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About Save the Salt

Protecting the Bonneville Salt Flats through restoration, advocacy, and a global community committed to preserving this iconic landscape.

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Who we are?

Save the Salt is a nonprofit initiative dedicated to preserving the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. What started as a grassroots effort has grown into a global movement of racers, enthusiasts, and environmental advocates.

Once spanning over 96,000 acres, the Bonneville Salt Flats have significantly diminished over time. Environmental and industrial factors have reduced both the size and strength of the salt crust—putting its future at risk.

What we do?

  • Supporting salt replenishment and restoration efforts
  • Advocating for long-term environmental solutions
  • Collaborating with agencies and stakeholders
  • Raising awareness through community and media
SEMA PRAISES LATEST RESTORATION EFFORTS AT BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS

Save the Salt Coalition

Registered as a National Landmark, the Bonneville Salt Flats (BSF) in Utah is a geologic phenomenon of international significance.  For motorsports enthusiasts world-wide, it is hallowed ground. From the first speed record attempts in 1914 and through the present day, hundreds of records have been set and broken in a variety of automotive and motorcycle classes.

For over six decades, the land has been managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Unfortunately, nearly five decades of BLM neglect led to the depletion of millions of tons of salt. The BSF is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as an “Area of Critical Environmental Concern.”

The Save the Salt Coalition (STS) was founded in 1989 by racers, businesses and community members.  Its mission is to protect the Bonneville Salt Flats and to promote its history and motorsports legacy.  To assist in this effort, the “Save the Salt Foundation” was formed as the nonprofit entity to collect money for the sole purpose of restoring the BSF.  The STS Coalition has also partnered with the “Utah Alliance,” formed in 2014 to provide expertise and connections within Utah and Nevada.  The collaboration allows experts within the groups to undertake specific roles and projects.  Major land speed race sanctioning organizations are members of both the Coalition and Alliance.

Salt is now being pumped onto the salt flats every year and other forms of additional replenishment are being pursued.  However, to ensure success, the racing performance industry and land speed enthusiasts must also join in the effort to return more salt to the BSF. 

save the salt logo

BOARD MEMBERS

CHAIRMAN: ALLISON DEAN
VICE PRESIDENT: TOM BURKLAND
TREASURER: MIKE LEFEVERS
SECRETARY: RUSS EYRES
MEMBER AT LARGE: LARRY VOLK

ADVISORY BOARD

GENERAL ADVISOR: RICK VESCO
ADVISOR: BONNER DENTON
LEGAL ADVICE: RUSS DEANE
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS: STUART GOSSWEIN

REPRESENTATIVE BOARD

SCTA/BNI: GARY MCGAVIN
USFRA: DENNIS SULLIVAN

BOARD MEMBERS

DENNIS SULLIVAN – Chairman, Utah Salt Flats Racing Assn. (USFRA) President
TOM BURKLAND – Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials (BMST)
CHAD BOOTH – AYL TV Salt Lake City, Media
HUGH COLTHARP – USFRA Founding Member
RON KIRBY – Kirby Media & Design
ROBERT RAMPTON – Graphic Artist, Research & Racing History
RICK VESCO - Save the Salt (STS) Founding Member, USFRA
LARRY VOLK – STS, USFRA Founding Member

Mission & Vision

Mission

Our mission is to protect and restore the Bonneville Salt Flats, one of the most iconic natural landscapes in Utah. Through advocacy, restoration efforts, and community engagement, Save the Salt works to preserve the salt flats’ environmental integrity and historic legacy in land speed racing.

We are committed to supporting long-term solutions that ensure the Bonneville Salt Flats remain a global destination for future generations.

Vision

Our vision is to see a fully restored and protected Bonneville Salt Flats, where nature, history, and innovation coexist. We aim to create a sustainable future where the salt flats continue to support racing heritage, tourism, and ecological balance.

By raising awareness and driving action, we envision a global community united to preserve this irreplaceable natural landmark.

Major Achievements

Early Land Speed Racing Begins

The Bonneville Salt Flats became a proving ground for speed pioneers. Early racers set the foundation for a global racing legacy.

1914

Speed Week Established

Speed Week officially began, attracting racers from around the world. It marked the rise of Bonneville as a historic motorsports destination.

