Until the spring of 2023, thousands of American White Pelicans nested on Gunnison Island in the North Arm of Great Salt Lake. The receding lake level has caused a land bridge, exposing them to predators. The entire community has been forced to abandon their nests. In the spring of 2024, about a tenth of the pelicans in exile returned to Gunnison Island and some tried to make a new home on Hat Island. We have yet to receive a report for 2025.

Help us fold American White Pelicans to demonstrate our love for them!

Mr. Craner's 6th grade class (2023-2024) from Emerson Elementary got us off to a great start by folding 2445 pelicans. They also created art, studied pelican science, and produced educational materials which you can download from this page. Since then, this project has been featured all around the watershed. Here are some of the places the birds have been, along with tally so far.

• Mr Craner’s 2023-24 class: 2445

• Utah Arts Festival 2024: 1284

• Orem Library’s Provo River Day: 100

• Ogden Contemporary Arts Exhibit: 300

• Community First Friday at Utah Cultural Celebration Center: 72

• Great Salt Lake Art Exhibit Opening at the Salt Lake County Building: 70

Current Total : 4,271

Current invitation: Help us fold 1,000 more pelicans at the library before June 22nd! At the 4th floor Gallery Exhibit at the Salt Lake City Main Library

• Fold pelicans and take them with you to display in your home or school.

• Record the number of pelicans you made in our book.

• You keep the birds and we’ll keep the count!

• Share your pelicans and their with friends & neighbors. Help build awareness of their plight and the precarious state of the lake.

• Making Waves Artist Collaborative will keep the total count. If you are folding them at home, email us makingwavesartistcollab@gmail.com and tell us how many so we can add them to the count!
  

  The Phalarope Project

  Mr. Craner and Ms. Richmond’s 6th grade class (2024-2025) from Emerson Elementary dedicated their year to the studying Wilson’s Phalaropes, a Great Salt Lake supported species whose population has dropped by 75% since the 1980’s. The students created poems, drawings, sculptures, a fact sheet, and an original story honoring the endangered shorebirds. You can download the fact sheet and story below.