The far horizon

A lively recreational jewel

A flood of trivia

Great tales surrounding the lake

TODAY

Ecosystem under threat

Lake has impact on weather

Small island is a refuge for birds

Islands in the salt

Lake defines geology of northern Utah

Great Salt Lake timeline

THE FUTURE

Looking ahead

Lake pumps still waiting for flood

Myriad firms thrive off lake

Dike it, dye it, blow a hole in it

Is plan for lake great?

By Jason Swensen
Deseret News staff writer

      Looking at a U.S. map, you could almost mistake the Great Salt Lake for an errant water drop you could flick into Montana with your thumbnail.

A sailboat leaves the marina for a sunset cruise on the Great Salt Lake. Chuck Wing, Deseret News

      Some say the lake is not much more impressive at ground level: You can fish its water for eons without a bite, swimming is a salt-heavy chore, and, yes, it can smell nasty.
      To the uninformed, the Great Salt Lake is an essentially lifeless remnant of the once fecund Lake Bonneville that covered 20,000 square miles in the eastern Great Basin more than 14,000 years ago.
      Recognizing this, a consortium of wildlife workers, biologists, entrepreneurs, environmentalists and rank-and-file friends of the lake have been toiling since August 1997 to chart the Great Salt Lake's future.
      Their work is to culminate in release later this year of a comprehensive lake management plan — the first document of its kind to include a legion of professional and lay voices.
      Their charge?
      Find that delicate balance allowing creatures — great and small — to continue to recreate, live and make a living, along the Great Salt Lake's waters, islands and beaches.
      Calling their 1847 lakeside settlement the City of the Great Salt Lake had to have been a no-brainer for Mormon pioneers. Its mere size demands attention, but its components do even more so:

— The lake is a summer home for 250 species of waterfowl and shore birds, which flock there by the millions.

— When its waters rise above normal levels an entire state feels collective gut cramps. (Remember the flood-cum-pump years of the 1980s?)

— Weather experts enlist acronyms like DLE (Dreaded Lake Effect) whenever a Wasatch Front community gets dumped with snow, and all nod and agree.

— Saltair, the lake's most famous, sometimes snake-bit resort, long ago secured its spot in Utah folk history.

— Millions have bobbed like a cork in the lake's salty brine — an experience well-traveled people can boast about "like kissing the Blarney Stone or visiting the Sphynx," wrote William Lee Stokes.

A seagull stands guard at Salt Lake Marina. The lake is a summer home for 250 species of birds. Chuck Wing, Deseret News

      The Utah Department of Natural Resources made a draft of the management plan public this year. It addresses issues ranging from the infamous West Desert Pumping Project to ATV-running on lake shores.
      When the management plan is finalized this fall, it will likely play a pivotal role in how lawmakers and lake managers fund, restrict or accommodate the lake and its many users.
      The first draft was bloodied a bit when it was presented a few months ago. Its authors, a collection of state natural resource workers, developed alternatives on myriad lake issues. But many lake watchers called the draft underdeveloped. Others worried the alternatives spawned polarity between lake businesses and "green" lake lovers.
      The conservation group Friends of Great Salt Lake said the decision to develop the plan was "an inspiration" but added the draft lacked a comprehensive management philosophy.
      "We wanted to see some sort of vision, where is the state going in a visionary sense," said Lynn de Freitas, president of the Friends group.
      Companies like IMC Kalium, whose mineral extraction business could be severely impacted by the management plan, worry the draft was short on hard science.
      Even the plan's creators admit the first draft lacked an economist's perspective, prompting them to revisit the alternatives.
      While the lake is not a major player in Utah's economy — generating less than 1/50th of the state's gross domestic product — its "worth" to all Utahns should not be underestimated, said Thayne Robson of the Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
      "Nobody really knows the lake's value," Robson admits. "But it's priceless."