Great Salt Lake Collaborative
Carter Williams
KSL Reporter
Carter Williams is an award-winning reporter who covers general news, outdoors, history and sports for KSL.com. He previously worked for the Deseret News. He is a Utah transplant by the way of Rochester, New York.
The sun sets on the Spiral Jetty on the Great Salt Lake on March 16. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox nominated Brian Steed to serve as Utah's first-ever Great Salt Lake commissioner last week. The sun sets on the Spiral Jetty on the Great Salt Lake on March 16. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox nominated Brian Steed to serve as Utah's first-ever Great Salt Lake commissioner last week. (Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
The sun sets on the Spiral Jetty on the Great Salt Lake on March 16. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox nominated Brian Steed to serve as Utah's first-ever Great Salt Lake commissioner last week. The sun sets on the Spiral Jetty on the Great Salt Lake on March 16. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox nominated Brian Steed to serve as Utah's first-ever Great Salt Lake commissioner last week. (Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — Brian Steed is still piecing together what his next job will entail, but he already has at least one goal in mind before becoming the state's first-ever Great Salt Lake commissioner....
The water level is rising in the Great Salt Lake due to snowmelt as photographed on May 3. The lake has now risen almost 5 feet over the past several months. (Photo: Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
The water level is rising in the Great Salt Lake due to snowmelt as photographed on May 3. The lake has now risen almost 5 feet over the past several months. (Photo: Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — The future of the Great Salt Lake, and Utah's water security as a whole, is an issue that will require help from everyone living in the state. That's the message Utah House Speaker Br...
Brian Steed, former executive director at the Utah Department of Natural Resources, in 2021. Gov. Spencer Cox picked Steed to be the first-ever Great Salt Lake commissioner on Monday.Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Brian Steed, former executive director at the Utah Department of Natural Resources, in 2021. Gov. Spencer Cox picked Steed to be the first-ever Great Salt Lake commissioner on Monday.Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is backing the state's former natural resources director to oversee functions related to the Great Salt Lake, pending final approval from the Utah Legislature. T...
The railroad causeway is breached on the Great Salt Lake on Wednesday. (Photo: Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
The railroad causeway is breached on the Great Salt Lake on Wednesday. (Photo: Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — Kevin Perry isn't completely surprised by this year's record snowpack. Utah's snowpack, a measure of the water contained within the snow that falls in the mountains, reached 30 inches...
The Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District's Conservation Garden Park in West Jordan shows off examples of water-wise landscaping on Monday. (Photo: Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)
The Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District's Conservation Garden Park in West Jordan shows off examples of water-wise landscaping on Monday. (Photo: Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)

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WEST JORDAN — This year's record snowpack has drastically reduced a drought that really began to impact Utah by the end of spring three years ago. The U.S. Drought Monitor currently lists about 20% of...
Water begins to flow at Point of the Mountain in Draper as the Central Utah Water Conservancy District redirects it to the Great Salt Lake. (Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News)
Water begins to flow at Point of the Mountain in Draper as the Central Utah Water Conservancy District redirects it to the Great Salt Lake. (Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News)

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DRAPER — Gene Shawcroft pulled a walkie-talkie up to his mouth and called for his employees to open a spill gate located near the Point of the Mountain. "We'll get it going as fast as we can," one of...
A great blue heron at Farmington Bay on Feb. 19, 2022. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints agreed to donate 5,700 water shares to send more water to Farmington Bay area of the Great Salt Lake. (Carter Williams, KSL.com)
A great blue heron at Farmington Bay on Feb. 19, 2022. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints agreed to donate 5,700 water shares to send more water to Farmington Bay area of the Great Salt Lake. (Carter Williams, KSL.com)

