Great Salt Lake shrinks under 5-year drought

By Judith Graham
Chicago Tribune

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But where the fading rays of light should be glinting off darkening waters, there is no water to be seen; only cracked gray mud, with grasses turning brown along beaches where waves should be lapping.

The Great Salt Lake has disappeared just outside Salt Lake City, along the first mile of the causeway leading from the mainland to Antelope Island, a refuge for coyotes, bison, bobcats and antelope.

Five years of brutal drought in Utah have dried up rivers, sucked water out of reservoirs, parched fields and turned forests into tinderboxes across the West. The largest lake west of the Mississippi River — usually about 75 miles long and 28 miles wide — has shrunk to its lowest level in 33 years, leaving longtime observers wondering, "How low will it go?"

"We think the lake will bounce back — that's the way it's always worked," said Leroy Carter, commodore of the Great Salt Lake Yacht Club, which lost membership this year as large boats have been unable to traverse the lake's shallow waters. "But you do wonder, is this the drought that will cause the Great Salt Lake to mostly dry up?"

The land is so dry that any moisture is being absorbed instead of staying on the surface or becoming runoff, said Rob Baskin, scientific information manager at the U.S. Geological Survey's Utah office.

The Great Salt Lake is at 4,195 feet, only slightly above its 1970 low of 4,194 feet above sea level. Because the lake is so shallow — not much deeper than 20 to 30 feet, on average — even a 1-foot drop can expose a significant amount of land at its shores.

Besides lost recreational opportunities, shrinkage could be a big problem for the millions of shorebirds — white pelicans, California gulls, eared grebes and more — that depend on the Great Salt Lake's wetlands and islands as a nesting ground or migration stopover point.

The lake has no outlet, and when its waters evaporate and inflows from freshwater rivers are reduced by drought, its salt content rises, wetlands are diminished, and the ecology of bird habitats is disturbed.

Access to previously protected areas is another issue.

"We're concerned that sensitive bird and waterfowl habitat is being exposed to people going out on the lake bed in ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) or predators crossing over into areas normally surrounded by water," said Lynn de Freitas, president of the nonprofit Friends of Great Salt Lake.

Meanwhile, an industry unique to the area is feeling the effects of the lake's contraction. Each fall, the eggs of tiny brine shrimp, which feed on algae in the Great Salt Lake, are harvested, dried and sold to fish farms in Asia and other markets. The eggs will hatch after they become wet again and then become lunch for prawns and other fish-farm sea life.

This year, only about 50 boats — one-third of the usual number — are prowling the lake for the shrimp eggs because the lake is so low.

The harvest has been lousy, said Don Leonard, president of the Utah Artemia Association, which represents brine shrimpers.

"We think the drought has dramatically affected the whole ecosystem, which has affected the brine shrimp," said Mark McDougal, vice president of Salt Creek Inc., one of the largest shrimpers on the lake. In particular, he called attention to rapidly rising salt levels in the lake, which some scientists believe may cause brine shrimp to produce fewer eggs.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company