Imagine trying to be the traffic cop guiding the flow of all the resources the Great Salt Lake provides - the fish food, the table salt, the metal strengthener, the bird superhighway and the state's premier icon.

That's the task facing the state Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, which announced Friday that it is about to begin updating the 2000 Great Salt Lake Comprehensive Management Plan, the main blueprint for guiding use of the lake's resources.

"What this does," said division Director Dick Buehler, "is ensure that policy directing future use of the lake is based on current information and knowledge gained from a comprehensive study."

The 1.35-million-acre lake is the largest contiguous area managed by

Great Salt Lake Management Plan

    To see the current management plan, see the division's Web site.
the state. Rich in mineral resources, the terminal basin is located in five counties.

Its wetlands supports more than 9 million birds, many of them using the lake as a food-and-rest stop on their north-to-south migration.

And its open waters support a multi-million-dollar brine shrimp industry, which harvests brine shrimp eggs for use as food for aquiculture and hobby fish tanks.

As part of the review, the division is withdrawing all sovereign lands in the lakebed from leasing and other permitting.

Dave Hymas, a spokesman for Great Salt Lake Minerals, said the withdrawal would have no impact on the company's plan to expand its 75,000-acre sulfate of potash extraction in the northern part of the lake, which is

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currently under court review.

"Taking a new look at that [decade-old plan] makes perfect sense," he said.

The lands division will first issue a request-for-proposals for development of the new plan. Studies will be undertaken, public meetings conducted and citizen and industry input sought.

Subjects covered will include wildlife, ecosystem protection, industry, salinity and the impact of the causeway that divides the lake.

Perhaps mercury pollution and, as always, protecting the migratory bird flyway will be considered in the updated plan, said the lands division's Dave Grierson.

He added that the most important part of the comprehensive plan will not be the document produced but the process of putting it together with public participation.

"That," said Grierson, "is where we start getting a document we can believe in."

fahys@sltrib.com