Race to save the Bonneville Salt Flats

Watch a video about this science-driven management effort. Credit: BLM 

The BLM’s mission and authorities require us to use the latest scientific research, data and findings to ensure lands and resources in our care are managed for generations to come. This is the next installment in a series of stories and videos spotlighting how the agency uses science to improve decision making. 

In a place synonymous with speed, it seems incongruous to worry about processes that have endured for millennia. But the Bureau of Land Management has an obligation to take the long view of the Bonneville Salt Flats. 

That’s why a unique coalition of BLM employees, academic researchers, and racing organizations came together to better understand this desolate landscape and the processes that continue to shape and influence it. 

The Flats feature a roughly 40 square mile salt crust as flat as a pool table. This enormous stretch of flat, uninterrupted space has drawn speed enthusiasts for more than a century. The first land speed record was set here in 1914. And those brave enough to step into vehicles powered by enormous conventional and jet engines continue to pursue world records. 

This legacy of speed led to the area’s inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. And it’s spurred intense interest in preserving the Flats.  

The salt crust is increasingly fragile. Though several feet thick at its deepest point, the crust is only a few inches thick at the edges. In the past 20 years, studies show the crust is getting thinner in areas where racing is held, leading the Bureau to shrink the area allowed for racing and prompting worries that it could be restricted entirely in the future. 

In response, BLM worked with the Bonneville racing community – represented by the "Save the Salt" Foundation – to reverse potential deterioration of the Bonneville Salt Flats through cooperative agreements with an adjacent mining operation run by Intrepid Potash.  

The Salt Laydown Project pumps brine remaining from potash mining back onto the flats in hopes that it will bolster the naturally occurring salt crystals. The Bureau also funded multiple studies designed to understand the natural processes driving change at the Bonneville Salt Flats. 

The video linked above provides a glimpse into this unique landscape and the effort to conserve it. Learn the more about the Bonneville Salt Flats.

 

This story is part of the “Unleashing the Science” series, showcasing how bureaus within the Department of the Interior produce and apply science to ensure responsible management decisions for our planet now and for the future.