1949

Salt Replenishment Begins

Efforts to restore the salt crust started through a replenishment program. This marked the beginning of long-term preservation initiatives.

1997

Pumping of 1.2 Million Tons Salt

Save the Salt Coalition continues to advocate for a 10-year program to pump at least 1.2 million tons of salt a year, more than double the current amount being pumped. (Recent pumping levels have varied from around 300,000-600,000 tons/year, amounts that help maintain Bonneville but are too small to expand the salt depleted venue.) The BLM wants to wait for additional scientific studies to better understand why the salt levels on the racing venue have decreased in recent decades.

2017

Funding for Pumping Work

Save the Salt Coalition pursues support from the Utah Legislature and U.S. Congress to fund a program to expand the pumping program. It is anticipated that the project will cost $50 million over a ten-year period, monies to be contributed by the federal government along with state and racing industry contributions.

2018

Funding for Pumping Work

Save the Salt Coalition pursues support from the Utah Legislature and U.S. Congress to fund a program to expand the pumping program. It is anticipated that the project will cost $50 million over a ten-year period, monies to be contributed by the federal government along with state and racing industry contributions.

2018

Restore Bonneville Program

The Utah State Legislature approves a $5 million appropriation to create a “Restore Bonneville” program. The appropriation is valid for multiple years but requires a $45 million match from other sources to be spent. The Save the Salt Coalition continues to pursue federal appropriations.

2019

Collaboration

The U.S. Dept. of the Interior, BLM, and Utah Department of Natural Resources sign a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on a “Bonneville Restoration” program to help protect surface conditions to ensure continued land speed racing. The agencies will work together on research to understand BSF’s hydrology and geology and to consider restoration efforts. The U.S. Congress appropriates over $2 million to start the program but the BLM fails to spend the money before the appropriation expires. Save the Salt Coalition wanted funds to be used for engineering plans to upgrade infrastructure (rebuild wells, cover open ditches, and reline processing ponds, etc.). Separately, the Utah Legislature reduces the available state appropriation to $1 million.

2020

Coalition Continues

The Save the Salt Coalition continues to seek federal and state money. Among the efforts, the BLM unsuccessfully seeks $7 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to purchase the Northern Leases from Intrepid and purchase the State’s school trust lands within the Bonneville Salt Flats. A new water well and equipment to measure water evaporation rates are installed on the BSF during the summer.

2021

Help Retain Salt Brine

The BLM is seeking a scientific basis for moving forward with restoration efforts. It will then seek federal funds for an engineering study to implement the program and a National Environmental Policy Act analysis. The Save the Salt Foundation funds the repair of two large breaches in the Salduro Loop dike to help ensure that salt brine pumped onto Bonneville will not inadvertently flow into the Salduro Loop. Intrepid is no longer taking salt from the Northern Leases and asks the BLM to retire the leases in exchange for royalty relief, with such relief funds to be applied to the restoration program. Save the Salt Coalition advocates for a new berm to be installed east of the race tracks to help retain salt brine on the racing venue.

2022

Engineering Study

The BLM questions whether the Silver Island’s alluvial fan aquifer can supply the larger volume of water needed to process salt brine. A 2023 study by the Utah Department of Natural Resources identifies lower water table levels in the alluvial fan since the pumping program began in 1997 with the contention that water and brine are being pulled away from Bonneville’s shallow brine aquifer to help replenish the adjacent Silver Island aquifer. The study also confirms that the salt brine extraction ditches installed in the 1960s contributed to the removal of salt and impeded water flow below Bonneville. Finding an alternative water source beyond the Silver Island aquifer to expand Intrepid’s pumping program is the unsolved problem. The BLM does not approve Intrepid’s offer to withdraw the Northern Leases.

2023

BLM Direction on No Pump

The BLM directed that no salt be pumped during the 2023/24 season. The Save the Salt Coalition believes there are other water sources from Bonneville’s shallow and deep aquifers for the pumping program.

2024

BLM Direction Continues

The BLM directed that no salt be pumped 2024/25 season. The racing venue’s salt crust is between ¼ to 1 inch thick and drivers must first traverse 3 miles of “mud flats” before getting to the salt.

2025

Ongoing Restoration Efforts

No salt pumped during the 2025/26 season.

2026

Be Part of the Restoration

Join a growing community working to protect and restore the Bonneville Salt Flats for future generations.

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