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Show • Brackish- water areas of fresh and saline water interface • Spring- fed isolated wetlands • Mudflat/ playa environments The wetlands around the lake are unique in North America because they cover a large expanse of inland alkaline and saline wetlands located in a cold desert. About 400,000 acres of wetlands exist near the shores of GSL, which represents almost 75 percent of all the wetlands in Utah. While habitat attention generally focuses on the GSL's wetlands, adjacent upland areas are heavily used by wildlife and provide linking habitat types which create the highly productive marsh ecosystems. Upland areas provide an extraordinary amount of food and opportunities for cover, and buffer wetlands from expanding urban and industrial developments around the south and east sides of the lake. In addition, the lake is tied to the Wasatch Mountains by ribbons of riparian habitat which, in the desert west, are critical migratory and breeding habitats for a wide variety of wildlife, especially neotropical migrant songbirds, raptors and riverine mammals. The latitude of the lake makes it a significant wintering area for a number of species. International, Hemispheric and National Significance of Great Salt Lake Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve Network ( WHSRN), and is being considered for nomination by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Significance for listing. • The planning team has identified Ramsar designation as a resource concern in this planning process. An international convention was held in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, to discuss the importance of wetland conservation worldwide. The name Ramsar was derived from the host city. The organizations that formed and support the Ramsar process are: the Asian Wetland Bureau, the International Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau and Wetlands for Americas. The Ramsar Convention provides the framework for international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands ( Ramsar, 1999a). One outcome of the meeting was a process to offer special recognition to wetlands that met established criteria. A nomination process was put in place and recognition given to wetlands that qualified. Worldwide there are 113 Contracting Parties that have designated 957 sites for the Ramsar List, covering over 70.4 million hectares of wetlands ( Ramsar, 1999b). There are 15 sites in the U. S. that recognize 1,163,690 hectares. Canada has 33 sites with 13,030,568 hectares. Wetlands are selected on account of their international significance in terms of ecology, botany, zoology, limnology or hydrology ( USFWS, 1999a). Ramsar sites meet a least one of the following criteria: The GSL wetland ecosystems have been recognized nationally, hemispherically and globally for its importance as a vital link in a migrational corridor for water birds which extends from South America to the Arctic. It has also been designated as a Hemispheric Reserve of the Western 66 |