Laura Briefer
Chair, Jordan River Watershed Council
It is an honor to serve as the Chair of the Jordan River Watershed Council and as our representative on the Utah Watershed Council. In my current role as the Director of the Salt Lake Department of Public Utilities, I am responsible for the provision of drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater to a large area of Salt Lake County, within the Jordan River Watershed. These important services necessitate my involvement in watershed protection from the tops of the Central Wasatch Mountains to the Jordan River and Great Salt Lake to meet environmental quality and natural resource regulatory requirements. This also involves closely collaborating with federal, state, and local levels of government, non-governmental entities, and members of the communities we serve. I hope to bring expertise and a broad perspective to the work of Watershed Council to facilitate discussions and inform water policy so serve our community and protect our environment now and for future generations.
I have served as the Director of Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities for the last nine years and have worked for the organization for nearly 17 years. Prior to that, I served in roles in the public, non-profit, and private sectors, with a focus on environmental and natural resource management, culminating in a 30-year career focused on environmental and public service matters. I hold a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Utah. I also serve on local, state, and national working groups and boards, such as the Utah Water Task Force, the Provo River Water Users Association, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, and the national Water Research Foundation.
I look forward to our work together as the Jordan River Watershed Council, and welcome any thoughts, ideas, and collaborations moving forward.
Dr. Heidi Hoven
Vice Chair, Jordan River Watershed Council
Dr. Heidi Hoven is a wetland ecologist and avian conservation biologist, having earned her PhD and MS from the University of New Hampshire with a special interest in saline aquatic system ecology and plant physiology. Since moving to Utah in 1998, she worked in the private sector focusing much of her work around Great Salt Lake wetland habitat and began the foundation of the many strong professional relationships she enjoys today. She founded a non-profit research organization, The Institute for Watershed Sciences, in 2006 to inform policy for safeguarding the quality of wetlands for birds and other wildlife of Great Salt Lake. She joined National Audubon Society in 2016 and is now senior manager of the nearly 4,000 acres containing prime shorebird habitat on an ancient Jordan River delta of Great Salt Lake.
Gillmor Sanctuary thrives and depends on water from the Jordan River and as such, Dr. Hoven maintains a steady focus on water quality and watershed health for avian habitat associated with Great Salt Lake. She works relentlessly toward developing partnerships to conserve avian habitat resources such as uplands adjacent to hemispherically important bird areas of Great Salt Lake, she serves on the board of DarkSky Utah and chairs the lighting ordinance committee to help create safer passage for migrating birds at night and contributed guidance for a dark sky friendly Jordan River Trail and its many municipalities along its course, and with partners from Great Salt Lake Audubon and Utah Valley University, developed and implemented a sky brightness monitoring program for Salt Lake Valley for volunteers to simultaneously collect data across the valley on a seasonal basis to help inform better outdoor lighting policy for people and birds.
Since joining the Jordan River Commission governing board as an ex-officio member in 2023 representing Audubon Rockies, a regional office of the National Audubon Society, and the lower end of the Jordan River watershed, she has really enjoyed engaging with leaders of communities within the Jordan River watershed to help them understand the importance of the riparian and wetland corridor from Utah Lake to Great Salt Lake and its vital resource of water that supports a rich diversity of flora and fauna that depend on it. In this capacity, Dr. Hoven also serves as vice chair of the Jordan River Watershed Council and liaison to the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council and looks forward to helping communities along the Jordan River care for and improve this important watershed of Great Salt Lake.