GREEN RIVER — The Green River City Council voted unanimously to go out for grant funding to make repairs and improvements to the Killdeer Wetlands and Diversion Dam during Tuesday night’s meeting.

Green River has been working on repairs and improvements for a few years, and while they have secured grant funding from a number of sources, they are still short of the estimated cost of the project. The city has been awarded around $730,000 so far to go towards the project.

The Bureau of Reclamation has recently opened the Upper Colorado River Basin System Conservation and Efficiency Program (B2E) grant program, which focuses on addressing the impacts of drought in the Upper Colorado River Basin. With the Council’s approval, the city will submit a grant application, of which there is no local match required if the project is selected for the funds.

The improvements to the wetlands and the diversion dam became a focus for the city due to high river flows damaging the wetland system, and safety concerns with high river flows over the diversion dam. The Killdeer Wetlands and Diversion Dam updates have been designed to 30%, and the city will seek funding to complete the project design as well as for construction. Ryan Rust, grants manager of the city, said they do not want to pay for the completion of the design now because if they do not receive the grant, they will not have the funds to do the project. Part of the grant application will include a request to cover the cost for the rest of the design. The city is still working with the contracted engineer to determine the request amount, but they expect it to be slightly above $1 million.

Council Member Gary Killpack said his concern for the diversion dam is safety, however, R. Rust, Public Works Director Mark Westenskow, and Mayor Pete Rust all said the city’s top goal for the project is safety. R. Rust said that all the partners on this project, which include the City of Green River, Greenbelt Task Force, Trout Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited, Wyoming Wildlife National Resource Trust Fund, Fish and Wildlife Service, Rocky Mountain Power, and a number of different groups who have met for several years a number of times, all have different goals. They have all agreed that the preferred plan for the project best meets everyone’s wants and needs for the wetlands and dam, as it includes all their priorities for safety, wildlife habitat, fish passage, alkali control, and more.

Killpack also asked whether approving to go out for the grant locks the city into a specific plan for the project, or if they can change the direction of the project after receiving funds. R. Rust said that there will be a grant agreement if the grant is offered to the city, and the city has an opportunity to reject the agreement at that time. However, he said that while the city is not locked into anything before signing the agreement, submitting the grant will set the project to head in a particular direction.

Killpack said he supports the submission of the grant application, as there are more projects up and down the river that are needed, and the wetlands and diversion dam need to be done to get funding for some of those other projects.