Preserving Greatness
Great Salt Lake in Photographs
Featuring long horizons, unearthly colors, scrubby vegetation, and striking geology, Chris Carlson’s stunning photography collection honors the spectacular, otherworldly beauty of Great Salt Lake, showing the impact of human water diversion on the lake’s ecosystems.
This magnificent volume contains more than a hundred images of Utah’s Great Salt Lake, one of the largest saltwater lakes in the Western hemisphere. Panoramic photographs showcase the lake’s irregular coastline, diverse islands, and arid mountains. Aerial shots depict delicate channels carved in mudflats by seasonal runoff and rainwater. Shorelines are rimmed in brilliant shades of pink, red, and yellow, colors generated by salt-loving algae and bacteria.
The Great Salt Lake is introduced as a critical habitat for hundreds of bird species, playing a crucial role in north-south migratory routes. There are compelling close-ups of said wildlife, as well as of bison, pronghorn antelope, and burrowing owls. And microbialites, with a function similar to coral reefs, are shown, noted for capturing and recycling nutrients and sheltering brine shrimp and other crucial food sources for birds.
Carlson notes that the lake’s complex ecology is stressed by severe drought, high rates of evaporation, and extensive water diversion for agriculture and urban uses. As a result of climate change, the lake levels are falling; the soil is hardening and cracking; microbialites are drying out; and wildlife is threatened. Industries along the lake’s north arm are also described, including operations to harvest salt, potash, and magnesium. A railroad causeway that bisects the lake is noted to contribute to significant salt concentrations on the north arm. While Carlson acknowledges the economic importance of these industries, his book also calls for their responsible environmental management.
A dazzling photography collection, Preserving Greatness captures a unique and threatened ecosystem.
Reviewed by
Kristen Rabe
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
