The front gate and the Unit 1 dike
Glovers Lane where the permit applies, and where the calendar closes and reopens the road
Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area begins at a gate on Glovers Lane, 1325 West, established in 1935 and grown from 3,800 acres to more than eighteen thousand of diked freshwater impoundments on the eastern shore of the lake. It is the wildlife division's, not the state parks', and its rules are a calendar. To protect nesting birds most of the area is closed to public access from March 1 through July 31, during which you may still walk down the Unit 1 dike as far as the four-way intersection; the dike itself is closed to vehicles from March 1 until September 25 while foot and bicycle traffic can continue toward the far Turpin Unit; and dogs are barred from March 1 to mid September, horses from March 1 through July 31.
Gate hours are seasonal and no two sources agree on the summer version, so check the division's Farmington Bay page before you go; what is clear is the winter rule that matters most, that from the Thursday before the youth waterfowl hunt in late September through the end of February the front gate and the Goose Egg Island gate stay open around the clock, which is exactly the eagle season. Since July 1, 2026 anyone 18 or older entering the WMA needs either the division's free digital access permit or a valid Utah hunting, fishing or combination license; that rule is the live question on this page and it does not apply at the education center next door.
The details
Getting there
From I-15 exit 322 take the 200 West frontage road to Glovers Lane, west over the interstate about a mile and a half to 1325 West on the left; from the north, exit 325 to Park Lane, Clark Lane and 1525 West.
Before you go
- Get the permit before you drive: it lives on the division's WMA page after a short educational video, is free and lasts 365 days.
- Blaze or bright colors from mid October into January; the dikes open to cars in exactly the months they are hunted.
- In summer, walk the Unit 1 dike to the four-way and no further; the closure is for nests and it is enforced.
Goose Egg Island
Inside the gate the low rise with the parking, the tables and the signs, and the walk-through gate beyond
Goose Egg Island is the WMA's main overlook: a low rise inside the front gate with parking, picnic tables and interpretive signs, reached by the main road as it goes from pavement to dirt, and the point from which most people first read the bay. There is no observation tower here; the tower everyone describes is the Nature Conservancy's, west of Layton, and the raised viewing deck is the education center's, and the three sites get merged on every list that has not been to them.
Past the parking a walk-through gate lets hikers and cyclists continue when the vehicle gate beyond is shut, which for seven months of the year it is. From here the unpaved dike road runs out toward the Turpin Unit, open to cars only from September 25 through the end of February, and the full out-and-back drive to the Turpin lot when it is open runs a little over seven miles with the stops that make it worth doing. Goose Egg is where the winter eagles are counted from and where the summer walk to the four-way begins.
The details
Getting there
Drive in from the front gate and follow the main road to the rise; park at the tables and walk from the walk-through gate when the vehicle gate is closed.
Before you go
- This is the scope stop; the birds are across water and the naked eye undersells the bay.
- The Goose Egg gate is one of the two that stay open 24 hours in the hunting-and-eagle season.
- There is no tower here, whatever the list says; the tower is on the conservancy's preserve west of Layton and the deck is at the education center.
The Turpin Unit and the far dike
West end the impoundments the wildlife division counts, open to cars for five months
The Turpin Unit is the far northwest impoundment complex, reached along the Unit 1 dike, and it is where the wildlife division's own waterbird survey polygon sits. That survey, over five years and more than seventy waterfowl and shorebird species, produced the numbers that describe what this bay is: mean counts above twelve thousand northern pintail and eleven thousand green-winged teal, more than nine thousand each of cinnamon teal and northern shoveler, and seven thousand ruddy duck, with peaks in the sixteen and seventeen thousands. Those figures are the survey's, undated as to year, and are here to show scale rather than to be quoted as current.
The dike out to the Turpin lot is open to vehicles only from September 25 through the end of February, on foot and by bicycle for the rest of the year outside the March through July nesting closure, and it is a different place in each of those windows: pintail and teal in five-figure flocks in the fall, hunters before dawn from mid October into January, and in late January and February the eagles that make Farmington Bay Utah's best-known winter eagle site, with dozens present most winters and reports of more than seventy in a single morning.
The details
Getting there
Continue past Goose Egg Island on the dirt dike road; the drive to the Turpin lot and back is a little over seven miles.
