What is Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative?
Utah's Watershed Restoration Initiative (WRI) is a partnership based program in Utah to improve high priority watersheds throughout the state. Since 2006, WRI has focused on improving three ecosystem values: 1) watershed health and biological diversity, 2) water quality and yield, and 3) opportunities for sustainable uses of natural resources. WRI is a bottom-up initiative where project planning, review, and ranking occur at a local level. Five regional teams elect their own leaders, establish focus areas, review, score and rank project proposals using a comprehensive project prioritization score sheet, and assist their members in implementing projects. See the "News" section for more details.Tyler Thompson - Director, Utah's Watershed Restoration Initiative
FY25 Funding List Coming Soon
Latest WRI News
WRI Announces Funded Projects for FY 2024
Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative (WRI) and its partners announce funding decisions for the upcoming FY 2024 (July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024) project implementation season. 92 of the 124 […]
Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources recently featured WRI on their “Wild” podcast
In this episode, Utah Department of Natural Resources Watershed Program Director Tyler Thompson and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Habitat Conservation Coordinator Daniel Eddington talk about some of the proactive […]
WRI Announces Funded Projects for FY 2023
Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative (WRI) and its partners announce funding decisions for the upcoming FY 2023 project implementation season. 103 of the 148 project proposals submitted to WRI for implementation […]
WRI Launches Social Media Accounts
WRI recently launched social media accounts on both Twitter and Facebook! Follow us for WRI announcements and program highlights, partner stories and project highlights and other relevant restoration news, events […]
WRI Announces Funded Projects for Fiscal Year 2022
Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative (WRI) and its partners announce funding decisions for the upcoming FY 2022 project implementation season. 114 of the 162 project proposals submitted to WRI for implementation […]
Recent Peer Reviewed Article Outlines Positive Impacts of WRI Sponsored Pinyon Juniper Removal Projects in Utah
Recent publication looking at 15 years of WRI sponsored woodland reduction projects across 129 different sites in Utah shows the overall positive effects of these treatment types, but also illustrates […]
WRI Region Boundaries
