Utah canals and other irrigation infrastructure are being destroyed rapidly as a result of reclamation funded water conservation projects that typically involve piping and burying these features

This $110,058 Cooperative Agreement awarded by the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation under the Cultural Resources Management (CFDA 15.511) program will support research and public education on the history of irrigation infrastructure in Utah. The primary awardee, Utah State University, will conduct field and archival research to document the history of canals and irrigation practices in the state. The project will create a range of public education products, including reports, a website, geographic information systems (GIS) data, an oral history archive, museum exhibits, and classroom materials. These deliverables are intended to mitigate the loss of historic properties associated with irrigation infrastructure as a result of water conservation projects in Utah. The project will engage with the Utah State Historic Preservation Office to streamline the historic preservation process for these initiatives.

Once the canals are destroyed the public is usually unaware of their significant role in the history of the state. The grant funds will be tied to a programmatic agreement with the utah state historic preservation office that will streamline the usual nhpa adverse effects mitigation process for reclamation and agency customers. The purpose of this project is to mitigate the loss of historic properties associated with irrigation infrastructure by researching and documenting the history of water management and the use of irrigation its infrastructure and agricultural practices in utah and to create widely available products to educate the public about this history. The project will create documents a publicly available website geographic information systems GIS an oral history archive museum exhibits and classroom materials to educate the public about the history of canals. The project will involve field and archival research to collect information on historical canals. The project researchers will create several products including reports and articles light detection and ranging lidar and geographic information systems to document the history of canals. Public outreach products will include reports GIS an archive of oral history interviews a website a museum exhibit a traveling exhibit and classroom materials about the history of irrigation in utah.