Before you go
- This is the eagle drive in January and February, and the gates are open around the clock for it.
- Waterfowl seasons run roughly mid October into January here; wear color, expect shooting at first light, and read the current guidebook for the dates.
- The survey numbers on this page are the division's five-year figures, not this year's; the bay's counts move with the lake.
The Eccles Wildlife Education Center
1157 S Waterfowl Way no permit needed, no admission charged, a 1.6 mile loop and a deck over a heron rookery
The George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Wildlife Education Center opened in 2018 at 1157 South Waterfowl Way, about 1700 West on Glovers Lane, on the Robert N. Hasenyager Great Salt Lake Nature Reserve, which is a separate unit from the WMA proper. That distinction is why the center and its trails are exempt from the new access permit in the division's own list, and why the honest headline is two-sided: permit to drive the dikes, no permit to walk the boardwalk. The building is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 am to 4 pm, closed Sunday, Monday and holidays; the trails may be walked in daylight any day, the entry gate opening at 7 am and closing at 5 pm; and there is no admission charge.
The nature trail is a 1.6 mile loop, wheelchair and stroller friendly, with a boardwalk section over the wetland, and since 2025 it connects to the Hasenyager Legacy Trail and a 24 by 24 foot ADA-accessible raised viewing deck, finished in summer 2024 and announced with its signage on June 17, 2025, that overlooks a great blue heron rookery and the marsh beyond it. Dogs are allowed on leash on the center's grounds, bikes and off-trail walking are not, and in February the center runs Bald Eagle Month, with guided bird walks on Fridays, activities on Saturdays and a live eagle presentation, which replaced the single Bald Eagle Day that older calendars still list.
The details
Getting there
Continue west on Glovers Lane past the WMA front gate to Waterfowl Way and the center's lot; the trailhead and the deck are signed from the building.
Before you go
- This is the door for a first visit and for anyone under 18 or without a license; the permit rule stops at the WMA gate.
- Leashed dogs yes, bikes no, off-trail no; the rookery is the reason.
- February is the month: guided walks, the eagle program and the eagles themselves visible from the center looking into the WMA.
The Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve
Layton the Nature Conservancy's 4,400 acres, a one mile boardwalk, a 30 foot tower and no dogs
North of the bay, west of Layton on unincorporated county shoreline between Farmington Bay and the Antelope Island causeway, The Nature Conservancy's Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve is roughly 4,400 acres of freshwater marsh, mudflat, salt marsh and upland, the conservancy's first preserve in Utah, and the one place in the county where a boardwalk takes you a mile out over the shore wetlands to a 30 foot observation tower and an open-air pavilion with exhibits. It is free with donations accepted, open March through October from 6 am to 9 pm and November through February from 7 am to 6 pm, and the boardwalk does not reach open lake water; it reaches the birds.
The conservancy publishes directions rather than a street number, and the three addresses that circulate online contradict each other: from I-15 exit 330 at Layton Parkway, west, right on Main Street a third of a mile to Gentile Street, left on Gentile, left on 3200 West and follow it to the visitor center. Pets are not permitted, in the conservancy's words, which surprises people who came from the education center where leashed dogs are fine. Since 1994 the federal Mitigation Commission bought more than 1,750 acres here and in May 2020 transferred them to the conservancy with permanent deed restrictions, less about sixteen acres for the West Davis Highway, whose construction the preserve still notes on its page.
The details
Getting there
Take I-15 exit 330, go west across the highway, right on Main Street to Gentile Street, left on Gentile, left on 3200 West and follow it to the visitor center lot; groups over fifteen are asked to call ahead.
Before you go
- No pets, none; leave the dog at home for this one.
- Water and mosquito repellent are the conservancy's own advice, and the second matters from May onward.
- The West Davis Highway construction note is live on the preserve's page; look for a closure notice the day you go.
The eagle weeks
January and February dozens of bald eagles on the dikes, the gates open all night, and a month of programs
Farmington Bay is Utah's best-known winter bald eagle site, and the season has a shape. From late December the birds arrive to fish open water and escape colder country north; by mid January the counts climb, and February is the month the wildlife division names as best, when dozens of eagles sit on the ice edges and dike posts most winters, with more than seventy reported on a single morning. They are visible from the education center looking out into the WMA, where staff give directions to the day's roost, and from the dikes themselves.
