Man-made islands could change Utah Lake forever.

[Therapist]

Thihs pops up every 8-10 years. There is only one problem. Utah Lake's bottom is unstable. American Fork purchased a dredge years ago with the intent of dredging the AF harbor. The problem they found was that the bottom of the lake is so fluid, they were sucking muck from the main lake as they tried to dredge the harbor. Why do you think that the State Park has to dredge the channel along the dyke every 6=8 years, the lake bottom flows into the harbor and fills in the channel. Building Islands would be great, if you can find a way to anchor them. Based on my understanding of the lake bottom, they would eventually sink into the ooze that makes up the lake bottom. While there are areas of the lake that are stable, the vast majority of the bottom is ooze and mud that have filled in the lake over time. Remember, Utah Lake a glacial bowl carved out during the ice age and then became part of Lake Bonneville. The ooze is composed of fine mud and silt washed into the lake over millennia and complemented by the deposition of diatoms over that same period ( diatoms are microscopic organisms that have a calcareous exoskeleton. When they die, their exoskeleton becomes part of the bottom ooze. If enough are deposited and compressed, you end up with deposits of calcium carbonate in the form of limestone or chalk[cliffs of Dover], In Utah Lake they mix with the mud and silt and form the bottom ooze !! Very fluid, very unstable).

Islands are a good idea, but impractical until you can stabilize the bottom !!