General Manager
Bear River Canal Company
Bio:
Trevor Nielson has been the general manager of the Bear River Canal Company (BRCC) based in Tremonton, Utah, since 2018. BRCC is the largest single entity irrigation company in the state of Utah, irrigating 68,000 acres of crop ground and bird habitat. The footprint of the BRCC service area is about 15 miles wide and 30 miles long and runs from the northeast stem of Great Salt Lake to just shy of the Idaho border. To accomplish this task, he and his staff of 10-12 employees maintain and operate 5 main canals and 5 lateral canals totaling 110 miles of conveyance channel. These main canals feed several hundred miles of additional farmer-operated irrigation ditches. The company pulls its water from the Bear River and has storage water contracts in Bear Lake.
In 2019, he was appointed to the Utah Water Taskforce. This group is a body that helps develop, debate, and refine water bills before they go before the legislature. He is known for his staunch defense of agricultural interests, existing water right holders, and prior appropriation water doctrine. As a water system operator, his water policy positions focus on making proposed legislation match physical and operational realities.
Trevor is the son of a mechanical engineer/farming father and a civil servant/nurse mother. As his father’s primary employment was at the local power plant, from the ages of 12-18, he was the primary operator of his family’s farm in the little central Utah town of Leamington. This is where he found his love of water. He graduated from Utah State University with three degrees: Bachelors of Agribusiness (2014), Bachelors of Business (2014), and Masters of Applied Economics (2017). During his time at Utah State, he spent 6 years in academic research working on water nutrient leaching and nutrient management. He has also worked for agricultural industry leaders across the United States. These include: Ag Reserves (cattle), Calaway Agriculture (hay crop exports/custom harvest), and Cal-Maine Foods (egg production).
Title: Agriculture, Conservation & Water for Great Salt Lake
Abstract: Bear River Canal Company (BRCC) is located in Box Elder County, Utah. It is the largest single-entity irrigation company in the state of Utah, irrigating 68,000 acres of crop land and bird habitat. It was founded in 1889 and was the first large diverter on the main stem of the Bear River. It is a mutual irrigation company owned by roughly 2,000 shareholders. The footprint of the BRCC service area is about 15 miles wide and 30 miles long and runs from the northeast stem of the Great Salt Lake to just shy of the Idaho border. It utilizes 5 main canals and 5 lateral canals, totaling 110 miles of conveyance channel. These main canals feed an additional 500 miles of farmer-operated irrigation ditches. The company pulls its water from the Bear River and holds the first and largest storage contract in Bear Lake.
BRCC and its sister companies in the Bear River Water Users Association have a long history in dealing with delicate environmental issues. In 1999, they signed the Bear Lake Settlement agreement with Utah Power and Light and local environmental interests, now known as Bear Lake Watch, to address environmental issues surrounding the management of Bear Lake.
BRCC is active in the state water space. It has been actively involved in the more recent macro changes to water law in the state of Utah. They assist in agricultural water use programs and participate in Great Salt Lake restoration planning efforts. In addition, they are active participants in research with Utah State University and host tours concerning agricultural water use in Utah.
BRCC is known for the rapid modernization effort it is undertaking. These improvements focus on pipelines, EPDM rubber liners, and automation. They received one of the first Utah Agricultural Optimization Grants in 2020 and many grants through the program since. They have coupled these funds with several federal grants, private grants, and canal company resources to lay miles of large diameter pipe and replace 1/3 of the company’s checking infrastructure with cutting-edge Rubicon Water automation. They are on track to automate the entire system by the end of the decade and implement the Total Channel Control (TCC) canal management system. Through control gates communicating peer-to-peer, TCC nearly eliminates canal spillage, drawing the exact amount of water needed to irrigate crops throughout the Bear River Valley. The system has already been implemented on several lateral canals. BRCC’s improvements are saving tens of thousands of acre feet per annum. Roughly 50% of these savings stay in the river and flow downstream to Great Salt Lake. The remainder are held in Bear Lake to improve ecological conditions in Bear Lake and fortifying water supply against a changing climate.
