Great Escapes in the Great Basin

Getting to Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge is in itself a memorable experience. Located in Western Utah, on the southern edge of the Great Salt Lake Desert, this isolated refuge is 80 miles in any direction from the nearest gas station or grocery store.

Arriving from the east, the trip follows a 70-mile rocky and rutted road that served as Pony Express and Overland Stage routes in the 1860s. Refuge manager Jay Banta says the track will test the suspension on any vehicle, but the long ride in is well worth the effort. Along the way, the ruins and interpretive markers of several Pony Express stations can be visited.

Although half of the 18,000-acre refuge consists of mud and alkali flats and desert upland, the other half is a 9,000-acre marsh fed by five major springs and several lesser springs and seeps. Flowing from the base of the craggy Fish Springs Range (on the refuge's western edge), the mineral-laden and slightly alkaline water maintains a year-round temperature of between 70 and 80 degrees.

In the spring, when levels are at their highest, excess water overflows the marsh and disappears into the desert. Despite subzero winter temperatures, the nine shallow impoundments into which the marsh is divided never freeze, and the refuge consequently attracts between 5000 and 6000 wintering waterfowl. The water is so clear that the sandy bottom is always visible, as are the schools of native Utah chub and introduced mosquito fish darting around in the shallows.

Waterfowl & Wildlife

Both Canada geese and ducks nest in the marsh at Fish Springs, although predation by ravens, coyotes, and gopher snakes can be high. Pintails, widgeons, and green-winged teals are the predominate migrators in fall, while gadwalls, redheads, mallards, teals, and pintails are the major nesters.

Grebes, herons, egrets, and rails make up the bulk of the water and marsh birds, while refuge rookeries held generous numbers of snowy egrets, white-faced ibis, and black- crowned night herons.

A pair of summering sandhill cranes in 1994 raised hopes that the refuge's first brood would be produced. They failed to nest, however, and Banta concluded they were 2-year-olds, and consequently too young to mate. Returning every year since then, Sandhills still haven't nested in the marsh.

Banta is especially proud of the shorebirds he manages through scheduled draw-downs and flushings to maintain their need for moist soil. The refuge supports the second largest population of nesting snowy plovers in Utah. Other nesters are killdeer, black-necked stilts, avocets, Wilson's phalarope, long-billed curlews, willets, and Forster's and common terns. Long-billed dowitchers, western and least sandpipers, and marbled godwits are regular migrants.

I've personally watched an American bittern swallow several fish and two bull frogs whole before taking off from the edge of a spring-fed stream beside the vehicle tour route. The bull frogs, says Banta, were introduced by a former land lessee who tried to raise them commercially. They are now only found near the warmest springs.

Peregrine falcons and golden eagles feed in the refuge. Great-horned owls and northern harriers are both feeders and nesters.

Even though there are few trees to provide habitat at Fish Springs, 245 bird species have been sighted there, and 62 of them stayed to nest. A recent mist-netting and banding operation revealed that many song birds also migrate through the refuge, and some stay on as summer residents.

Of the 40 mammal species observed on the refuge, 19 are small rodents including introduced muskrats that must be trapped to control damage to dikes and water-control structures. Other mammals include mule deer, pronghorn antelope, black-tailed jackrabbits, desert cottontails, and coyotes, the latter subject to population control because of heavy goose predation.

Although duck and coot hunting is allowed during the season, visitors for wildlife observation outnumber hunters by six to one. The refuge hosts about 3,000 visitors a year.

Crossroads Of The Past

Besides its historical significance for the Pony Express and Overland Stage, the refuge was important to Native Americans, who depended on water and wildlife at the springs. Traces can also be seen of the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway, which passed through Utah from New York to San Francisco. A new archeological display installed at refuge headquarters in 1997 includes an original Lincoln Highway sign.

Fish Springs NWR is truly one of the most interesting and valuable refuges in the national system.

Directions

From exit 99 on I-80 in Utah: south on UT-36 through Tooele, right on marked Pony Express Route (gravel road) for approximately 70 miles to refuge on right. Camping at nearby primitive BLM campground.

From exit 410 on I-80 in Nevada: south on US-93A, left on gravel road to Gold Hill, left in Gold Hill for 22 miles to Callao, left for 25 miles to refuge on left.

PO Box 568
Dugway, UT 84022
801-831-5353