I’m a lake person born in the Great Lakes region, land of Hiawatha’s “shining big sea waters”. Fishing, hunting, swimming, and boating were at the center of our culture.
Now having lived three fourths of my life in Utah, I’ve found it a well-watered desert with all descriptions of lakes from the intermittent, seasonal, inches deep Sevier Lake to the plunging depths of Bear lake. Utah’s Great Salt Lake has brought us international acclaim, more than any other physical feature, as the Great Lakes have to Michigan. Following the Jordan River a relatively short distance upstream from the Great Salt Lake, freshwater Utah lake glitters in the sun, once thriving with monster Bonneville cutthroat trout, coveted by native peoples and pioneers alike.
Moving to our northern border the turquoise Bear Lake beauty startles the senses. A tectonic, earth fractured lake over a quarter millennium old, it is uniquely different from our other naturally occurring lakes, which were created during the last ice age, many formed less than 12,000 years ago.
Heading south, you will find the dazzling Fishlake, our largest high-altitude lake, six miles in length, a mile wide, approaching 9000’ elevation.
Beyond these, our Uintah Mountains are dappled with a head spinning thousand plus glacial lakes, ranging in size from the 1200 acre Mirror Lake to the half acre Boulder tarn lake. (tarn: a small mountain lake) Most occur above 10,000 feet elevation.
“Gods eye” wrote Herny David Thoreau describing Waldon Pond. I often sense the same as I peer into the crystalline depths of our pristine glacial lakes.
Our many artificial reservoir lakes are the most highly visited providing endless pleasure and relief from summer heat. Often their beauty is unmatched for artificial lakes, Flaming Gorge, Lake Powell, Jordanelle, Pineview, Sand Hollow to name a few.
A bit of lake ecology. There are four major categories of lakes from the deep, cold, low productive Oligotrophic like Bear lake, to the highly acidic, dystrophic bog lakes found in the Uintah high country containing little aquatic life. Between are the mesotrophic- Pine View reservoir, Willard Bay, and the eutrophic, highly fertilizer enriched Utah Lake, often suffering from algae blooms, which are becoming more common with a warming climate.
Our deeper lakes enjoy a spring and fall phenomenon called “overturn”. Deeper lakes experience stratification, or stagnation, similar to our atmospheric inversions, with warmer water sitting on top, and colder, heavier water toward the bottom. This causes an oxygen deficit in lower layers, and nutrient deficiency in the upper layers. Once water reaches its highest density of 39.2 degrees Fahrenheit, which occurs during spring warm up and fall cool down, the surface water will sink, forcing nutrients from the depths upward, and bring oxygen from the surface downward. This mixing favors aquatic life from top to bottom of the water column, a joyous occasion!
This is Jack Greene for Bridgerland Audubon Society, and I am Wild About Utah’s Great Lakes.
Credits:
Picture: Great Salt Lake and Bear Lake, Courtesy USGS, Fish Lake Courtesy USDA Forest Service
Audio: Courtesy & © Kevin Colver https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/ and Anderson, Howe and Wakeman.
Text: Jack Greene, Bridgerland Audubon, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/
Additional Reading: Lyle W Bingham, Webmaster, and Jack Greene, Author, Bridgerland Audubon, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/
Additional Reading:
Jack’s Wild About Utah pieces.
Judd, Harry Lewis, Utah’s Lakes and Reservoirs, Inventory and Classification of Utah’s Priority Lakes and Reservoirs, Utah Department of Environmental Quality, January 1997, https://lf-public.deq.utah.gov/WebLink/ElectronicFile.aspx?docid=458257
Utah’s Priority Lakes and Reservoirs 1999: Watershed Management Program, Utah Department of Environmental Quality, https://deq.utah.gov/water-quality/watershed-protection/utahs-priority-lakes-and-reservoirs-1999-watershed-management-program
Utah’s 1982 Priority Lakes and Reservoirs List from “Judd” above.
Each lake name is linked to a Google map:
Anderson Meadow Reservoir
Ashley Twin Lakes
Baker Dam Reservoir
Barney Lake
Bear Lake
Beaver Meadow Reservoir
Big East Lake
Big Lake
Big Sand Wash Reservoir
Birch Creek Reservoir #2
Blanding City Reservoir#4
Bridger Lake
Brough Reservoir
Browne Reservoir
Butterfly Lake
[Zelph] Calder Reservoir
Causey Reservoir
China Lake
Cleveland Reservoir
Cook Lake
Currant Creek Reservoir
Dark Canyon Lake
Deer Creek Reservoir
DMAD Reservoir
Donkey Reservoir
Duck Fork Reservoir
East Canyon Reservoir
East Park Reservoir
Echo Reservoir
Electric Lake
Fairview Reservoir #2
Ferron Reservoir
Fish Lake
Flaming Gorge Reservoir
Forsyth Reservoir
Grantsville Reservoir
Gunlock Reservoir
Gunnison Bend Reservoir
Gunnison Reservoir
Hoop Lake
Hoover Lake
Huntington Lake North
Huntington Reservoir
Hyrum Reservoir
Joes Valley Reservoir
Johnson Valley Reservoir
Jordanelle Reservoir
Kens Lake
Kents Lake
Kolob Reservoir
Koosharem Reservoir
Labaron Reservoir
Lake Mary
Lake Powell
Little Creek Reservoir
Little Dell Reservoir
Lloyds Reservoir
Long Park Reservoir
Lost Creek Reservoir
Lower Bowns Reservoir
Lower Box [Creek] Reservoir
Lower Gooseberry Reservoir
Lyman Lake
Manning Meadow Reservoir
Mantua Reservoir
Marsh Lake
Marshall Reservoir
Matt Warner Reservoir
Meeks Cabin Reservoir
Mill Hollow Reservoir
Mill Meadow Reservoir
Miller Flat Reservoir
Millsite Reservoir
Minersville Reservoir
Mirror Lake
Mona Reservoir
Monticello Lake
Moon Lake
Navajo Lake
Newcastle Reservoir
Newton Reservoir
Nine Mile Reservoir
Oak Park Reservoir
Otter Creek Reservoir
Palisades Lake
Panguitch Lake
Paradise Park Reservoir
Pelican Lake
Pine Lake
Pineview Reservoir
Piute Reservoir
Porcupine Reservoir
Posey Lake
Puffer Lake
Pyramid Lake
Quail Creek Reservoir
Recapture Reservoir
Red Creek Reservoir
Red Creek Reservoir (Iron)
Red Fleet Reservoir
Redmond Lake
Rex’s Reservoir
Rockport Reservoir
Rush Lake
Salem Pond
Scofield Reservoir
Scout Lake
Settlement Canyon Reservoir
Sevier Bridge Reservoir [a.k.a. Yuba Reservoir]
Sheep Creek Reservoir
Smith and Morehouse Res
Spirit Lake
Stansbury Lake
Starvation Reservoir
Stateline Reservoir
Steinaker Reservoir
Strawberry Reservoir
Three Creeks Reservoir
Tibbie Fork Reservoir
Tony Grove Reservoir
Trial Lake
Tropic Reservoir
Upper Enterprise Reservoir
Upper Stillwater Reservoir
Utah Lake
Wall Lake
Washington Lake
Whitney Reservoir
Wide Hollow Reservoir
Willard Bay Reservoir
Woodruff Creek Reservoir
Yankee Meadow Reservoir
