Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge

Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Marsh land at Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge

Location	Juab County, Utah, United States
Nearest city	Dugway, Utah
Coordinates	39°51′29″N 113°22′01″W / 39.85806°N 113.36694°W / 39.85806; -113.36694Coordinates: 39°51′29″N 113°22′01″W / 39.85806°N 113.36694°W / 39.85806; -113.36694
Area	17,992 acres (7,281 ha)
Established	1959
Governing body	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge is located at the southern end of the Great Salt Lake Desert, part of the Great Basin in Juab County, Utah. The Refuge is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. As an oasis in the Great Basin Desert in western Utah, Fish Springs serves a variety of species including fish, migratory birds, deer, coyotes, pronghorn, cougars and other native species. The reserve can be reached by paved road from Lynndyl, Utah to Topaz Mountain and then by improved dirt road to the Pony Express Road/Lincoln Highway improved dirt road which runs through the Refuge. The Refuge also serves as a recreational area for permitted outdoor activities. The Fish Springs Range runs north to south and is immediately west of the Wildlife Refuge.^[1]

Sunrise at Middle Spring.

Fish Springs started as a Pony Express and Overland Stage station, and got its name from the fish that populated the springs, which were reported to be over 6 inches (15 cm) in length.^[2]

The fish are left over from ancient Lake Bonneville which receded about 14,000 years ago. Several natural springs feed the wetlands. These are along a linear path at the range front (i.e. fault controlled), and include North Springs, Deadman Springs, House Springs, Middle Springs, Thomas Springs, South Springs, and Percy Springs. Fish Springs is thought to be the end of a long flowpath of groundwater, starting in the Schell Creek Range and Snake Range area and flowing along permeable bedrock (e.g. limestones) or faults toward Fish Springs.^[3] This comes from the fact that the annual discharge of the springs is 27,500 acre feet (33,900,000 m³)/year, and the annual recharge for the drainage area (the range front and Fish Springs Flat) is about 4,000 acre feet (4,900,000 m³)/year, meaning over 6 times more water flows out of the springs than falls in the valley annually by precipitation. The springs and several wells in the area are monitored by Fish and Wildlife personnel and/or the Utah Geological Survey. The water of Fish Springs is not suited for human consumption, being warm (~80 °F (27 °C)) and highly saline.^[4]

References

↑ Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge: Description, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, retrieved September 29, 2011
↑ Van Cott, J. W. (1990), Utah Place Names, ISBN 0-87480-345-4
↑ Basin and Range Carbonate-Rock Aquifer System Study, U.S. Geological Survey, retrieved September 29, 2011
↑ The Utah Geological Survey's Snake Valley (and greater area) Ground Water Monitoring Program, retrieved September 29, 2011

External links

Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge: Homepage, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, retrieved September 29, 2011

Protected areas of Utah

Federal

National Parks	Arches Bryce Canyon Canyonlands Capitol Reef Zion

NPS National Monuments	Cedar Breaks Dinosaur Hovenweep Natural Bridges Rainbow Bridge Timpanogos Cave

National Historic Site	Golden Spike

National Recreation Area	Glen Canyon

National Historic Trail	Mormon Pioneer

National Forests	Ashley Caribou-Targhee Dixie Fishlake Manti-La Sal Sawtooth Uinta-Wasatch-Cache

Forest Service areas	Desert Biosphere Reserve Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area

National Wildlife Refuges	Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Fish Springs Ouray

National Conservation Areas	Beaver Dam Wash Red Cliffs

BLM National Monument	Grand Staircase-Escalante

U.S. Wilderness Areas	Ashdown Gorge Beartrap Canyon Beaver Dam Mountains Black Ridge Canyons Blackridge Box-Death Hollow Canaan Mountain Cedar Mountain Cottonwood Canyon Cottonwood Forest Cougar Canyon Dark Canyon Deep Creek Deep Creek North Deseret Peak Doc's Pass Goose Creek High Uintas LaVerkin Creek Lone Peak Mount Naomi Mount Nebo Mount Olympus Mount Timpanogos Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Pine Valley Mountain Red Butte Red Mountains Slaughter Creek Taylor Creek Twin Peaks Wellsville Mountain Zion

State

State Parks Northern Region	Antelope Island Bear Lake Camp Floyd/Stagecoach Inn Deer Creek East Canyon Flight Park Great Salt Lake Historic Union Pacific Rail Trail Hyrum Jordan River OHV Park Jordanelle Red Fleet Rockport Starvation Steinaker Utah Field House of Natural History Utah Lake Wasatch Mountain Willard Bay

State Parks Central Region	Fremont Indian Goblin Valley Green River Huntington Millsite Palisade Scofield Territorial Statehouse Yuba

State Parks Southern Region	Anasazi Coral Pink Sand Dunes Dead Horse Point Edge of the Cedars Escalante Petrified Forest Frontier Homestead Goosenecks Gunlock Kodachrome Basin Otter Creek Piute Quail Creek Sand Hollow Snow Canyon

Utah State Parks and Recreation

State of Utah

Salt Lake City (capital)

Topics	Cities Congressional districts Counties Flag Geography Government Governors Healthcare History People Portal State fair Symbols Visitor attractions

Society	Culture Crime Demographics Economy Education Politics

Regions	Cache Valley Colorado Plateau Dixie Great Basin Great Salt Lake Great Salt Lake Desert Mojave Desert Monument Valley San Rafael Swell Uinta Basin Uinta Mountains Wasatch Back Wasatch Front Wasatch Range

Largest cities	American Fork Bountiful Cedar City Clearfield Cottonwood Heights Draper Holladay Kaysville Layton Lehi Logan Midvale Murray Ogden Orem Pleasant Grove Provo Riverton Roy St. George Salt Lake City Sandy South Jordan South Salt Lake Spanish Fork Springville Taylorsville Tooele West Jordan West Valley City

Counties	Beaver Box Elder Cache Carbon Daggett Davis Duchesne Emery Garfield Grand Iron Juab Kane Millard Morgan Piute Rich Salt Lake San Juan Sanpete Sevier Summit Tooele Uintah Utah Wasatch Washington Wayne Weber

Attractions	Arches National Park Bonneville Salt Flats Bryce Canyon National Park Canyonlands National Park Capitol Reef National Park Great Salt Lake Lagoon Amusement Park Ski areas Sundance Film Festival Temple Square Utah Shakespeare Festival Zion National Park

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, August 01, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.