Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve Water Budget, Stream Monitoring, Vegetation Mapping, and Remote Sensing Analysis (RI-289)

by Claire Spangenberg Kellner, Rebecca Molinari, Diane Menuz, Peter Goodwin, and Hugh Hurlow

Summary

Great Salt Lake, the largest saline lake in the Americas, is one of 17 places designated a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, a place of hemispheric importance for migratory birds that annually hosts 10 million birds.  The lake contains Utah’s largest complex of wetlands along the lake’s eastern edge that provides critical wildlife habitat and essential ecological functions.
 
Report of Investigation 289, Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve Water Budget, Stream Monitoring, Vegetation Mapping, and Remote Sensing Analysis, details a project that collected and analyzed hydrologic and vegetation data for the nearly 5,000-acre Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve, an expanse of wetlands, ponds, ditches, and uplands. Data includes surface water flows and groundwater levels, streamflow monitoring, development of an annual water budget, vegetation mapping, and analysis of decadal vegetation trends. This study provides a framework for planning, management, and evaluating restoration efforts considering pressures from invasive phragmites plants and associated high evapotranspiration rates, droughts, and land-use changes in an area adjacent to the Great Salt Lake and the densely populated Wasatch urban corridor. 

Other Information

• Published: 2025
• Pages: 52
• Appendices: 3
• Location: Utah
• Media Type: Paper Report