The Future of the Great Salt Lake

Wallace Stegner Center

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Day 1

DATE: Thursday, March 16 2023 - Friday, March 17 2023

TIME: 7:15 am - 5:00 pm MST

LOCATION: Virtual Event

COST: $10-125

15 hours CLE.

Wallace Stegner Center 28^th Annual Symposium

The Future of the Great Salt Lake

IN-PERSON TICKETS ARE NOW SOLD OUT but please join us virtually.

All symposium attendees should have received an email containing the event details, including zoom links. If you did not receive that information please email, events@law.utah.edu so that we can get that info to you.

EVENT DESCRIPTION:

The Stegner Center’s 28^th annual symposium on March 16-17, 2023, will address the plight of the Great Salt Lake. One of the world’s largest hypersaline lakes, the Great Salt Lake is on the verge of collapse due to climate change, drought, and population pressures that have reduced inflows and shrunk the lake by more than two-thirds. The Great Salt Lake has lately captured considerable media attention, not only locally, but nationally and internationally. Given its unique nature, the shrinking lake presents grave risks to human health—referred to by the New York Times as “Utah’s environmental nuclear bomb”—linked to toxic dust clouds blowing shoreward from a desiccated lakebed.

Day one will review the state of the lake and factors leading to its decline. We will then consider the risks to human health and to the millions of migratory birds dependent on the lake, along with the economic implications, if this important ecosystem collapses. Day two will focus on solutions to preserve the lake with presentations by scientists, water policy experts, key political figures, community leaders, and others.

The symposium will be hybrid, with speakers in person and attendees joining in person and online.

For all information related to the event, including the agenda and speaker biographies, visit the Wallace Stegner Center Symposium website.

Resources on the Great Salt Lake:

Great Salt Lake Collaborative
Utah Geological Survey on the Great Salt Lake

Symposium Fees:

$100 Public, in-person before March 6
$125 Public, in-person after March 6
$75 Public, virtual

$75 Seniors, University, Government, NGOs, in-person before March 6
$100 Seniors, University, Government, NGOs, in-person after March 6
$50 Seniors, Seniors, Univ, NGOs virtual

$25 Students, in-person
$10 Students, virtual

NOTE: Early registration discount ends March 6. The last day for refunds or changes to registration is also March 6. Virtual registration does not come with an early bird discount. Registration closes March 14.

The Stegner Center is pleased to be joined by our friends and local bookseller The King’s English Bookshop at this year’s symposium. The Bookshop is joining us and has put together a full list of books on topics related to the symposium, including several books authored by our speakers.