The infrastructure cooperates. The front gate and the Goose Egg Island gate stay open 24 hours from the Thursday before the youth waterfowl hunt in late September through the end of February, so the January dawn drive is possible, and the vehicle season on the far dike runs through February 28. In February the education center runs Bald Eagle Month, with guided bird walks on Fridays, activities on Saturdays and a live eagle presentation, and the Saturday-in-February single event that older calendars list under a specific date is a listing from a past year rather than a current plan.
The details
Getting there
Enter the WMA at the front gate any hour in the season, or park at the education center and ask; the eagles roost in a different place each week and the staff know where.
Before you go
- A scope beats binoculars here; the ice edge is a long way off.
- The duck season closes in late January, so the best eagle weeks fall largely after the shooting stops.
- Read the division's February flyer for the year's dates rather than any calendar older than this January.
The shorebird spring and the festival
April to mid May avocets and stilts in numbers, and the county's bird festival in the third week of May
Great Salt Lake was designated a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve site of hemispheric importance in 1991, its highest tier, and between two and five million shorebirds pass through the lake system each year; the spring passage runs from early April through mid May, and the bay is where a person on foot meets it. American avocet and black-necked stilt arrive in numbers, white-faced ibis return in breeding plumage to marshes that hold the largest nesting concentration of the species in the world across the lake system as a whole, and by May and June the breeding season fills in around them with grebes, sandhill cranes, rails and yellow-headed blackbirds. The nesting closure that begins March 1 is why most of the WMA is off limits then and why the walk to the four-way and the education center's loop are the doors.
The Great Salt Lake Bird Festival sits inside that window. Founded in 1999 and organized by Discover Davis, the county's tourism office, it ran May 14 to 17, 2026, its 28th year, with more than 75 field trips and a dozen workshops based at the county's Western Sports Park near Farmington Station, and its schedule posts each spring in early March. The 2027 dates were not published as of August 2026; the pattern is the Thursday to Sunday spanning the third weekend of May.
The details
Getting there
Walk in from the front gate to the four-way, or take the education center's loop and deck; the festival's schedule and registration live on the county's festival page.
Before you go
- This is the season the closure exists for; the birds you came for are on nests, and the four-way is as far as you go.
- The biting gnats on the lakeshore can start in April or May; long sleeves and an early start are the mitigations.
- The festival's 2027 dates were unpublished as of August 2026; watch the county page from early March.
The waterfowl fall
Late September to December the dikes reopen, the ducks arrive in the tens of thousands, and so do the hunters
On September 25 the far dike opens to vehicles and the bay becomes the place the wildlife division built it to be. From October the pintail, teal, shoveler and ruddy duck arrive in the flocks the survey counted, tundra swans pass through in the thousands from late fall into December and again in late winter, and the eared grebe staging that darkens the open lake and the causeway from September into November is visible from the west end. It is the season the WMA is fully open, and it is also the season it is fully hunted: waterfowl seasons run roughly mid October into January in the northern zone, with an early teal season in September and a youth weekend in early October, and the exact dates live in the current year's guidebook.
For a birder the practical rule is simple. Wear blaze or bright colors, expect shooting before dawn from the mid October opener, and know that the loudest weeks are the ones with the most birds. Avian botulism outbreaks strike the lake's wetlands most summers between July and September, dogs should never be allowed to mouth a dead bird along the shore, and by the time the fall flocks arrive the season for that has usually passed. It is also the season the causeway to the west is thick with grebes and phalaropes; that road is Syracuse's and the island's, and this page stops at the county's edge of the bay.
The details
Getting there
Enter at the front gate and drive the dike road to the Turpin lot; the youth hunt weekend in early October and the regular opener in mid October are the days to know before you go.
Before you go
- Bright colors are not optional from mid October; this is a working hunting area on the days it is busiest.
- The current waterfowl guidebook, posted each summer, carries the year's dates; this page carries the shape.
- Botulism season is summer; if you find dead birds in September, tell the division and keep the dog off them.