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SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has agreed to donate 5,700 water shares that will send more than 20,000 acre-feet of water to the struggling Great Salt Lake every year...
Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake on Tuesday, Feb. 7. A proposed bill would set up a new commissioner who would oversee the efforts to get water into the lake. (Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake on Tuesday, Feb. 7. A proposed bill would set up a new commissioner who would oversee the efforts to get water into the lake. (Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — A commissioner could soon oversee the Great Salt Lake's water levels and Utah's efforts to get water back into the lake. HB491 , sponsored by Rep. Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, was introduc...
Snow-covered pine trees are pictured in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest in Millcreek on Jan. 12. The Great Salt Lake Strike Team issued a report Wednesday that finds the benefit of thinning forests is "unclear" but also "likely to be minimal." (Laura Seitz, Deseret News)
Snow-covered pine trees are pictured in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest in Millcreek on Jan. 12. The Great Salt Lake Strike Team issued a report Wednesday that finds the benefit of thinning forests is "unclear" but also "likely to be minimal." (Laura Seitz, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — A new report compiled by dozens of Utah researchers suggests that thinning overgrown forests within the Great Salt Lake basin won't significantly impact the lake's water levels as muc...
Interstate 80 near the Great Salt Lake on Tuesday. The Great Salt Lake Strike Team released its first policy report Wednesday, outlining six policy insights and recommendations for Utah lawmakers to consider. (Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — A team of Utah agencies and research institutions outlined six "major" recommendations for the state to consider when it comes to handling the drying Great Salt Lake. But failing to a...
Crews use an excavator move to move stones near the Great Salt Lake Causeway to raise the berm by 4 feet in July 2022. Gov. Spencer Cox ordered Friday that the berm be raised another 5 feet to help with growing salinity concerns. (Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands)

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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed a new executive order Friday , calling on the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands to raise the Great Salt Lake causeway berm by 5 feet, in an...
Watershed Enhancement Trust, which aims to get water back to the lake. (Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — Farmers, private landowners, mineral extraction specialists, hunters, anglers and water managers are among a group of people joining a trust to work on improving water flows to the Gr...
Rep. Joel Briscoe, D-Salt Lake City, speaks at a press conference about the Great Salt Lake at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Wednesday. (Laura Seitz, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — Rep. Joel Briscoe, D-Salt Lake City, admits he has a sentimental reason behind his desire to save the Great Salt Lake. He has fond memories of traveling across the causeway toward the...
The Great Salt Lake wetlands near Corinne, Box Elder County, on July 13. Congress passed a bill Monday that helps fund studies of saline lakes in Great Basin states, like the Great Salt Lake, over the next five years. It's up to President Joe Biden to sign it. (Ben B. Braun, Deseret News)
The Great Salt Lake wetlands near Corinne, Box Elder County, on July 13. Congress passed a bill Monday that helps fund studies of saline lakes in Great Basin states, like the Great Salt Lake, over the next five years. It's up to President Joe Biden to sign it. (Ben B. Braun, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — A bill that sets up funding for studies of Great Basin saline lakes, such as the Great Salt Lake, cleared its last congressional hurdle Monday night and is now headed to President Joe...
A Blackhawk helicopter flies over the Great Salt Lake as Utah lawmakers take an aerial tour with the Utah Army National Guard on Feb. 15. The U.S. Congress is close to finalizing legislation that would provide $25 million over five years toward studying the Great Salt Lake and other regional saline lakes. (Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — There are plenty of reasons why Utah politicians are worried about the future of the Great Salt Lake, says Utah Rep. Blake Moore. "Everything related to the Great Salt Lake is crucial...
Record-low water levels are seen in the Great Salt Lake from Antelope Island on July 22. The Utah Geological Survey published a second edition of its "Commonly Asked Questions About Utah's Great Salt Lake And Ancient Lake Bonneville" this month, its first update of the booklet since it was first published in 1996. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — The Great Salt Lake attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year even if it's a shell of its old self. For instance, more than 115,000 people have already visited the Great S...
Birds fly over and nest along the Great Salt Lake wetlands near Corinne, Box Elder County, on Wednesday, July 13. Ducks Unlimited announced a new fundraising initiative that will fund projects that benefit the wetlands. (Ben B. Braun, Deseret News)

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SOUTH JORDAN — The shrinking of the Great Salt Lake isn't only a Utah problem in Adam Putnam's eyes. It's an issue that may have serious implications across the U.S. and Western Hemisphere. While stat...
A sail boat is launched at the Great Salt Lake sometime in the 1870s. The Great Salt Lake and Utah's water history were the primary focus of the 70th annual Utah State Historical Society Conference held in Provo. (Utah State History )

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PROVO — John Wesley Powell offered a poignant message for Western U.S. communities when he was the featured speaker in a room full of developers and government leaders at a major irrigation conference...
A photo of an old boat harbor by the Great Salt Lake shoreline taken sometime between 1940 and 1960. The lake reached an all-time low in 1963, which remained a record until 2021. The new record was set this year.(Utah Division of State History)

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SALT LAKE CITY — Craig Miller was recently rifling through some old Utah water documents destined to be destroyed when he came across a peculiar set of drawings of the Great Salt Lake sketched nearly...
Crews use an excavator to move stones at the Great Salt Lake Causeway to raise the berm by 4 feet in July. The higher berm is expected to help the health of the lake, experts say. (Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands)

