For the good of the water levels of the lake, the birds, insects and brine shrimp that live on the lake and the ecosystem surrounding the lake, please weigh the consequences of your actions:
Be mindful when driving, using water and when shopping locally or online.
Give your legislative representatives advice.

• Contents
• Contact your legislators
• Keep an eye on this land sale-HJR 30 22,311 Acres near BRMBR sold to Feds
• What is the status of the HB 60 Water Rights Amendments bill?
• More about HB 60 Water Rights Amendments
• Contact your legislators to Oppose ‘HB 60 Water Rights Amendments’
• Mar 30, 2024, Questions About Listing the Wilson’s Phalarope as an Endangered Species
• Feb 27, 2024, Is Great Salt Lake a Person?
• Jan 26, 2024, Growing the flow in the Bear River to Save Our Great Salt Lake
• Jan 20, 2024, Join us for a Rally to Save Our Great Salt Lake
• Bridgerland Audubon IRS 501(c)3 Statement
• Watch Us Grow!

 
 

Contact Your Legislators:
Utah House Members
Utah Senate Members
Legislators (Alphbetically by last name)
Utah Legislature Resources:
Bills: https://le.utah.gov/billlist.jsp?session=2026GS
Committees: https://le.utah.gov/asp/interim/Main.asp?Year=2026
District Maps: https://le.utah.gov/GIS/findDistrict.jsp 
  
 
 
 

Our question now, with the passage of HJR30:
Is there concern about the fact that the people who say the Federal Government owns too much land in Utah are now selling land to the Feds? Utah Senate voted unanimously to approve HJR30, transferring 22,311 acres from Utah to the Federal Government. The only claim is that it won’t change access, but there’s nothing about preserving it as open space for wildlife….

“HJR30 clarifies it’s federal land, but it won’t change access to the land, added Sen. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton, the resolution’s floor sponsor. He said it will be added to the bird refuge, after Sen. Nate Blouin, D-Millcreek, asked on behalf of a constituent if the land would be used for a different use, like a federal detention center.

“This seems like a good thing,” Blouin added, of the benefit it could have on the wetlands.”

——

“Utah has reached an agreement with the federal government to cease a long-standing dispute over 22,311 acres near the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge along the Great Salt Lake’s northeast edge in exchange for approximately $60 million, state lawmakers said.

The two sides had agreed on a line about five years ago, but hadn’t settled on a price until now. It’s unclear what led to the change in price, but Utah lawmakers credit President Donald Trump’s declaration last month. Trump took to social media last month to declare that he would help “make the lake great again.”

“Very important to save the Great Salt Lake in Utah. This is an Environmental hazard that must be worked on, IMMEDIATELY — It is of tremendous interest to me,” he wrote.

Williams, Carter, Utah agrees to allow feds to claim piece of Great Salt Lake for $60M, KSL.com, KSL Broadcasting, Deseret Digital Media, Updated March 6, 2026, Posted March 6, 2026, https://www.ksl.com/article/51458490

Utah will sell part of the Great Salt Lake to the feds — a deal lawmakers call a ‘win-win’ for the lake, The Salt Lake Tribune, March 6, 2026, https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2026/03/06/utah-lawmakers-make-deal-with-feds/

H.J.R. 30 House Joint Resolution to Approve the Transfer of Land, Utah State Legislature,
https://le.utah.gov/~2026/bills/static/HJR030.html
  

What is HB 60’s Status?
The bill passed both House and Senate committees and was passed by both floors. The bill is in the hands of Governor Cox

Thank you for your efforts to modify this bill. We believe that it prevents public input on water rights and frees the state water engineer to approve many requests without the guidance of interested parties. As a minimum, we believe the bill should have included one word:

Here’s the bill summary from the USU Institute for Land, Water, and Air:
This bill limits the state engineer’s duties for considering water rights applications to being based on prior appropriation. It removes their consideration of whether the water application may interfere with a “more beneficial use for irrigation, municipal and industrial, domestic or culinary, stock watering, power or mining development, or manufacturing, or will unreasonably affect public recreation or the natural stream environment, or will prove detrimental to the public welfare.” It also adjusts the grounds on which the state engineer will consider protests and judicial review.
https://www.usu.edu/ilwa/resources/2026-legislative-updates

From the Utah Rivers Council:
The bill could be heard on Monday, Feb 9, at 3:40 pm or Thursday, Feb 12, at 2:00 pm. Both meetings will be held in room 215 of the Senate Building, and the public can also participate virtually. HB 60’s senate committee hearing will be one of our final chances to defeat this bill before it goes to a vote on the senate floor, so we invite our readers to attend and oppose the bill.

From the Great Salt Lake Collaborative/Salt Lake Tribune:
Amid a freeze, Utah granted millions of gallons of new water rights in the Great Salt Lake basin. Here’s where the water will go. By Megan Banta, Salt Lake Tribune,
https://greatsaltlakenews.org/latest-news/salt-lake-tribune/amid-a-freeze-utah-granted-millions-of-gallons-of-new-water-rights-in-the-great-salt-lake-basin-heres-where-the-water-will-go
“Wells will always remove water from the aquifer below the earth’s surface, he said, but in some cases, they’re also taking from what would have eventually discharged to the lake’s tributaries or the streams feeding those rivers.”

