Brian Steed talks to KVNU For the People host Jason Williams.
LOGAN — He is the commissioner of the Great Salt Lake, as appointed by Governor Spencer Cox this past May, and he is also the executive director of the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water and Air at Utah State University.
Brian Steed was a guest on KVNU’s For the People program on Monday. He talked about the purpose of the institute.
“The whole intent behind the institute is to really take the best and brightest research that we have and bring that in a way that is digestible and understandable by policy makers. And really try to put the best data in front of policy makers so they can make the most informed decisions. It’s a hard job, so that’s what they’re trying to do and having the best information I think really helps,” Steed explained.
Steed said policy makers sometimes have difficulty getting access to the latest information from research, as he did when he was executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources.
“I realized that I don’t really have the best information sometimes ahead of me, and trying to find that is hard to do. That’s really what gave me the interest in being part of this institute because it gives the opportunity to really take that information, put it in a way that is more accessible. Then being able to present that research to policy makers, it’s been meaningful.”
Steed talked about how his job as commissioner of the Great Salt Lake (GSL) came about.
“So, the origin was, we had done some work with the (Utah) legislature last year. As part of the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water and Air, we had formulated what we called Great Salt Lake Strike Team.
(It) was really kind of a focused effort by Utah State and by researchers at the University of Utah to bring together the best research we have. And then we brought into that group folks from the Department of Natural Resources from the state, the Department of Environmental Quality and the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food.”
He said he helped draft the bill, never intending to become the GSL commissioner, but some months after the legislation passed, he was asked if he would be willing to do that, he said he wasn’t sure at first because it is a hard job.
Steed said while it has been a challenge, it has been very rewarding.