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OGDEN — Utah land managers said Thursday they've recently raised a berm underneath the railroad causeway that stretches across the Great Salt Lake in an effort to thwart rising salinity levels that th...
Dust blows across the dry lakebed of the Great Salt Lake near Salt Lake City on Aug.12. Experts say only about 9% of the lakebed produces dust that can be picked up by wind. (Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — Kevin Perry believes there are many "trigger points" that indicate when there is something wrong with the Great Salt Lake. For instance, anyone who has come to the lake for recreation...
Karin Kettenring, a professor of wetland ecology at Utah State University's College of Natural Resources leads a field tour about phragmites on Ties. Sept. 8. Experts have worked for over a decade to remove phragmites and replace it with a native species. (Photo credit: Utah State University)

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FARMINGTON — The threat of the Great Salt Lake flooding is far from anyone's minds these days, especially after back-to-back years of record-setting low water levels . But it was a different story in...
Horizonte student Oakland Voright and her teacher Nat Shiozawa discuss their observations around the Cascades area of the Rose Park Jordan River Watershed Project Cornell Wetland Area in Salt Lake City on Thursday. The feature helps dissolve oxygen into the water and also has a hydrodynamic separator that mechanically removes debris and sediment out of the water. Horizonte student Oakland Voright and her teacher Nat Shiozawa discuss their observations around the Cascades area of the Rose Park Jordan River Watershed Project Cornell Wetland Area in Salt Lake City on Thursday. The feature helps dissolve oxygen into the water and also has a hydrodynamic separator that mechanically removes debris and sediment out of the water. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
Horizonte student Oakland Voright and her teacher Nat Shiozawa discuss their observations around the Cascades area of the Rose Park Jordan River Watershed Project Cornell Wetland Area in Salt Lake City on Thursday. The feature helps dissolve oxygen into the water and also has a hydrodynamic separator that mechanically removes debris and sediment out of the water. Horizonte student Oakland Voright and her teacher Nat Shiozawa discuss their observations around the Cascades area of the Rose Park Jordan River Watershed Project Cornell Wetland Area in Salt Lake City on Thursday. The feature helps dissolve oxygen into the water and also has a hydrodynamic separator that mechanically removes debris and sediment out of the water. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — West Jordan Mayor Dirk Burton reflects back to his childhood as he stands a few dozen feet from the banks of the Jordan River. There's one memory from decades ago that pops into his m...
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox stands by an old milking shed on his family’s farmland as he talks about growing up on the land near his home in Fairview, Sanpete County, on Dec. 9, 2020. Most of Utah's water goes to the farmers and ranchers. Here's how the industry is cutting back. (Steve Griffin, Deseret News)
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox stands by an old milking shed on his family’s farmland as he talks about growing up on the land near his home in Fairview, Sanpete County, on Dec. 9, 2020. Most of Utah's water goes to the farmers and ranchers. Here's how the industry is cutting back. (Steve Griffin, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — Given Utah's ongoing drought and the two-decade-long "megadrought," Utah Gov. Spencer Cox believes that Utahns must view water differently than ever before, cutting back on water wast...
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney speaks about the Great Salt Lake with members of the media Wednesday afternoon. (Photo: KSL)
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney speaks about the Great Salt Lake with members of the media Wednesday afternoon. (Photo: KSL)

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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Sen. Mitt Romney and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, introduced a bill in the U.S Senate last year that aimed to study saline lakes. The bill struggled to garner attention because,...
A painting from the Celebration of the Hand: Save Our Great Salt Lake on 300 South in Salt Lake City Tuesday afternoon. It is one of over a dozen that highlight the issues with the drying Great Salt Lake, which reached a record low this week. (Photo: Carter Williams, KSL.com)
A painting from the Celebration of the Hand: Save Our Great Salt Lake on 300 South in Salt Lake City Tuesday afternoon. It is one of over a dozen that highlight the issues with the drying Great Salt Lake, which reached a record low this week. (Photo: Carter Williams, KSL.com)

