Helper City, Utah, is an old rail and mining town making a transition to an economy built around tourism and recreation. The centerpiece of the town is the river flowing through, the Price. Dammed for more than a century, the river now flows free for six miles for fish, anglers, and river floaters.
All this is thanks to key funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and a decade of work by local, state and federal partners, and Trout Unlimited (TU), culminating in the removal of Gigliotti Dam and the total $3.5 million Helper Revitalization Project in 2023.
The Project boosted the city’s outdoor recreation economy and opened up healthy habitat for priority species such as the Colorado cutthroat trout and bluehead sucker. In recognition of the city’s dedicated work to resuscitate its home river, Trout Unlimited (TU) was proud to present Helper with their first Community Action Towards Conservation and Habitat (CATCH) award.
“Removing the old diversions was critical to the health of the river, some endangered species, and to allow a recreational passage so that people could engage the Price River."
