Restoring Local Rivers
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Volunteers participating in stream restoration
In March 2025, The DKJ Memorial Foundation was proud to partner with Sageland Collaborative with a grant that helped restore wetlands, improve habitat for wildlife, and engage our community in hands-on conservation across Utah.
“In 2025, we completed 23 pre- and post-monitoring stream health assessments at our restoration sites. Overall, we found that after restoration activities were completed, aquatic and riparian habitat improved, along with water quality and floodplain connectivity. Our research partners at Utah State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Working Lands for Wildlife program collected data on other stream health metrics including sediment capture and carbon sequestration, and findings from Utah State University’s sediment study were presented at the Salt Lake Watershed Symposium in November 2025.
We engaged 250 volunteers in hands-on stream restoration activities in 2025, including building beaver dam analogs and planting 1,500 pollinator-friendly plants at restoration sites. We were pleased to provide University of Utah and Salt Lake Community College students with mentoring opportunities so they are empowered to enter the science and natural resource professions. In 2025, we measured an increase in participation from Hispanic, Latino, LGBTQ+, and other People of Color in our community.”