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Show Bear River and the Jordan River, respectively. During the spring runoff period, fish are carried out into Bear River Bay from the adjacent freshwater marshes and waterways. The salinity of this bay is very low. A tongue of saline water flows into the bay through IMC Kalium Ogden Corp.' s ( formerly Great Salt Lake Minerals) causeway. This layer of salt water is usually found along the bottom of the bay, and its presence and depth is influenced by south winds and the amount of inflow from the Bear River. There is a layer of fresher water on top of the saline layer. This freshwater can sustain fish populations over time. Fish species in the marshes around the lake have not been extensively studied. Piscivorous bird species such as American white pelicans, Western grebes and Double- crested cormorants use the bay as a foraging area. A strong south wind has the ability to push saline water from the south side of the causeway up into the bay, causing significant fish kills at times. These fish may be washed out of Bear River Bay into Gilbert Bay of GSL. Dead fish can be preserved to a degree in the saltwater, and are transported around the lake surface by winds and water currents. Observations of these fish in the main body of the lake and/ or on the beaches of Fremont, Antelope and other islands leads some people to the assumption there are live fish in the main body of the lake. Farmington Bay tends to be more saline than Bear River Bay. Salinity is often at 3.5 percent, which is too saline to support freshwater species offish. The margins of the bay adjacent to the freshwater marsh outflows are sometimes fresh enough to sustain temporary populations offish and the birds that eat them. However the winds frequently mix the water to the point that the fish cannot survive. Occasionally some fish wash out of Farmington Bay through the Davis County Causeway into the main lake. This phenomenon is not as common as fish from Bear River Bay, because the populations offish in Farmington Bay are rarely as abundant. The north arm does not support a population offish because of the salt concentrations. There are times when layers of freshwater may be temporarily found on the surface and periphery of the main body of the lake and may support fish. When lake levels rose in the mid- 1980s, salinities declined to a point allowing fish to exist in shallow areas around the edges of the lake. Terrestrial Biology Plants A great deal of work concerning plant life on the shores of the lake has been conducted by various investigators. ( Flowers and Evans, 1966). GSL and its environs have a unique diversity of flora, due to the interface between fresh and saline marshes and soils. Halophytic species are found along and adjacent to the beaches of GSL. Freshwater from streams, drainage ditches and springs leaches some of the salt from the soils near the lake, and allows a greater diversity of plant species in some areas. Such areas are quite extensive in the deltas of the Jordan and the Bear Rivers, and smaller in other areas due to springs or seepage areas. 73 |