Great Salt Lake Research Grant
Coming soon! 2026 GSL Research Grant applications for FY28!
The Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands will be posting the application materials for the research grant in early October. Check back here for more details soon!
Point of Contact:
Angela Gong
Great Salt Lake Program Manager
Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands
(385) 226-3333
State of Utah Fiscal Years run from July 1 to June 30 of the following year.
Congratulations to the FY2026 Great Salt Lake Research Grant awardees:
Goodwin/Spangenberg: Phragmites modeling at Farmington Bay WMA
Kettenring: Seed-based restoration of Great Salt Lake wetland plant communities in an uncertain water future
Neilson: Characterizing Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Inflows via Flow Measurement and Stable Isotope Sampling
Putman: Remote Sensing Approaches to Identify Dust Hotspot Vulnerability
Reimer: Microbialite Resilience and Ecosystem Implications
Schlossnagle: Great Salt Lake Wetlands Integrated Monitoring Project
Solomon: Quantifying Groundwater Inflow to Great Salt Lake
Our selection process was more challenging than ever this year, with 39 proposals and requests for funding totaling over $4,175,000. We are grateful to the many people working to understand Great Salt Lake, and are excited to support some of that work. We look forward to using the results of these projects to improve and inform management of the lake and its precious resources.
The Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands at the recommendation of the Research and Grants subcommittee of the Great Salt Lake Technical Team awarded grants for research project work on the Great Salt Lake. Proposals came from universities, government agencies, and private consulting and/or research firms.
The “hot topics” the Great Salt Lake Technical Team addressed with this round of funding were:
- Impacts of Water Level and Water Quality on GSL Biota
- Mapping, Surveying, and Data Repository
- Ecosystem Dynamics
- Water Budget and In-Lake Routing
The Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands at the recommendation of the Research and Grants subcommittee of the Great Salt Lake Technical Team awarded grants for research project work on the Great Salt Lake. Proposals came from universities, government agencies, and private consulting and/or research firms.
The “hot topics” the Great Salt Lake Technical Team addressed with this round of funding were:
- Causeway breach flow
- Microbialites
- Water delivery to GSL wetlands
- Wetland health and shorebird use
- GSL and dust
- Lakebed mapping
The Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands at the recommendation of the Research and Grants subcommittee of the Great Salt Lake Technical Team awarded grants for research project work on the Great Salt Lake. Proposals came from universities, government agencies, and private consulting and/or research firms.
The “hot topics” the Great Salt Lake Technical Team addressed with this round of funding were:
- Great Salt Lake salt mass balance
- Nest success on Great Salt Lake marshes
- Assessing water delivery and water needs of Great Salt Lake wetlands
- Native wetland revegetation to restore wetland habitat
- Invasive plants in wetlands
- Sources of microplastics to Great Salt Lake
- Water banking to increase or maintain flows to Great Salt Lake
- Archaeological investigation
The Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands at the recommendation of the Research and Grants subcommittee of the Great Salt Lake Technical Team awarded grants for research project work on the Great Salt Lake. Proposals came from universities, government agencies, and private consulting and/or research firms.
The “hot topics” the Great Salt Lake Technical Team addressed with this round of funding were:
- Gunnison Bay salt crust
- Great Salt Lake waterfowl production
- Wetland revegetation and restoring ecosystem services
- Microbial primary production
- Quantifying the connection between groundwater input to Great Salt Lake and active microbialite communities
- Groundwater and shoreline surface crust mechanics
- Modeling the flow through the openings in the causeway
The Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands at the recommendation of the Research and Grants subcommittee of the Great Salt Lake Technical Team awarded grants for research project work on the Great Salt Lake. Proposals came from universities, government agencies, and private consulting and/or research firms.
The “hot topics” the Great Salt Lake Technical Team addressed with this round of funding were:
- Effects of low lake levels on air quality
- Salt balance in Great Salt Lake
- Dynamics of the deep brine layer
- Heavy metal distribution in soils and plants of Great Salt Lake wetlands
- Wetland revegetation and restoring ecosystem services
- Causeway flow
- Farmington Bay inundation
- Microplastics in the Great Salt Lake