| NSF Org: |
RISE Integrative and Collaborative Education and Research (ICER) |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | June 16, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 16, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1617473 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Richard Yuretich
ryuretic@nsf.gov (703)292-4744 RISE Integrative and Collaborative Education and Research (ICER) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | July 1, 2016 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2021 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $1,499,999.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $1,499,999.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
201 PRESIDENTS CIR SALT LAKE CITY UT US 84112-9049 (801)581-6903 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
UT US 84112-0102 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | DYN COUPLED NATURAL-HUMAN |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT
The Bonneville Salt Flats is a vast perennial salt pan in northwest Utah that is changing rapidly. The system is sensitive to variations in rain, wind, evaporation, and groundwater flux, and it is known world-wide as the location where land-speed racing records are set. It has also supported potash mining and other recreational activities. Recent environmental changes are limiting these historic uses, and land managers are actively making decisions about ways to preserve this environment for the continuation of land-speed racing, while still maintaining opportunities for natural resource extraction and ecosystem function. This project will look closely at how the physical environment and the human population around it are linked; how the changing environment influences decisions and policy changes regarding the maintenance and use of the Bonneville Salt Flats; and how ongoing human activities and interventions are altering the conditions of this important resource.
This project will identify the linkages among management decisions, stakeholder perception and use, and the natural biophysical and hydrological system of the Bonneville Salt Flats. Examining the salt flats as a coupled natural and human system will help determine: how environmental, hydrological, and microbiological conditions regulate the dissolution and precipitation of the salt crust; the nature of the relationships among various stakeholders and their motivations for maintaining specific conditions at the Bonneville Salt Flats; the influence of the salt flats on culture and land use over time; and the effects of human activities, decisions, and mitigation efforts on the biophysical system. This project will quantify rates and characteristics of environmental change and evaluate the feedbacks between the biophysical changes and the stakeholder communities.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The Bonneville Salt Flats (BSF) is a dynamic perennial salt pan in northwest Utah that is changing rapidly. The landscape changes and responds to variations in rain, wind, evaporation, and groundwater flux, and also to a century of land-speed racing, salt mining, and recreation. This project brought together geoscientists, environmental engineers, microbiologists, social scientists, communication scholars, and artists to better understand the feedbacks between the coupled biophysical and social dynamics that impact this landscape. With new continuous field-based observations we advanced our understanding how environmental, hydrological, and microbiological conditions at BSF impact the salt. We identified a diverse and thriving microbial ecosystem within the salt and have clarified the role of microbial metabolism and nutrient cycling. With a diversity of surveys, we have identified many aspects of the nature of the relationship between BSF stakeholders, better understand differing mental models of the system, and better understand what kinds of framing are most likely to promote public engagement. We have examined how BSF has influenced culture through time, how stakeholders adapt to changing conditions, and how human activities, decisions, mitigation efforts, and adaptation to change impacts the biophysical system. There are multiple ways that the different disciplinary aspects of this research have come together, particularly around identifying how changes in the hydrology influence land use, the role of anthropogenic influences on microbial metabolisms, and in identifying potential land management paths forward that will maximize the ability to meet the various stakeholder needs. The complexity of the Bonneville Salt Flats social ecological system warrants a diversity of approaches as we consider the role of humans in shaping our landscapes and our relationship with the environment. Our research has provided fundamental advances in scientific understanding of this dynamic landscape and will help to inform management of this valued place and other dynamic saline landscapes.
Last Modified: 10/27/2021
Modified by: Brenda B Bowen
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