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Utah is Worth its Salt

Bonneville Salt Flats as seen from Interstate 80 in Utah, USA
Bonneville Salt Flats
as seen from Interstate 80
East of Wendover, UT
Courtesy Wikimedia
Hermann Luyken, Photographer
Image licensed through
Creative Commons
CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

Salt Production, Solar Evaporation, Courtesy Morton Salt, Inc.Salt Production
Solar Evaporation
Courtesy Morton Salt, Inc.

Sevier Lake, a Saline Lake in Central UtahSevier Lake
Courtesy & Copyright 2013
Holly Strand, Photographer

Salt Crystal, Photo Courtesy Minerals and Materials Photo Gallery, U.S House Subcommittee on Energy and Natural ResourcesSalt Crystal
Minerals and Materials Photo Gallery
U.S House Subcommittee
on Energy and Natural Resources

Hi, I’m Holly Strand from the Quinney College of Natural Resources at Utah State University.

Throughout history, salt has held enormous significance for human society. And not just because it makes food taste better. Salt is a biological necessity. The human body needs a small but regular supply of sodium to maintain a balance of body fluids, keep muscles and nerves running smoothly and help certain organs work properly.

Thousands of years ago, salt was discovered to have another vital function– as a food preservative. This discovery quickly transformed the human lifestyle. For if people could preserve their food, they no longer had to depend upon the seasonal availability of food. Further, preservation allowed people to travel over long distances with a portable food supply.

Because of its central importance to health and human welfare, salt acquired some interesting forms of cultural significance as well. For instance, spilling salt is a bad omen. But you can mitigate by throwing the spilled salt over your left shoulder into the eyes of the Devil that lurks there. In many places salt was used as money. The English word “salary” comes from the Latin phrase salarium argentum, or “salt money,” which was paid to Roman soldiers.

Before the evolution of modern geology and extraction techniques, salt was difficult to find and to remove. The limited supply led to increased demand. In Salt: A World History author Mark Kurlansky described how salt demand spawned extensive trade routes, alliances, and even empires. Salt taxes were a common source of government income as well as a cause for revolt.

Here in Utah, it’s hard to imagine getting worked up about salt supply. There’s just so much of it lying around. That’s because as the 20,000 square miles of water that was Lake Bonneville evaporated, salt was precipitated all over the dried up lake bed.

The Great Salt Lake itself contains about 4.5 billion tons of salt. Currently 3 corporations extract salt using over 80000 acres of solar evaporation ponds near the lake. They produce over 2 millions tons of salt per year. This roughly equals the amount of salt flowing into the lake. For the Bear, Weber and Jordan Rivers add about 2.2 million tons of salt annually.

Utah and nearby states use the Great Salt Lake salt for de-icing roadways. Some of the salt is pressed into pellets for water softeners. Ranchers get salt-lick blocks for their livestock. And huge quantities of bulk salt are used in metal, chemical, paper and other industries.

Food grade or table salt is not produced from the Great Salt Lake area. However Redmond Minerals Inc. produces table salt in Sevier County.

For Wild About Utah, I’m Holly Strand.

Credits:
Image: Courtesy Wikimedia, Hermann Luyken, Photographer, Image licensed through Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication
Image: Courtesy & Copyright Morton Salt, Inc.
Image: Sevier Lake, Courtesy & Copyright 2013 Holly Strand
Image: Courtesy U.S House Subcommittee on Energy and Natural Resources, Public Domain
Text: Holly Strand

Sources & Additional Reading

Wild About Utah pieces authored by Holly Strand

Freeman, Shanna. 2007. “How Salt Works” HowStuffWorks.com. https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/salt.htm

Gwynn, Mark, Ken Krahulec, and Michael Vanden Berg. Utah Mining 2010, Utah Geological Survey of Utah Department of Natural Resources, https://ugspub.nr.utah.gov/publications/circular/c-114.pdf Circular 114

Gwynn, J. Wallace, ed. Great Salt Lake: an overview of change. 2002. DNR Special Publication. Utah Geological Survey of Utah Department of Natural Resources. formerly at: https://wildlife.utah.gov/gsl/gsl_cmp_resource_doc/10minerals.pdf

Kurlansky, Mark. 2003. Salt: A World History. London: Penguin Books. https://www.amazon.com/Salt-World-History-Mark-Kurlansky/dp/0142001619

Salt Institute. A non-profit trade association dedicated to advocating the many benefits of salt. https://www.saltinstitute.org/ [Dissolved March 2019]

Stephens, Doyle W. and Joe Gardner USGS. Great Salt Lake, Utah https://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/wri994189/PDF/WRI99-4189.pdf

USDA. Sodium in Your Diet: Using the Nutrition Facts Label to Reduce Your Intake. https://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm315393.htm.

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Nature’s Recyclers

Courtesy and copyright Andrea Liberatore, Stokes Nature Center, https://logannature.org/
Fungi Decomposing Fall
Leaves Outside the
Stokes Nature Center
Courtesy & © 2011 Andrea Liberatore
Stokes Nature Center 

Courtesy and copyright Andrea Liberatore, Stokes Nature Center, https://logannature.org/Redworms Eisenia fetida
from Stokes Nature Center’s
vermicomposting system
Courtesy & © 2011 Andrea Liberatore
Stokes Nature Center

On November 15th, our nation celebrates America Recycles Day. While the day itself tends to focus on human recycling activity, I thought we should also give a nod to nature’s recyclers. Worms, maggots, fungi, beetles, and bacteria – it sounds like a list of leftover Halloween horrors. But in reality, we should be more afraid of what our world would look like without these creepy-crawlies, for these are nature’s recyclers. Scientists call these organisms saprophytes, and as important as their role in life is, they are more likely to evoke a shudder than any feeling of gratitude.

