Message From The Executive Director

This year provided another stark reminder of the need to better understand and manage Utah’s natural resources. After several good water years, the state trended back into unwelcome drought conditions. In some areas of the state, we saw the driest summer ever recorded. Not surprisingly, we saw big drops in Utah’s reservoir storage and similar drops in Utah’s largest bodies of water, Great Salt Lake and Lake Powell. We also saw some of the biggest wildfires in recent history as fires like the Monroe fire near Richfield burned through hundreds of square miles.

Despite these difficult circumstances, I remain incredibly optimistic about where we are as a state. Rather than ignore these issues, Utah has tackled challenges head on using data informed policy to meet the needs of the moment. Here at the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water and Air, we are incredibly proud of our efforts to serve the State to facilitate better outcomes. As our mission statement states, “the Institute guides Utah land, water, and air policy by connecting us with high-quality research.”

To do this, we value data-driven decision making, compelling communication, shared partnerships, non-partisan perspectives, and making sure that we listen to and get feedback from decision makers. In this spirit, we present our fifth annual report on Utah’s land, water, and air.

This issue contains five chapters. As always, we have chapters on Utah’s land, Utah’s water, and Utah’s air. We then present a special chapter on the energy issues facing the state and a chapter forecasting some of the opportunities facing the state in the not-too-distant future, especially as we prepare to host the world in 2034.

Thanks to all of the authors and Institute staff, especially Anna McEntire, Kori Ann Kurtzeborn, Michelle Smith, and Miranda Lorenc for their hard work in compiling this important document.