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Places We Protect

Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve

Utah

A long boardwalk through a marsh ends in a covered pavilion.
Great Salt Lake Pavilion Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve, Utah. © Stuart Ruckman

Protecting one of the Western Hemisphere’s most important stopovers for migrating birds for 15 years.

Overview

Description

The Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve spans 4,400 acres of wetlands and uplands habitat along the eastern edge of the Great Salt Lake—one of Utah’s most unique natural treasures. As the largest saline lake in the Western Hemisphere, the Great Salt Lake is crucial to both people and nature. The lake is a rich feeding ground for migratory shorebirds and waterfowl, supporting between four and six million migratory birds as they journey from as far north as the Arctic to southern points in Central and South America.

Some of the largest gatherings of wildlife ever recorded on the Great Salt Lake have been observed from the preserve’s visitor center, making it a bird-watcher’s paradise as well as the perfect place for visitors to appreciate the importance of the Great Salt Lake.

Download the audio tour before you visit, and make your phone your personal tour guide. You can also take the tour remotely!

Access

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Pets are not permitted; help us protect wildlife and leave your pets at home.

Hours

Visitors may experience the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve any time of year. The visitor center is open every day: March to October: 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.; November to February: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Highlights

Walk the boardwalk to see plants of the freshwater marshes, mud flats, salt marshes and adjoining uplands. Enjoy the large concentration of birds, including snowy plovers, American avocets and black-necked stilts, and a variety of waterfowl. Download the audio tour before you visit, and make your phone your personal tour guide.

Size

Roughly 4,400 acres

Explore our work in Utah

The Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve pavilion.
Great Salt Lake Pavilion The pavilion at the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve. © Ian Shive

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You can help us do important conservation work at the Great Salt Lake and beyond.

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Why TNC Selected This Site

The preserve is along the eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake between Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area and the Antelope Island State Park Causeway.

You may have noticed some construction activity on your way to the preserve. This work is part of the new West Davis Corridor.

Over the past 10 years, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has worked closely with the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) to develop a plan to mitigate impacts to wildlife and the preserve posed by the new highway. For example, as part of the mitigation plan UDOT agreed to lower the profile of the highway, utilize quiet pavement and limit lighting. Finding pragmatic solutions and offsetting threats is an important part of TNC’s mission to protect Utah’s natural world for future generations.

You can find more information about the highway and the mitigation plan here.

Visit

  • Download the audio tour before you visit, and make your phone your personal tour guide.

  •  

    Plants

    A mosaic of habitat types is present, primarily in response to hydrology and the influence of salts in the soil. You will see freshwater marshes, mud flats, salt marshes and adjoining uplands. The close association of these habitat types ensures a high level of natural diversity.

    Animals

    You’re sure to spot a few stunners to check off your birding bucket list at the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve. The preserve’s walkway and observation tower offer prime bird-watching year-round. Look for American avocets, black-necked stilts and white-faced ibis. You can also see large numbers of waterfowl, including redhead, cinnamon teal, mallard and gadwall. Download the audio tour before you visit!

  • When visiting the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve, be sure to bring water and mosquito repellant, and wear appropriate clothing.

    The visitor center features an open-air pavilion, a 30-foot-high observation tower and a mile-long boardwalk trail through prime bird-watching habitat. Educational exhibits along the boardwalk offer inspiring lessons about the lake's birdlife, habitats and the need for its protection.

    Please note that pets are not permitted; help us protect wildlife on the preserve and leave your pets at home.

  • If your group includes more than 15 people or if you are interested in a 4th-grade Wings & Water naturalist-guided fieldtrip, please contact Andrea Nelson at 801-238-2330 or at anelson@tnc.org.

    Scout Programs

    The Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve is the perfect place for troops all along the Wasatch Front to earn badges and patches, hold meetings or complete service projects.

Past and Current Conservation Work

The Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve (formerly called the Layton Wetlands Preserve) was The Nature Conservancy's first preserve in Utah. The wetlands of the Great Salt Lake provide important nesting and foraging habitat for more than 250 species of birds. The lake is a critical link in the Pacific Flyway between North and South America.

In fact, so many birds (between 4 and 6 million!) visit, feed and nest at the lake and its wetlands annually, it has been named as one of only 17 sites of Hemispheric Importance in the Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve Network, an internationally important designation.

What TNC Has Done/Is Doing

The Nature Conservancy has worked for more than 20 years to protect the Great Salt Lake and its wetlands. Conservation strategies implemented by TNC range from land acquisition and community outreach and planning to partnerships with government agencies, public committees and private conservation groups. TNC’s Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve protects more than almost 11 miles of critical wetland and upland habitat along the lake’s eastern shore.

Another key initiative is TNC’s work with Davis County communities and Envision Utah to help implement innovative strategies to promote balanced growth while preserving wildlife habitat and open space.

In a new effort to ensure the long-term health of the Great Salt Lake ecosystem, TNC is now working with various partners to support the effort to create numeric water quality standards for the lake.

TNC is thrilled that the visitor center offers easy access to the preserve, serving as a hub for our education and outreach programs, which include naturalist-guided tours for school groups and the public during bird-watching seasons. To learn more, contact our office at 801-531-0999.

A map of the Great Salt Lake Shorelands preserve in 1997 vs. 2022.
Great Salt Lake Historic Map Development of open space surrounding the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve has brought significant disturbance to the area's ecosystem since 1997. © Sageland Collaborative

Wings & Water Wetlands Education Program

The Nature Conservancy uses this preserve as a platform for community education and outreach programs that benefit Utahns and visitors from around the world. In partnership with Utah State University Botanical Center, The Nature Conservancy brings 2,500 4th graders to the preserve each year through the award-winning Wings & Water Wetlands Education Program. This hands-on wetlands learning experience includes targeted lessons and is designed to meet core curriculum science standards.

Going Green

As part of The Nature Conservancy’s strategies to reduce its footprint, we’ve initiated a solar program that aims to offset 100% of the energy use at our six main facilities, including the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve. Through a grant generously provided by the John B. and Geraldine W. Goddard Family Foundation, we’ve installed roof-mounted solar panels and ground-mounted arrays at the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve Visitor Center.

By making our operations greener and cleaner, we can help mitigate the effects of climate change both here at home and around the world.

Take Our Quiz!

Challenge your knowledge of the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve.

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Find More Places We Protect

The Nature Conservancy owns nearly 1,500 preserves covering more than 2.5 million acres across all 50 states. These lands protect wildlife and natural systems, serve as living laboratories for innovative science and connect people to the natural world.

See the Complete Map

Related Reading
A closeup of a kestrel, a small bird of prey with a curved beak, blue-grey head and brown, white and black striped breast.

Kestrel Nest Cam

Watch the drama unfold as a family of American kestrels nest at the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve.

A small child balances precariously on the edge of a wooden boardwalk that traverses a grassy wetland.

Walk the Wetlands Challenge

Get fit, get a nature fix and help us celebrate 15 years of the visitor center at the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve!

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