At first glance, the idea of adding salt to the Bonneville Salt Flats seems a bit like adding sand to the Sahara. But a decade ago, the BLM determined the flats were losing their natural salts, and embarked on an ambitious plan to restore salt to the flats.

Now, more than 10 years later, the restoration effort has been declared a success by BLM, private industry, and recreationalists -- a partnership that has been nominated for a 2008 Earth Day award given by the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining.

Over the years, members of the racing community began to notice a change in the salt surface at the Bonneville Salt Flats. It had begun to deteriorate, making it difficult for racers attempting to break land-speed records and shortening the distance of races.

"The racing community began voicing concerns that the quality and length of the track surface were not what they were historically," said Russ Draper, mill/ponds supervisor and Salt Laydown Project manager at Intrepid Potash Wendover, a mining operation adjacent to the salt flats.

Some believed the potash mining operation -- then called Reilly Industries -- was to blame.

"The perception was the potash plant was the sole cause of the loss of salt from the flats, but studies by the BLM indicated numerous contributing causes," Draper said.

The Intrepid Potash Wendover plant has mineral leases adjacent to the salt flats and does extract minerals, Draper said. Intrepid's products include potash, or potassium chloride, which is a crop nutrient. Another is magnesium chloride, which is used in dust control and anti-icing products, chemical intermediates and specialty fertilizers.

"Brine is being removed from beneath the surface of the salt, and that's being used in the production of a fairly broad variety of minerals, with potash as the primary one," said Glenn Carpenter, BLM Salt Lake Field Office manager, adding the only other thing that removes salt from the flats is wind erosion, although that's minimal.

In an effort to restore the salt and replenish the crust on the Bonneville Salt Flats, a joint agreement called the Salt Laydown Project was formed in 1997 between the mining operation's previous owners Reilly Industries -- purchased by Intrepid Potash in 2004 -- and the BLM. The project pumped brine water onto the salt flats to build up the salt crust once again.

"Reilly Industries realized the importance of the Bonneville Salt Flats and wanted to be involved with their preservation," Draper said.

The project was originally set to run five years, but Intrepid continues to pump on a voluntary basis today.

Three brackish -- slightly salty -- wells were drilled several miles north of I-80 to provide water for the project, Draper said. The water is pumped through canals to ponds, which during the summer are used to upgrade the potash brine. Salt is left as a byproduct of this process, and in the winter the ponds are flooded with brackish water to dissolve the salt deposited on their floors. The highly saline fluid is stored in a 900-acre pond. When the concentration is at the right amount, typically in mid-February, it is sent through a canal and pumped via a 20-inch diameter pipe under the Union Pacific Railroad tracks, the old US 40 highway and I-80. Brine is then discharged across the flats and as water evaporates, it adds to the salt crust. This transfer typically takes about 45 days to finish.

Intrepid covers all costs associated with operating and maintaining the project equipment. The initial cost of the project was more than $1 million, which was covered by Reilly. The voluntary pumping costs Intrepid anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 each year.

During the winter of 2003-2004 -- the purchase transition period from Reilly to Intrepid -- the project was not operated. But since the 2004/2005 season, Intrepid has voluntarily continued the project.

Draper said since the beginning of the project, there has been an increase of 19 percent in the total salt volume at the flats. To date, more than 8 million tons of salt have been transferred.

"As far as the success of the project, according to Mike Waters, the Chairman of Bonneville Nationals Inc., 'This past year at Speed Week (and the following World Finals event) we were able to successfully run on an area of salt surface that was totally unusable eight to 10 years ago,'" reports Draper.

"Has it been successful?" Carpenter asked. "If you ask the racers, I think almost unanimously you'll get a resounding 'yes.'"

The brine transfer campaign for 2007/2008 is done and the pump shut off. Draper said a little more than 400,000 tons of salt were pumped onto the flats this year.

The winners of the Earth Day awards will be announced at the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining's meeting later this month.

"At this point, there hasn't been any end of project projected," Carpenter said. "As long as there is production occurring and an opportunity for the project to continue, I'm hopeful that it would continue."

swest@tooeletranscript.com