Yes, life actually does exist in this barren wasteland! The adaptation of the local flora and fauna is a study in itself that makes for an interesting read. The BLM Multi Use Designation protects environmentally sensitive areas in the Bonneville Salt Flats where unique ecosystems exist. The salt beds are so deep and vast, that even after nearly a century of salt mining, the level of salt in this region has only dropped by a minute fraction of a percentage point. Salt mining takes place all over this region and this is the source of nearly all commercial salt produced in America. In modern times, the Bonneville Salt Flats is a Bureau Of Land Management Multi Use Area. Basically, the mountains that dot the flat landscape in this region would have looked like islands and the ancient lake was large enough to have tidal shifts. The Bonneville Salt Flats is the largest of the dried up ancient lakes west of the Great Salt Lake. The ancient body of water that created this vast salt bed was called Lake Bonneville and it can be difficult to imagine just how big this lake must have been long ago. This entire region of northwestern Utah is laden with salt lake beds from dried up ancient oceans and this barren flat landscape is like nowhere else on earth! When looking west from the mountain pass, the rolling green hills end where the seemingly endless salt flats begin. Passing over the mountains at the west end of the Great Salt Lake offers some panoramic views of this vast body of salt water. The views of the Great Salt Lake are mesmerizing and it is easy to be consumed with thoughts of where all the salt water came from in the ancient past. When traveling west on Interstate Highway 80 from Salt Lake City, the road first skirts by the southern edge of the Great Salt Lake.
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