2025 Short-Term Projects Grant Program Awardees

During the May meeting of the Central Wasatch Commission, the Commission approved funding for thirteen project proposals that resulted from the Call for Ideas opened to the public in January this year. The goal of the Call for Ideas is to identify projects for possible funding that implement transportation and transit solutions, protect the environment and watershed that originate in the Central Wasatch, steward recreational access, and sustain the economic viability of the Cottonwood Canyons.

Starting in May, the CWC will partner on the following projects:

• The maintenance of Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest bathrooms at trailheads located in the tri-canyons. Support for trailhead facility maintenance will build upon a multi-year partnership among the Central Wasatch Commission, Salt Lake City Public Utilities, the Town of Brighton, and the Uinta-Wasatch National Forest to service existing bathroom facilities at trailheads popular with the public.
• For the second consecutive year, support for Summit Community Gardens Environmental Education program.
• For the third consecutive year, the CWC provided funding for the maintenance of aging fixed rock anchor hardware on climbing routes across the Central Wasatch, as part of the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance’s ongoing work to steward climbing access in the Wasatch. SLCA uses a combination of professional trail crews and volunteers to perform the maintenance.
• In an effort to offset winter canyon traffic, the CWC is continuing its partnership with Wasatch Backcountry Alliance to provide a Saturday backcountry ski shuttle in Little and Big Cottonwood Canyons. This will be the fourth consecutive year the CWC will partially fund this transit initiative.
• For the fourth consecutive year, partial support of Save Our Canyons’ Wilderness Stewardship Project through the organization’s Conservation Program. Through this project and with CWC funding, Save Our Canyons removes illegal campfire rings, hosts trash cleanups and invasive weed pull days, conducts watershed education, and continues fuel management practices including burning, thinning, pruning, chipping across the Central Wasatch.
• The Central Wasatch Commission awarded Trails Utah funding to support the removal of garlic mustard at Bell Canyon trailhead.
• The CWC continues to support the year-round abatement of graffiti tags across the Central Wasatch in partnership with the Wasatch Graffiti Busters.
• New this year, the CWC awarded the Park City Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Bureau funding in support of the Summit Bike Share expansion project to encourage and increase accessibility of in the Wasatch Back.
• Collaborating with a new community partner, the CWC awarded Swaner Preserve and EcoCenter funding for its East Canyon Creek Restoration work, in support of maintaining healthy riparian areas in the Central Wasatch.
• Funding in support for the work of Seven Canyons Trust, an organization that daylights creeks and streams across Utah, at the Folsom Trail Hidden Waters Project, which will reconnect Salt Lake City with its hidden hydrology, enhancing both ecological awareness and urban experience. By integrating art into the pedestrian environment, the project fosters a deeper understanding of the water systems that sustain our city while also improving the vibrancy and accessibility of the Folsom Trail Corridor.
• Funding support for the Park City Historical Society’s Historic Mines Hiking Trail Route, which will consist of self-guided, audio-assisted hikes from the Park City Museum on Main Street to the Silver King Coalition Mining Company’s complex near the top of Park City Mountain Resort’s Town Lift, with options to ride PCMR’s chair lifts as adaptive alternatives to the full hiking routes.
• Support for the Friends of Alta Bird Monitoring program, which seeks to operate year-round and feature a live online video stream to monitor Black-rosy finches and other bird species in Alta.
• Support for Cottonwood Canyons Foundation’s 2025 Tri-Canyon Trail Deferred Maintenance and Invasive Weed Control Project, which provides for extensive trail maintenance work across the Cottonwood Canyons.

“The Central Wasatch Commission is pleased to create new and build upon existing partnerships with organizations working to steward recreational access, sustain the ecosystems, and protect the watershed that originate in the Central Wasatch,” said Jeff Silvestrini, Chair of the Central Wasatch Commission, and Millcreek Mayor. “These projects signify the ongoing commitment of the CWC and the broader community to the preservation of the Central Wasatch Mountain Range. We are especially pleased to be able to continue our stewardship of the lands across the Central Wasatch Mountain Range through this grant program, in partnership with the State of Utah.”

All twelve of these projects will take place in 2025 and 2026, and will address tenets laid out in Mountain Accord including recreational stewardship, environmental and watershed protection. Partnering with nonprofit organizations, and other governmental entities on these projects will allow the CWC the opportunity to engage diverse stakeholders throughout the Central Wasatch and will help see these projects to completion.