Antelope Island is the largest of the 17 islands (the number can vary, depending on the level of the lake at the time of counting), in the Great Salt Lake, and has been artificially connected to the mainland since 1952, when a causeway was built off the island’s southern tip. This causeway was abandoned after a new causeway was built from the northern tip in 1969. The island is home to around 500 bison, carefully controlled and studied members of one of the largest and oldest publicly owned herd of bison in the country. The state completed its purchase of the 42 square mile island in 1981, and it became a public park. Two years later the causeway was flooded by rising lake water and the island was isolated again, until 1993 when the lake receded and the causeway was repaired.