The first visit, decided
The WMA, the education center or the preserve, in one honest table.
| Farmington Bay WMA | Eccles Wildlife Education Center | Shorelands Preserve | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run by | Utah Division of Wildlife Resources | Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, on the Hasenyager reserve | The Nature Conservancy |
| Permit or fee | Free digital access permit or a Utah license, 18 and over, since July 1, 2026 | None; no admission charge | None; donations accepted |
| Hours | Seasonal gate; 24 hours late September through February | Building Tuesday to Saturday 11 to 4; trails daylight, gate 7 to 5 | March to October 6 am to 9 pm; November to February 7 am to 6 pm |
| Dogs | Barred March 1 to mid September; leashed otherwise | Leashed | Not permitted |
| The walk | Dike roads; the four-way in summer, the Turpin lot in season | 1.6 mile loop with boardwalk and the raised deck | One mile boardwalk to a 30 foot tower |
| Best for | The eagle drive and the fall flocks | The first visit, anyone under 18, and February | Spring and fall shorebirds from above the marsh |
All three sit within twenty minutes of Farmington Station. The permit rule was checked at the wildlife division on August 15, 2026; the preserve's hours change twice a year and the conservancy publishes directions, not a street number.
The lake under the bay
What low water has done to Farmington Bay.
Farmington Bay is the fresher arm of a very salty lake, receiving the Jordan River and the front's outflow and diked into managed impoundments, which is why it holds waterfowl when the open lake cannot, and the whole system is riding a level that has been falling again. The USGS south-arm gage read 4,190.4 feet in mid August 2026, less than two feet above the record low of 4,188.5 feet set on November 7, 2022 and about twenty one feet below the 1986 high; the lake peaked for 2026 in late April and has dropped since, the state's minimum healthy level of 4,198 feet has not been reached since 2012, and the state's Great Salt Lake commissioner warned in August that another dry winter would make a new record low in 2027 unavoidable. Roughly 800 square miles of lakebed are exposed and the dust from it is a Wasatch Front concern the state is actively modeling.
The most specific thing low water did to this bay is visible from the dikes: on the dried bed, freshwater pushing up from below grew circular mounds of phragmites fifty to a hundred meters across topped with fifteen foot reeds, and those mounds led University of Utah researchers in March 2026 to a deep freshwater system thousands of feet beneath the lake. Ten million migrating birds a year still depend on this system, and more than 250 species are regularly recorded around it. The bay is the part of the lake a person can walk into, and it is also the part where the lake's condition is easiest to see.
Living with it
What the bay does to an ordinary week.
For Farmington, Kaysville and Layton the bay is ten minutes west and a different world, and the households that use it treat it as a calendar rather than a destination: the eagle drive on a January dawn, the four-way walk with the stroller in May when the rest of the area is closed, the education center on a February Saturday, the far dike in October with the windows down and the blaze cap on. The permit is a one-time video and it lasts a year; the calendar takes a season to learn and then it runs the year for you.
The trade is honest and it is not small. The bay smells on a hot west wind, the gnats and mosquitoes own the lakeshore from spring into summer, the wildlife area is a working hunting ground for three months, and the lake behind it is near a record low with the dust that implies. People who live on the west side of the county have decided the birds and the light are worth it, and most of them would tell you to buy on the west side for the same reason they did, with your eyes open about the wind.
From your town
The same subject, from your own doorstep.
Four cities put this county's managed shoreline at the end of a ten minute drive. Farmington's companion is live, and its Park Lane page carries the city side of the approach: the west half of the county seat, the platform, the retail ground and the highway terminus that all sit between the old Main Street and the marsh, with the front gate and the education center on Glovers Lane a few minutes beyond. Layton's companion is live too, and its door here is deliberately the whole companion rather than one page: no Layton page is written about the preserve, because the preserve is on unincorporated county shoreline west of the city, reached by driving out of Layton on 3200 West, and the companion says exactly that and routes back to this page for the boardwalk. Kaysville's ponds, where the bird festival runs its field trips, stay with the practical city guide; the Kaysville companion carries the university campus around them on the lakeside parks page's door, not here. West Point's door is the northern one and the newest: its bluff page looks west from the only landform in the city at Howard Slough, the managed waterfowl area on the unincorporated frontage north of the causeway, names the same July 2026 access permit that governs every state waterfowl area on this shoreline, and sends the reader here rather than inventing an entrance the wildlife division has not published.