What decomposers actually do is break dead things down into smaller and smaller pieces, until all that is left are the basic molecular components that make up all living things such as nitrogen, phosphorous, carbon, and potassium. Once broken down, this material is then free to be taken up again by plants and animals that use them to live and grow. This cycle of nutrients is vital to life on Earth, and our saprophytic friends make it all possible.

While decomposition would occur even without the help of the decomposers, it would take much, much longer. In some landfills, newspapers have been unearthed that are more than 20 years old, and still quite readable. This is because landfills often create anaerobic environments, where oxygen-loving insects, fungi, and bacteria cannot live and therefore cannot aid decomposition. If without decomposers, a newspaper can last 20 years, what would happen to much larger and hardier items such as tree trunks and roadkill? I shudder to think about it.

Did you know that the U.S. throws more than 33 million tons of food waste into landfills each year? This organic material goes to waste there – taking up valuable space and taking longer than normal break down. So this year, celebrate America Recycles Day by employing some of nature’s recyclers in your yard. Consider starting a compost pile where your fall leaves and food scraps can get broken down into nutrient-rich all-natural fertilizer for next year’s garden.

For composting tips and more information about nature’s recyclers, visit Wild About Utah online at www.wildaboututah.org. Thank you to the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation for the research and development of this Wild About Utah topic. For the Stokes Nature Center and Wild About Utah, this is Andrea Liberatore.

For the Stokes Nature Center and Wild About Utah, this is Andrea Liberatore.

Credits:

Photos: Courtesy & © 2011 Andrea Liberatore, https://logannature.org/
Text:    Andrea Liberatore, Stokes Nature Center, logannature.org

Composting Tips & Information:

Farrell-Poe, K. and Koenig, R. (2010) Backyard Composting in Utah. Utah State University Cooperative Extension. https://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/factsheet/HG-Compost-01.pdf

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Composting. https://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/rrr/composting/index.htm

Additional Reading:

Fogel, R. (2002) Waste Not, Want Not: Fungi as Decomposers. Utah State University Herbarium. https://utahpests.usu.edu/ipm/ornamental-pest-guide/diseases/wood-decay-fungi

Hoff, M. (2009) Young Naturalists: Nature’s Recyclers. Minnesota Conservation Volunteer Newsletter. July-August 2009. https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/publications/volunteer/young_naturalists/natures_recyclers/natures_recyclers.pdf

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2011) Basic Information About Food Waste. https://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/organics/food/fd-basic.htm

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Bird Gizzards and the Old Grind

Chicken Gizzard
Chicken Gizzard
Copyright 2013 Jim Cane
Chicken GizzardNaturally polished dinosaur gastrolith found near Duschene Utah
Copyright Rick Dunne, Photographer

You may think of “the old grind” as your workweek, but from a dietary perspective, the old grind links your holiday turkey with dinosaurs. Before making gravy this Thanksgiving, find the densely muscular organ amid your turkey’s giblets. This is the turkey’s gizzard which preceded the living bird’s intestine. In its tough-walled gizzard, a bird mechanically breaks down hard or tough foodstuffs like we mammals use our molars. Reducing chunks to crumbs gives digestive enzymes the large surface areas needed to efficiently digest food.

Being toothless, birds must swallow most nuts, seeds, bugs and mollusks whole. In the gizzard, these items are churned, crushed and ground up, aided by ingested sand, grit or small stones called “gastroliths”. A turkey’s gizzard squeezes with twice the force of our own jaws. At 400 pounds per square inch, this force shatters acorns and even hickory nuts. The gizzard works like the ball mills used in mining, wherein heavy rotating iron drums loaded with steel balls pulverize rock ore. Like a gem tumbler, though, the gizzard eventually smooths and polishes its gastroliths. Having thus lost their utility, these stony gastroliths are regurgitated.

Gastroliths did not originate with birds, Continue reading “Bird Gizzards and the Old Grind”

Bird Gizzards and the Old Grind by Jim Cane

Chicken Gizzard
Chicken Gizzard
Copyright 2013 Jim Cane
Chicken GizzardNaturally polished dinosaur gastrolith found near Duschene Utah
Copyright Rick Dunne, Photographer

You may think of “the old grind” as your workweek, but from a dietary perspective, the old grind links your holiday turkey with dinosaurs. Before making gravy this Thanksgiving, find the densely muscular organ amid your turkey’s giblets. This is the turkey’s gizzard which preceded the living bird’s intestine. In its tough-walled gizzard, a bird mechanically breaks down hard or tough foodstuffs like we mammals use our molars. Reducing chunks to crumbs gives digestive enzymes the large surface areas needed to efficiently digest food.

Being toothless, birds must swallow most nuts, seeds, bugs and mollusks whole. In the gizzard, these items are churned, crushed and ground up, aided by ingested sand, grit or small stones called “gastroliths”. A turkey’s gizzard squeezes with twice the force of our own jaws. At 400 pounds per square inch, this force shatters acorns and even hickory nuts. The gizzard works like the ball mills used in mining, wherein heavy rotating iron drums loaded with steel balls pulverize rock ore. Like a gem tumbler, though, the gizzard eventually smooths and polishes its gastroliths. Having thus lost their utility, these stony gastroliths are regurgitated.

Gastroliths did not originate with birds, Continue reading “Bird Gizzards and the Old Grind by Jim Cane”