Why this Salt Lake group is trying to bring county's creeks back to surface
Authored by Carter Williams
Source: KSL
An article detailing the Seven Greenways Vision Plan Opportunity Area Walk series, including a walk along the buried Emigration Creek at Herman Franks Park in Salt Lake City and various other projects.
Brian Tonetti was standing at Herman Franks Park on a warm and sunny summer evening as he explained exactly what was directly beneath him.
He was right at the point where Emigration Creek enters the park through a 4-foot pipe below the grass, explaining to a small group of people gathered around him how the creek dips in and out of sight across the city.
After a short discussion Thursday night, he led this group along the park's eastern edge, on 800 East, turning at its northern boundary on 1300 South toward 700 East and Liberty Park to the west. This path is highly calculated, marking the direction the creek flows underground.
His goal is to bring this part of the creek back to the surface again someday, a practice known as "daylighting."
"This project is ... one of 21 different opportunity areas that we've identified basically across the Salt Lake Valley," says Tonetti, executive director of the Seven Canyons Trust, a nonprofit that focuses on restoring and repairing natural creeks in Salt Lake County. "These are basically areas that would create significant and impactful change when implementing projects."
The $1.8 million proposal for Herman Franks Park calls for removing the existing piping and the grass above it, exposing the creek again, along with new trails, boardwalks, railings and other elements, including baseball fencing, to enhance the park without stripping the amenities it already features, such as its three baseball and softball diamonds.
There's a possible second phase that calls for a "green bridge" connecting the area with Liberty Park; however, Tonetti admits that the estimated $13 million addition is more of a "pie in the sky" concept as compared to the first phase, which could be easily implemented without as many hurdles.
The nonprofit led a short tour of what it envisions for Emigration Creek at Herman Franks Park last week. Seven Canyons Trust's other possible projects are scattered across the Salt Lake Valley. They focus on revitalizing parts of City, Red Butte, Emigration, Parleys, Mill, Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood creeks.
Why creeks went dark
Most of Emigration Creek isn't visible today in areas west of Westminster University. This dates back to when city water managers began channeling the creek in an effort to control flooding in the early 20th century, Jeffrey Carlstrom documented in his book, "The History of Emigration Canyon."
This is true for other creeks in the county after the water upstream is diverted for drinking or other uses.
"My assumption is that the streams were really kind of seen as in the way of development and many were piped. It was likely thought at the time that piping the streams would lead to less flooding of adjoining properties," says Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities director Laura Briefer, adding that most of Salt Lake City's piping happened in flatter parts of the city.
While this might have worked in some situations, it also led to unintended environmental consequences. Hiding the creek means there are no natural air or vegetation filters throughout large portions of the stream, which hinders water quality before it enters the Jordan River riparian corridor, according to Seven Canyons Trust.
There are flooding concerns if culverts aren't properly maintained and piping can increase water velocity, which can speed up erosion in some areas, as well, the nonprofit points out.
Briefer agrees with these concerns, arguing that they can easily be forgotten when you can't see the water.
"It's very difficult when they're out of sight and out of mind underground," Briefer says. "And there are a lot of benefits to having a healthy riparian area and a healthy floodplain."
A turn to daylighting
Tonetti helped form Seven Canyons Trust while at the University of Utah in 2014, advocating for more daylighting projects like what Salt Lake City did for the first time at City Creek Park in 1995, as a solution to some of these side effects.
Since then, the organization has helped create the Three Creeks Confluence Park, a small park that highlights the location where Emigration, Parleys and Red Butte creeks merge together into one as they flow into the Jordan River. It's also helping Salt Lake City officials daylight a section of City Creek along the Folsom Trail in Poplar Grove.
The group's plan for Herman Franks Park is one of nearly two dozen other possible projects after that. All of these projects vary in size and complexity but can have big benefits in water quality, education and recreation, Tonetti says. The organization says they can also be economic benefits by making a location more desirable for events or other activities.
There's a lot of work that goes into each project, though. First, every proposal requires the desire for daylighting because every proposed project is on government land. It also requires collaboration with the right city, county and state officials, depending on the project's location.
This is why representatives from Salt Lake City's public utilities and public lands departments attended the Seven Canyons Trust tour of Herman Franks Park last week. They've worked with the organization in the past and seen the successes of the first two daylit parks and are considering more, even though this project is not on the city's official plan at the moment.
"It's really about trying to find the right people for the different elements of the project," Tonetti said, explaining that it starts with the right "political will" for a city or county to want to take on a project. "The municipal excitement really helps facilitate the projects."
“Anything that we can do to improve the water quality and environmental health of these streams I think ultimately has a great benefit for aquatic and human health.”
Aside from proposing ideas, Tonetti and others help fundraise, community engagement and assist planners as they map out each need for a project if there is a desire. Every proposal factors in possible risks, such as flooding risks, he said.
He acknowledges that this can't be a solution everywhere, which is why the organization's 21 proposals are in areas where it deems feasible.
Briefer explains there are pockets downtown where daylighting can't happen or it wouldn't make sense because of possible runoff contaminants entering the water. But she views daylighting as a way to improve riparian water quality in the right areas while also turning daylit areas into educational tools, which are both beneficial to improving water quality.
"Anything that we can do to improve the water quality and environmental health of these streams I think ultimately has a great benefit for aquatic and human health," she said. "I know that we're supportive of these projects, especially when we're designing in the flood control and hydraulics."
