January 2024 Newsmaker Breakfast: Great Salt Lake Strike Team Update

Utah ended the 2023 water year in September with higher-than-average accumulated precipitation. As a result, Great Salt Lake rose five and a half feet at the south arm of the lake after hitting a record low in Fall 2022. Critical issues remain, however, and policymakers continue to address how best to protect and preserve Great Salt Lake and its ecosystem.

For our January 2024 Newsmaker Breakfast, the Gardner Institute was joined by decision-makers and policy experts who gave an update on Great Salt Lake, presented new policy sketches, discussed the impact of the 2023 water year, and outlined the next steps for Utah leaders to consider.

The latest summary publication synthesizes essential data and insights so decision-makers have the information they need to improve water management, increase water deliveries to the lake, mitigate adverse impacts, and recover the lake to a healthy range.

We were joined by an all-star panel of thought leaders and members of the Great Salt Lake Strike Team: Brian Steed, Executive Director, Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water & Air; David Tarboton, Director, Utah Water Research Laboratory; Candice Hasenyager, Director, Utah Division of Water Resources; Paul Brooks, Professor, University of Utah; and William Anderregg, Director of the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy at the University of Utah.

The conversation was moderated by Gardner Institute director Natalie Gochnour.