Recording House Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee – January 23, 2026
https://www.utleg.gov/event-streaming/committee/timeline/288794
 

Learn More About HB 60 Water Rights Amendments
 
Our Utah Audubon Council Advocate Says:
HB 60 Water Rights Amendments is the top priority bill to OPPOSE. This bill makes it much more difficult for the public to oppose water rights change applica ons and changes the criteria the state engineer uses for approval, removing the concept that water in a stream is beneficial use. Please contact our Representa ve and Senator and let them know you are strongly opposed to these changes. This bill passed the House Natural Resources Commi ee so is mo on toward passage. Next step will be a full House vote. Please contact your representa ve immediately. The sponsor and commi ee argue this protects and gets water to the GSL, it may but really gives that final decision making to the government officials without input of the public.
https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/our-projects/advocacy/legislative-updates/

Posted by Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment:
“If the Legislature truly intends to save the Great Salt Lake, House Bill 60 would never see the light of day.

As written, HB 60 would prevent the Utah State Engineer from considering public welfare — including environmental and public health impacts — when evaluating protests of water rights applications. That includes the risk of toxic lakebed dust blanketing the Wasatch Front.

This is exactly the opposite of what’s needed to prevent the Great Salt Lake from becoming a toxic dust bowl.”
NO LAKE = TOXIC AIR, HB 60 PUTS PUBLIC HEALTH AT RISK, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, january 26, 2026, https://www.instagram.com/p/DT_zUygDdaf/

Posted by the Deseret News:
Bill panned as ‘major red flag’ for health of Great Salt Lake advances in House committee, by Bridger Beal-Cvetko, KSL, Deseret News, Jan 26, 2026, 12:07 p.m. MST https://www.deseret.com/environment/2026/01/26/bill-panned-as-major-red-flag-for-health-of-great-salt-lake-advances-in-house-committee/
Posted by ABC 4 TV:
Utah House committee advances bill making changes to water rights, Amelia Hobson, ABC 4/Nexstar Media, Jan 23, 2026, https://www.abc4.com/news/politics/utah-house-committee-advances-hb60-water-rights/
Posted by Fox 13 TV:
Bill designed to ‘help’ the Great Salt Lake faces pushback from some who say it won’t, Ben Winslow, Fox 13, https://www.fox13now.com/news/great-salt-lake-collaborative/bill-designed-to-help-the-great-salt-lake-faces-pushback-from-some-who-say-it-wont
Posted by the Utah Rivers Council on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1B7ArUk48w/ Utah Rivers Council wrote:: One of the worst threats facing the Great Salt Lake just took a menacing step forward. Utahns are desperately hoping the state will save the Great Salt Lake by sending it more water and regulating upstream water diversions. But instead, Utah is now proposing to weaken the regulation of upstream water diversions with the advancement of HB 60. HB 60 passed a house committee the first week of the legislative session. The dire impacts of the bill have been falsely sold to the public as “streamlining” the water application process, with the bill sponsor claiming it would somehow help the Great Salt Lake, without explaining how that would happen. HB 60 endangers the Great Salt Lake and for that matter, all of Utah’s rivers and streams. The bill dismantles existing regulations on new water diversions by removing the requirement that the Utah official who approves new water rights – the state water engineer – consider the impacts of these diversions on “public recreation, the natural stream environment, or the public welfare.” The bill specifically prevents the state engineer from rejecting a water right application if the impact is from reduced water flows on sovereign lands. All of the Great Salt Lake is on sovereign lands. This means that if a new water diversion were to shrink the Great Salt Lake and worsen the toxic dust storms impacting public health, the state engineer will no longer have to consider those impacts. HB 60 demonstrates the Utah Legislature doesn’t want to save the Great Salt Lake, they are planning on drying it up. Please, help us save the Great Salt Lake from Utah’s failure by contacting your representatives now and urging them to Vote No on HB 60. Visit greatsaltlakewaterkeeper.org to learn more. See: Utah Rivers Council: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Aq5fnjsDJ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Posted by the Great Salt Lake Collaborative
Bill designed to ‘help’ the Great Salt Lake faces pushback from some who say it won’t, Ben Winslow, Fox 13/Great Salt Lake Collaborative, January 26, 2026, https://greatsaltlakenews.org/latest-news/fox-13/bill-designed-to-help-the-great-salt-lake-faces-pushback-from-some-who-say-it-wont

See also the ‘Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air’ Legislative email
“[HB 60] Summary: This bill limits the state engineer’s duties of awarding water rights applications to be based only on prior appropriation. It removes their consideration of whether the water application may interfere with a “more beneficial use for irrigation, municipal and industrial, domestic or culinary, stock watering, power or mining development, or manufacturing, or will unreasonably affect public recreation or the natural stream environment, or will prove detrimental to the public welfare.” It also adjusts the grounds on which the state engineer will consider protests and judicial review. –more–“
https://preview.mailerlite.io/emails/webview/314885/177952614926779932

 
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Questions About Listing the Wilson’s Phalarope as an Endangered Species