to the 100-year storm; and 
  10. Flood control measures to protect the Thistle control structure and Highway 89.

NEPA Analysis

NRCS, as the lead federal agency, is conducting National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis in the form of a Watershed Plan Environmental Assessment (Plan-EA) to analyze impacts to the natural and human environment from this Project. The Plan-EA will comply with the Council on Environmental Quality’s regulations at 40 CFR Parts 1500-1508, which require an evaluation of potential environmental impacts associated with federal projects and actions.

Current Status

The Draft Plan-EA is under development, including developing and analyzing alternatives, evaluating potential impacts to environmental and cultural resources, and agency consultation and coordination. The Draft Plan-EA is anticipated to be available for public review and comment in the spring of 2025. 
 
Project Documents

Public Scoping Meeting - NRCS held an online public scoping meeting on March 25, 2021, as part of the NEPA process to provide information about the conceptual design of the projects.

Public Scoping Report (9.96 MB)
Public Scoping Notice (3.08 MB)
Public Scoping Meeting Recording (23.93 KB)
Public Scoping Meeting Presentation (2.34 MB)

Contact Information

Derek Hamilton, Water Resources Coordinator
Derek.hamilton@usda.gov
801-524-4560

or

Utah County Watershed Operations Plan EA Information
Email:    email@utahcountywatershed.com
Phone: (801) 946-6750
 
Updated February 2023.