Park City Museum to host lecture on Great Salt Lake’s future

PARK CITY, Utah — The Park City Museum will host a lecture titled “Great Salt Lake Crossroads: Collapse or Comeback?” examining the environmental challenges facing Utah’s iconic saline lake.

The event will take place Wednesday, April 9 from 5-6 p.m. at the museum’s Education and Collections Center located at 2079 Sidewinder Drive.

The lecture will address growing concerns about the Great Salt Lake, which is experiencing significant water level decline similar to saline lakes worldwide. According to event materials, saline lakes globally are collapsing due to human water overconsumption, causing long-term damage to health, economies, ecosystems and cultural resources in surrounding communities.

Jake Dreyfous, Managing Director of Grow the Flow, will lead the discussion on potential consequences if the lake continues to shrink and possible solutions to reverse the trend. Grow the Flow is a political advocacy non-profit working to restore the Great Salt Lake through citizen empowerment, non-partisan solutions, and collaboration among various stakeholders.

The presentation will explore questions about Utah’s economic future in a potentially dust-affected Salt Lake Valley, impacts on migratory bird populations that depend on the lake ecosystem, and effects on the region’s renowned snow conditions.

Dreyfous, a fifth-generation Utahn with a background in environmental studies and biology from Middlebury College, has previously worked with The Nature Conservancy of Utah, Woodwell Climate Research Center, Save the Bay, and the Utah Rivers Council.

The Great Salt Lake is the largest saline lake in the Western Hemisphere and faces potential ecological collapse without sustained intervention, according to conservation experts.

To learn more, visit the Park City Museum website.