 copy.jpg)
The Salt Lake Tribune joined a flight over the Great Salt Lake on a six-seater plane Tuesday morning. Here’s what we saw.
The propeller whirs loudly as local wildlife photographer Mary Anne Karren points out landmarks in the Great Salt Lake, showing a sobering view of low water levels with some bright spots.
A Tuesday morning flight over the lake with EcoFlight — an organization that uses small aircraft to get up and personal with wildlands, watersheds and culturally important landscapes — gave aerial views of landmarks in the critical body of water.
When people “really don’t get it, you can get up in the air and see how much the water has receded,” said Jane Pargiter, the nonprofit organization’s executive director.
State Rep. Raymond Ward, R-Bountiful, said the view from the flight was “just beautiful” and it was valuable to look at the lake from above.
“It’s just good to get a perspective on it,” Ward said. “I think all of us know it’s really important to us, and big picture, we need to be more careful with the water that we use so we have enough that it can still be in the lake also.”
Groups flew in a six-seater propeller plane near landmarks including Bear River Bay, Promontory Point, Fremont and Antelope islands and the surrounding marshlands.
Here’s what the Great Salt Lake and its water levels looked like from the air.
Approaching from Ogden-Hinckley Airport
Shortly after taking off from Ogden-Hinckley Airport, the EcoFlight plane approached the lake from the east, flying over marshlands that include nature preserves for waterfowl.
(Megan Banta | The Salt Lake Tribune) Lower water levels are seen during a flyover of the Great Salt Lake with EcoFlight on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.
Bear River Bay, Promontory Point
The causeway to Promontory Point is almost completely surrounded by water.
More good news: Water levels are up in Bear River Bay as the river flows into the lake, Karren said.
Unlike a similar flight in 2022, she said, Bear River is visibly flowing into the lake.
Railroad causeway
A railroad causeway splitting the lake from north to south likely has staved off its collapse more than once.
(Megan Banta | The Salt Lake Tribune) The railroad causeway and berm used to regulate flow to the north arm of the Great Salt Lake are visible during a flyover of the lake with EcoFlight on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.
But while raising the berm has helped water levels, it’s one factor blamed for the disappearance of the Pelican colony on Gunnison Island.
Islands
With Bear River Bay up, Fremont Island is actually close to being an island again. A land bridge isn’t “quite a land bridge anymore,” Karren said — it’s nearly covered in water.
Farmington Bay remains low, meaning Antelope and Stansbury islands look like islands from the north but more like peninsulas from the south.
(Megan Banta | The Salt Lake Tribune) Stansbury Island during a flyover of the Great Salt Lake with EcoFlight on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.
Marshlands
There’s a gradual transition from marshland to farmland to the start of the suburbs.
Karren points out where Phragmites, an invasive species, are forming new colonies in the Great Salt Lake playa, and the Weber River as it flows into the lake.
