Journalistic Intentions Writings

The Great Salt Lake

references:

https://www.audubon.org/news/audubon-testifies-favor-historic-funding-great-salt...

www.USGS.gov

www.afar.com

by Judithd (Apondia)

The Great Salt Lake and the USGS

The great Salt Lake of Utah is actually two lakes. One is the North Arm and one is the South Arm. It is also on the migratory path of millions of birds.

The North Arm of the lake is higher in salt content than the South arm. This is because, all fresh water flowing into the lake enters at the South Arm.

The high salt content sustains two different types of algae, brine shrimp, and brine flys. Critical wetland habitats for migratory birds are found on the North and South shores of the Lake. The birds eat the brine flys, brine fly larvae, and brine shrimp.

Three state parks are adjacent to the Great Salt Lake. Sailboats and Kayaks provide recreation for visitors of the lake. In spite of the salty content of the Lake it provides tourist recreation, migratory bird life, and contributes billions of dollars, to the economy of Utah, with mineral extraction and sales of brine shrimp.

The fact that the north part of the Great Salt Lake is drying up is creating concern for the lake's future. The Great Salt Lake is a smaller lake, left from a 30,000-year-old, prehistoric lake called Lake Bonneville, that covered much of Utah. The smaller salt-lake, was created through the years, when streams entering lake Bonneville carried salts from the land into the waters of the older lake. As lake Bonneville evolution downsized; salt was trapped in the smaller area of waters.

The USGS, United States Geological Survey, is a government agency. It was an agency created by an act of congress in 1879. It is the only agency providing science information to the Department of interior. The USGS dates from 1879 to 2022. The vision of the agency is to lead, through knowledge of integrated research, assessments, and predictions of material resources. The agency desires to help with this knowledge, to supply the needs of the public of the USA. The Goal is to monitor, analyze, and predict current ecological dynamics. They are the current biological science, earth, and water civilian mapping system. The agency collects monitors, analyses, and provides science about natural resource conditions, issues, and problems. They have diverse experience which enables large-scale multidisciplinary investigations, and provides impartial scientific information to resource planners, and managers.

The USGS has been monitoring the amount of water in The Great Salt Lake North arm from a gage placed in the Little Valley Boat harbor since April 1966.

The monitoring gage in the South Arm of the lake is in the boat harbor at Salt Air Beach State Park. The gage has been active since October 1938.

The reading for 14-28-2022 at 11:59 MDT: The most instantaneous value = 4196.9: lake or reservoir surface level above NGVD 1929, feet.

Utah legislature is taking steps to find ways to ecologically restore the lake to its proper level. Concern is for the state economies, the ecological needs of the migratory birds and environmental impact to all ecological situations in the area.

The End.

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