ANTELOPE ISLAND ATTRACTS VISITORS, HISTORIC INTEREST.Byline: Lucinda Dillon Deseret News The late writer Wallace Stegner Wallace Earle Stegner (February 18, 1909—April 13, 1993) was an American historian, novelist, short story writer, and environmentalist, often called "The Dean of Western Writers. loved this island tucked along the eastern edge of the Great Salt Lake. In his travels of Utah's wild places, Stegner saw stands of cottonwood trees protecting the lush setting near the old Fielding Garr ranch on the island's southern end and called the area ``the only oasis on the Great Salt Lake.'' The secret is no longer well kept. After all, Antelope Island Antelope Island, with an area of 42 square miles (68 km²), is the largest island in the Great Salt Lake, the largest lake in the Western United States.[1] The island lies entirely within Davis County, in the southeastern portion of the lake and becomes a peninsula has a page on the World Wide Web. As it wraps up its third year as a tourist attraction Noun 1. tourist attraction - a characteristic that attracts tourists attractive feature, magnet, attractor, attracter, attraction - a characteristic that provides pleasure and attracts; "flowers are an attractor for bees" , Antelope Island is experiencing unprecedented popularity from public, private and government interests. This year brought record numbers of sightseers and scientists. Private enterprise is flourishing. Complaints about the stinky shores are giving way to an appreciation of the island's delicate wildlife and historic value. Visitors to the island are up 40 percent, generating gate fees collected at the island's state park of $350,000 for the state in the year that ended June 30. An additional $140,000 went to Davis County Davis County is, at present, the name of two counties in the United States:
Salt Lake County wants in on the action with a plan for a causeway on the island's south end. State parks officials have approved a $50,000 grant to study environmental and fiscal impact of a southern causeway. An eight-mile roadway, with two miles across the Great Salt Lake, would follow the historic trail pioneers took to the island's south shore, but the study is an introductory step and nothing more, said Mary Tullius, a parks spokeswoman. ``You can definitely feel things on the move out here,'' said Tim Smith Tim Smith is a common name. Notable people with the name Tim Smith include:
But as caretaker of the island's ecosystem, Smith and his fellow wildlife officials are gingerly balancing wildlife preservation with better access and exposure for Utahans. ``That's the great challenge,'' he said. Better services and events bring tourists in. The Buffalo Point Restaurant - which specializes in buffalo burgers - is building a spacious new deck. A new tour boat, the ``Island Serenade serenade [Ital. sera=evening], term used to designate several types of musical composition. Opera and song literature yield numerous examples of the serenade sung or played by a lover at night beneath his beloved's window; outstanding is ,'' is at the tail end of a successful season. The division has hosted beach volleyball For the ball used in this sport, see . Beach volleyball is an Olympic team sport played on sand. Two teams, positioned on either side of a net which divides a rectangular court, hit a volleyball, usually using the hands or arms. tournaments and moonlight bike rides. In anticipation of this success, a 5,200-square-foot visitors center, perched atop Lady Finger Ridge, should be open in September. Late in the morning on a recent August day, one of this year's coyote coyote (kī`ōt, kīō`tē) or prairie wolf, small, swift wolf, Canis latrans, native to W North America. It is found in deserts, prairies, open woodlands, and brush country; it is also called brush wolf. pups grins as he jogs through the gumweed and sunflowers just off a dirt road down the island's east side. On this same morning, two pronghorns - known more popularly as antelopes - tiptoe through rocks and grasses. Farther down the road, some of the island's 700 bison roll in the dust and cluster in herds to the right and left. The beach is dotted with avocets, Wilson's phalaropes and other migrating and nesting birds attracted to the island. They pose gracefully in the salty marshes, gorging on brine flies. Smith wants more people to have this contact with wildlife. He wants visitors to see the mule deer mule deer Large-eared deer (Odocoileus hemionus) of western North America that lives alone or in small groups at high altitudes in summer and lower altitudes in winter. Mule deer stand 3–3. , bobcats, jack rabbits and the tiny burrowing owl. Since a causeway from Davis County was completed in 1993, business has increased steadily on the island. ``Antelope Island is filling a niche in the northern Utah tourism picture that hasn't been filled before with a large, unique natural area,'' Smith said. Southern Utah is filled with wild and wide open places like this, Smith said, but northern Utah is not. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: A pronghorn pronghorn or prongbuck, hoofed herbivorous mammal, Antilocapra americana, of the W United States and N Mexico. Although it is often called the American, or prong-horned, antelope, it does not belong to the true antelope family of Africa , known as an antelope, co-exists with co yotes and buffalo on Antelope Island, on the eastern edge of the Great Salt Lake. Associated Press |
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