Web of life

The votes are in, and one of the winners of Travelocity national survey, "Local Secrets, Big Finds" is the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve in Layton.

More than 10,000 nominations came in from North American Travelocity members polled to find the best local sights worth visiting in each state. The preserve is now listed at www.windowseat.travelocity.com as one of the winning 295 sites in the United States worth discovering.

"It demonstrates that visitors and tourists are really appreciating the unique wetlands habitats of the Great Salt," said Larisa Barry, director of communications for the Nature Conservancy.

In the past, Utah's wetlands were seen as smelly, soggy land to not only avoid but to eliminate. The land was judged better used for growing crops and for building homes, roads and industrial parks. Today, people are becoming more aware of the benefits of Utah's wetlands and are working hard to preserve them.

"There is better awareness today than 10 or even five years ago," said Chris Montague, director of conservation programs. "In the past, the wetlands haven't been user-friendly, and people didn't go there, but those opportunities are growing, and as more people visit the area, the more they appreciate it."

Despite urban myths, a healthy functioning wetland can actually reduce the mosquito population, help regulate water levels within a watershed and provide a habitat for fish, wildlife and people.

Mosquito control programs use to start by draining wetlands in an effort to eliminate the standing water, where mosquitoes breed. The problem with that approach was that although mosquitoes have a short life cycle (four days to a month), their eggs can survive for more than a year waiting for the right conditions to hatch. The drained wetlands may still hold enough water after a rain to allow the dormant eggs to hatch and give the next generation of mosquitoes a chance to hatch and breed with no natural enemies to keep their population down.

Today, Davis County Mosquito Control uses both natural enemies and Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies isaelensis (BTI), a biological environmentally friendly product to control the larvae in the wetlands. The BTI is sprayed on the water, slowly releasing the larvacide into the water, where the mosquito larvae eats it and dies.

One of the positive roles of the wetland is the way it works as a flood control.

"It can moderate big rain and flood events," said Montague.

Acting like a sponge, wetlands soak up the rainfall and slow down spring and storm runoff. By slowing the water flow, erosion damages along banks and shorelines are reduced.