Supporting Saline Lakes

Saline lakes are renowned for their unique features and significance to wetland-dependent birds.

Although these terminal lakes are small in number, they are vital links in continental flyways, with numerous sites designated as critically important to waterbird populations. Depending on their salinity, these sites often provide an abundance of critical food resources for various waterbird species, like brine shrimp and brine flies.

As a result, saline lakes support enormous concentrations of birds during critical stages of their life cycle, from breeding and migration to staging and molting. Because saline lakes are located at the bottom of watersheds and often lack dedicated water rights, declining water resources throughout the Intermountain West are resulting in the loss of these important habitats.