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SALT LAKE CITY — Jacob Brooks' latest painting is quite simple, so simple that his 3-year-old son can understand the message Brooks is trying to convey. It's a California gull with a sego lily on its...
The Great Salt Lake as seen on Feb. 15. A new Utah program aims to protect and enhance water levels in the Great Salt Lake in an effort to avoid environmental disaster. (Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
The Great Salt Lake as seen on Feb. 15. A new Utah program aims to protect and enhance water levels in the Great Salt Lake in an effort to avoid environmental disaster. (Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah legislators approved an unprecedented $40 million that will go solely toward enhancing the Great Salt Lake watershed during the state's legislative session earlier this year. The...
Water swirls down a storm drain at 600 South and State Street after heavy rain hit northern Utah on Aug. 1, 2021. Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities opened a new "Adopt a Storm Drain" program to help clean up residential drains last week. (Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
Water swirls down a storm drain at 600 South and State Street after heavy rain hit northern Utah on Aug. 1, 2021. Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities opened a new "Adopt a Storm Drain" program to help clean up residential drains last week. (Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — Chances are you've seen signs to adopt a highway at least once in your life. The first "Adopt a Highway" sign dates back to 1985. A Texas transportation engineer thought of having vol...
An aerial view of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah's West Desert on July 22, 2015. The area was prehistorically a wetland before it and Lake Bonneville disappeared. (Rick Bowmer, Associated Press)
An aerial view of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah's West Desert on July 22, 2015. The area was prehistorically a wetland before it and Lake Bonneville disappeared. (Rick Bowmer, Associated Press)

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SALT LAKE CITY — Daron Duke is captivated by an image he's projected on a screen he's shared with curious archaeologists and prehistoric aficionados. It's a pair of pictures in northwest Utah: Blue La...
An undated photo of dust picked up by the Great Salt Lake by a vehicle illegally driving on the dried lakebed. A new bill that goes into effect May 4 clarifies that all motor vehicles are banned from dried lakebeds and navigable rivers in the state. (Courtesy of Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands)
An undated photo of dust picked up by the Great Salt Lake by a vehicle illegally driving on the dried lakebed. A new bill that goes into effect May 4 clarifies that all motor vehicles are banned from dried lakebeds and navigable rivers in the state. (Courtesy of Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands)

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SALT LAKE CITY — Motorized vehicles are banned from traveling on exposed lakebeds and navigable rivers in Utah, but a problem emerged in recent years with the way it's written in state law. It wasn't...
Brandon Miller, with Ikon Landscaping, plants water-wise plants in a park strip in Herriman on Sept. 21, 2021, during the launch of “Flip Blitz,” a landscape diversification and water conservation program from the Utah Division of Water Resources. Removing turf-based park strips can save thousands of gallons of water annually, according to conservation experts. (Shafkat Anowar, Deseret News)
Brandon Miller, with Ikon Landscaping, plants water-wise plants in a park strip in Herriman on Sept. 21, 2021, during the launch of “Flip Blitz,” a landscape diversification and water conservation program from the Utah Division of Water Resources. Removing turf-based park strips can save thousands of gallons of water annually, according to conservation experts. (Shafkat Anowar, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — Cynthia Bee said it sometimes pays off to be "the lone weirdo" in a neighborhood who ditches the turf-based park strip, the patch of grass that typically exists between a street and s...
A Blackhawk helicopter flies over the Great Salt Lake as Utah lawmakers take an aerial tour of the lake with the Utah Army National Guard on Feb. 15. Utah experts project the lake will fall another 2 feet below the record low set last year. (Scott G. Winterton)
A Blackhawk helicopter flies over the Great Salt Lake as Utah lawmakers take an aerial tour of the lake with the Utah Army National Guard on Feb. 15. Utah experts project the lake will fall another 2 feet below the record low set last year. (Scott G. Winterton)

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SALT LAKE CITY — Laura Vernon was preparing for a news interview last summer when her mother asked what the interview was about. Vernon, the Great Salt Lake coordinator for the Utah Division of Forest...
Tundra swans fly through the wetlands by the Great Salt Lake on Feb. 17. It's estimated that three-fourths of the continental tundra swans use the Great Salt Lake's wetlands annually. Those wetlands are the focus of a project that received federal grant money Wednesday. (Utah Division of Wildlife Resources)
Tundra swans fly through the wetlands by the Great Salt Lake on Feb. 17. It's estimated that three-fourths of the continental tundra swans use the Great Salt Lake's wetlands annually. Those wetlands are the focus of a project that received federal grant money Wednesday. (Utah Division of Wildlife Resources)

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OGDEN — The dike system at Ogden Bay Waterfowl Management Area is vital for controlling the water that keeps it an important management area for the millions of birds that flock there — or other areas...
Tourists visit the Great Salt Lake on Nov. 19, 2021. The lake officially hit its lowest levels ever in October 2021. (Laura Seitz, Deseret News)

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SALT LAKE CITY — In the days after arriving at what's now the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young and handful of other leaders from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ventured toward the Grea...
 

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