BLM UT Onion Creek Road Stabilization and Water Quality Protection Project

The Onion Creek road is located within the Onion Creek floodplain for over 7 miles and has sustained major damage from large floods last fall. Due to the flood damage, the road is temporarily routed through unstable locations, affecting water quality, riparian and stream bank conditions. The Grand County Road Department has completed these emergency repairs to make the road passable, but the County and the BLM have a common interest in a better long term solution and stabilization of this road. This proposed project is a collaborative effort between the Grand County Road Department, the Moab Area Watershed Partnership, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Utah Division of Water Quality to improve water quality conditions in Onion Creek, a stream that is currently listed by the State of Utah as impaired and not meeting state water quality standards. This project will benefit the public by providing a safer, more reliable road that does not wash out as often which would reduce the impacts to water quality from an unstable road and streambanks. This project may also reduce impacts to TES fish species in the Colorado River by reducing sediment and salinity from the Onion Creek Drainage, which is a direct tributary. The project consists of two phases. The initial phase will complete a feasibility study of the best alignment of the road to minimize impacts to riparian habitat and water quality. The second phase will be design and implementation of road construction and stabilization measures.