12 MILES OF BEAUTIFUL NEW RIVER… DUG FROM SCRATCH WITH A TRACKHOE.
The Provo River in Heber Valley, Utah experienced trans-basin diversions, channel straightening and levee construction activities, beginning in the 1950’s; leaving behind something more like a canal than a river. The Provo River Restoration Project (PRRP) changed all that.
PRRP is one of the largest and most ambitious restoration projects in the western United States. With a total budget of approximately $45 million, this forward-thinking project has restored approximately 12 miles of the Provo River: nearly all of this length was designed by Allred Restoration and dug from scratch with heavy equipment.
The PRRP is a federal ecosystem restoration project that includes guaranteed minimum instream flows for the restored river. Project managers acquired a wide stream corridor that allows enough space for the river to migrate naturally across its floodplain. Over a period of roughly 8 years, State and Federal crews, under the oversight of Mr. Tyler Allred, constructed over 10 miles of smaller channels and hundreds of wetlands, in addition to the 12 miles of main Provo River channel. During the first two years of restoration activities, Chad Gourley (now president of Otis Bay), worked jointly with Mr. Allred on the design and construction oversight of this large and complex project.
For more information about this project from the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission, please visit their website.