The first draft of the Action Plan is almost here!
This is your roadmap for the future of the Jordan River Corridor in Salt Lake City.
The first draft of the Action Plan will be available in Winter 2024-2025 after a year of collaboration with residents, stakeholders, and city staff. It is the city's game plan to improve the corridor through 2035, including how to spend $9 million from the SLC Parks Bond.
The Emerald Ribbon Action Plan is an ambitious vision for the future of the Jordan River, the Jordan River Parkway Trail, and the many city-owned parklands that surround them in Salt Lake City. The ten miles of urban river corridor that cut through the city’s Westside neighborhoods are intertwined with the city’s history and growth from a natural river (one of four that flow into the Great Salt Lake), to the city’s industrial heart, to a vibrant hub of immigration from around the world. The West Side has seen immense transformation in the last one hundred years. The Jordan River has been at the heart of all of it.
At the core of the vision for the Emerald Ribbon is the idea that if we sustain nature, nature will sustain us, fostering a system of care that can span generations. This framework evolved from the community’s repeated desire to see a more comprehensive approach to care on the Jordan River corridor. Through the planning process, the community’s interest in centering the natural environment was clear. The interwoven concepts of Nature, Culture, and Care serve as the underlying approach to the Action Plan
The 5 Guiding Principles
The Guiding Principles were created in Phase 1 of the Action Plan process in close collaboration with the Community Advisory Group. They emerged from community priorities voiced in focus groups hosted by University Neighborhood Partners and at public workshops around the corridor. These principles hold the plan accountable to what matters most to Westside residents and serve as the chapters of the Emerald Ribbon Action plan.
1) Celebrate the rich ecological and cultural diversity of the corridor.
Center nature and the ecological health of the corridor while also celebrating the rich cultural vibrance of the Westside’s people.
2) Connect the corridor into surrounding streets, trails, and waterways.
Improve trails, intersections, and water access points to create a true mobility corridor that makes it easy to get around within and in and out of the neighborhood.
3) Cultivate collective care of the corridor.
Cultivate collective ownership and care of the corridor, rethinking the management approach that exists today.
4) Create a safe and vibrant destination.
Bring more activity and energy to the river’s banks and the corridor’s parks, so long as it is supportive of a healthy natural habitat. To do this, a public safety strategy that ensures people feel safe and welcome on the corridor is paramount.
5) Restore and enhance the river ecosystem as a peaceful refuge.
Restore and enhance the river’s ecological health (and work to make the river swimmable and fishable in the future)!
