Badlands salt flats look like an alien landscape when seen from the air

The badlands of Saskatchewan, Canada are full of breath taking scenery, unique geographic features, and salt flats that appear like something from an alien landscape. A drone, taking flight over the area surrounding Chaplin Lake filmed the salt and the Saskatchewan Mining and Minerals plant that collects salt here. Chaplin Lake is a series of lakes that makes up the second largest saline lake in Canada and the fourth largest in North America.
Sodium sulphate has been mined here since 1947. In the 1980s, the importance of this area was recognized when migratory bird populations were declining. Chaplin Lake is an important stopover for birds in the spring. Researchers approached Saskatchewan Minerals about preserving habitat for the migrating birds. Water levels are maintained so that drought does not cause the lake to dry up and flooding does not cause elevated lake levels. Thirty species and more than one hundred thousand individuals visit the lake each year. One hundred and fifty species make this area their home. Populations of brine shrimp attract the birds to this area. Preservation of the grasslands around the area is also an important part of protecting the bird populations that rely on this part of North America.
The mining operation produces sodium sulphate which is used as a filler in the manufacture of powdered home laundry detergents. It is also required for paper pulping. Saskatchewan Mining and Minerals is one of the world's largest producers of anhydrous sodium sulphate.
Seen from the air, this salt reservoir looks like a frozen ice field, or the surface of an alien planet. Water from the the factory lagoons flow outward along a river, with crystals on the banks that appear like ice crystals. The encrusted flats resemble lakes frozen in the dead of winter. These salt flats are as stunning as they are crucial to the animals, and to our own existence. The preservation of habitat amid the mining emphasizes understanding of the delicate balance involved here.