Gunnison Island is located in the northwest quadrant of the
Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particula ...
in
Box Elder County
Box Elder County is a county at the northwestern corner of Utah, United States. As of 2018, the estimated population is 54,950. Its county seat and largest city is Brigham City. The county was named for the box elder trees that abound in the co ...
,
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, approximately northwest of
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
and about east from the lake's western shore, and is best known as an important rookery for the
American white pelican
The American white pelican (''Pelecanus erythrorhynchos'') is a large aquatic soaring bird from the order Pelecaniformes. It breeds in interior North America, moving south and to the coasts, as far as Central America and South America, in winte ...
(''Pelecanus erythrorhynchus''). The
California gull
The California gull (''Larus californicus'') is a medium-sized gull, smaller on average than the herring gull but larger on average than the ring-billed gull, though it may overlap in size greatly with both.
Description
Adults are similar in ap ...
(''Larus californicus'') also nests on the island, and occasional nesters include the
great blue heron
The great blue heron (''Ardea herodias'') is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America, as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos ...
(''Ardea herodias''),
common raven
The common raven (''Corvus corax'') is a large all-black passerine bird. It is the most widely distributed of all corvids, found across the Northern Hemisphere. It is a raven known by many names at the subspecies level; there are at least e ...
(''Corvus corax''),
prairie falcon
The prairie falcon (''Falco mexicanus'') is a medium-large sized falcon of western North America. It is about the size of a peregrine falcon or a crow, with an average length of 40 cm (16 in), wingspan of approximately 1 meter (40&nb ...
(''Falco mexicanus''), and
rock wren
The rock wren (''Salpinctes obsoletus'') is a small songbird of the wren family native to western North America, Mexico and Central America. It is the only species in the genus ''Salpinctes''.
Description
Measurements:
* Length: 4.9-5.9 i ...
(''Salpinctes obsoltetus'').
The entire island is the Gunnison Island State Wildlife Management Area.
[Gunnison Island State Wildlife Management Area](_blank)
stateparks.com. Access to the island is restricted to prevent curious tourists from disturbing the nesting birds.
''Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is part of the Utah Department of Natural Resources for the state of Utah in the United States. The mission of the Division of Wildlife Resources is to serve the people of Utah as trustee and guardian of t ...
''.
![Gunnison Island](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Gunnison_Island.jpg)
Wildlife biologists estimate that the population on Gunnison Island (about 10,000) constitutes about 10–20% of the entire American white pelican population; there are also about 15,000 California gulls that nest on the island.
[Mr. Hall](_blank)
The Great Salt Lake Page for Kids.
1984. Utah State Wildlife Policy.
Historically, the island's remote location protected it from predators, which made it an ideal spot for ground-nesting birds. However, due to recent low lake levels, it is no longer an island; it is connected to shore by a land bridge which predators can use.
The remoteness also forces the pelicans to travel or more to find fresh water and food. The pelicans typically fly east to the
Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, where the
Bear River flows into the Great Salt Lake. In the bird refuge, the water's salinity is low enough that fish can live there. (The Great Salt Lake contains no fish.)
The pelicans have also been known to fly south to
Utah Lake
Utah Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in the center of Utah County, Utah, United States. It lies in Utah Valley, surrounded by the Provo-Orem metropolitan area. The lake's only river outlet, the Jordan River, is a tributary of the Great Salt La ...
, about away. To get to their destinations, large flocks of adult pelicans ride
thermal
A thermal column (or thermal) is a rising mass of buoyant air, a convective current in the atmosphere, that transfers heat energy vertically. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example ...
s to a great height, then coast down to their destination.
History
Gunnison Island was named after
John W. Gunnison
John Williams Gunnison (November 11, 1812 – October 26, 1853) was an American military officer and explorer.
Biography
Gunnison was born in Goshen, New Hampshire, in 1812 and attended Hopkinton Academy in Hopkinton, New Hampshire. He grad ...
,
an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
explorer
Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians.
Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
and surveyor of the
Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particula ...
valley in 1849.
In the mid-1890s, artist and author
Alfred Lambourne
Alfred Lambourne (February 2, 1850 – June 6, 1926) is an English-born American artist and author. In the 1860s, he and his family moved to the American West with the Mormon pioneers. He is best remembered for his paintings, but he also wrote ...
spent a year living in solitude on the island. From November 1895 to March 1896, he was alone. In March, a few enterprising individuals decided to harvest and sell the abundant
guano
Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...
that the nesting birds left behind as
fertilizer
A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...
. Lambourne included musings about these guano sifters in his work ''Our Inland Sea'', which he authored during his time on the island. Lambourne left the island early in the winter of 1896 along with the first group of guano sifters.
The mining activity caused the pelicans to temporarily abandon Gunnison Island as a nesting site, though the gulls remained despite the human company. Because of the difficulty of obtaining the guano, however, and its tendency to dissolve in the rain and wash back into the Great Salt Lake, the guano industry was abandoned about ten years after it began.
[Lyndia Carter (June 1996]
"Guano Sifters on Gunnison Island,"
''History Blazer''.
See also
*
Carrington Island
Carrington Island is a 1,200-acre island located in the Great Salt Lake in northern Utah, United States. It is the fourth-largest island in the lake.
History
Carrington Island is named for Utah pioneer and apostle of the Church of Jesus Chris ...
*
Fremont Island
Fremont Island is a island located in Great Salt Lake in northern Utah, United States. State owned, it is the lake's third largest island after Stansbury Island and Antelope Island. The island has also been known by several other names, includi ...
*
Promontory Mountains
The Promontory Mountains are a range in Box Elder County, Utah. The range is oriented north–south and has a length of about . The southern portion forms a cape extending south into the Great Salt Lake. The First transcontinental railroad was co ...
References
External links
Guano Sifters on Gunnison Island(on official Utah History to Go website)
{{authority control
Landforms of Box Elder County, Utah
Lake islands of Utah
Great Salt Lake
Protected areas of Box Elder County, Utah
Uninhabited islands of Utah
Islands of Utah