Presentations will be held in the Granite Ballroom. The Poster Session & Reception will be located in the Douglas Ballroom.
Wednesday May 18th
2022 Great Salt Lake Issues Forum, Wednesday, May 18th—Schedule
7:15 am – Registration and Continental Breakfast
Great Salt Lake Salinity—Understanding Change, Planning for the Future
8:00 – Welcome
8:10 – Keynote: Why is Salinity Important to Great Salt Lake’s Ecosystem?; Dr. Gary Belovsky, University of Notre Dame
8:50 –The Great Salt Lake Salinity Advisory Committee; Jamie Barnes, Utah Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands
9:15 – Introduction to the Discussion; Jeff DenBleyker, Jacobs Engineering
9:30 – Seasonal and Long-term Salinity Variations at Great Salt Lake, Utah; Ryan Rowland, U.S. Geological Survey
10:00 – Break/Posters
10:20 – Salinity Exports for Great Salt Lake; Joe Havasi, Compass Minerals International
10:45 – Recent and Seasonal Evolution of Great Salt Lake’s North Arm Brine and Salt Crust; Dr. Elliot Jagniecki, Utah Geological Survey
11:05 – A Consistent Great Salt Lake Monitoring Protocol; Andrew Rupke, Utah Geological Survey
11:30 – The Effects of Salinity on Plankton and Benthic Communities in the Different Bays of Great Salt Lake; Dr. Wayne Wurtsbaugh, Utah State University
12:00 – Lunch/Posters
Why Does It Matter?
1:05 – A Salinity Matrix to Assist Lake Management and Support the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem; Dr. Bonnie Baxter, Great Salt Lake Institute, Westminster College
1:30 – Salt Load Transfer and Changing Salinities Across the New Causeway Breach in Great Salt Lake: 2016-2021; Phil Brown, Great Salt Lake Brine Shrimp Cooperative, Inc.
1:55 – Modeling the Salinity Driven Flow Through the New Union Pacific Bridge, Great Salt Lake; Dr. Som Dutta, Utah State University
2:20 – Modeling of Great Salt Lake’s Salt Balance; Dr. Leila Ahmadi, Utah Division of Water Resources
2:45 – Recommendations from the Salinity Advisory Committee; Jeff DenBleyker, Jacobs Engineering
3:00 – Break/Posters
3:20 – Panel Discussion:
- Dr. Bonnie Baxter, Great Salt Lake Institute, Westminster College
- Thomas Bosteels, Great Salt Lake Brine Shrimp Cooperative, Inc.
- John Luft, Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Program, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
- Joe Havasi, Compass Minerals International
4:20 – A Path Forward; Laura Vernon, Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands
4:45 – Discussion
5:00 – Adjourn
Thursday May 19th
2022 Great Salt Lake Issues Forum, Thursday, May 19th—Schedule
7:15 am – Registration and Continental Breakfast
Here & Now—A Declining Lake
8:00 – Welcome
8:10 – Keynote: Let’s Get to It: Working Together to Enhance and Preserve Great Salt Lake; Nathan Bracken, SMITH HARTVIGSEN, PLLC; Brad Wilson, Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives
8:50 – A Foundation, a Framework and a Road Map for Continuing Efforts to Preserve and Protect Great Salt Lake; Don Leonard, Great Salt Lake Advisory Council
9:15 – Deep Uncertainty: The Pot We are All Stewing In; Candice Hasenyager, Utah Division of Water Resources
9:40 – The GSL Elevation Matrix Redux; Laura Vernon, Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands
10:05 – Break/Posters
Overcoming Obstacles
10:30 – Right to Optimized Water? Legal Questions to Begin a Discussion on a Right to Use Optimized Water; Emily Lewis, Clyde Snow, Attorneys at Law
10:55 – Measuring Consumed Water for Enhanced Water Optimization; Matt Yost, Utah State University
11:20 – Water Distribution Today: Distribution on the Provo River with the Provo River Commissioner as a Demonstration of How Water Distribution Works in a Complicated Hydrologic System; Scott Bergendorf, Provo River Commissioner
11:45-12:15 – 2022 Doyle W. Stephens Scholarship Award Presentation
12:15 -1:30 – Lunch/Posters
Learning From Others—Regional Challenges
1:30 – Imperiled Saline Lakes of the Western Great Basin; Geoff McQuilkin, Mono Lake Committee; Phill Kiddoo, Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District
2:20 – Progress at the Salton Sea?; Michael Cohen, Pacific Institute
3:00 – Break/Posters
Tools in the Watershed
3:25 – Conservation for Great Salt Lake—New Legal and Policy Tools; Tim Hawkes and Joel Ferry, Utah House of Representatives
4:15 – Keeping Water in the Lake: An Innovative Approach to Meet Discharge Limits; Jeff DenBleyker, Jacobs Engineering
4:40 – Mapping Groundwater Levels and Estimating Groundwater Salinity Contributions to the Great Salt Lake, Utah; Paul Inkenbrandt, Utah Geological Survey
5:05 – A Water Resource Study of the Whole Great Salt Lake Basin; Jake M. Serago, Utah Division of Water Resources
5:30 – 7:00 – Poster Session and Reception (Douglas Ballroom)
Friday May 20th
2022 Great Salt Lake Issues Forum, Friday, May 20th—Schedule
7:15 am – Registration and Continental Breakfast
Water On the Ground
8:00 – Welcome
8:10 – Panel Discussion: The Power of Partnerships: Collaborative Solutions for Enhancing Water Flows for Great Salt Lake
- Marcelle Shoop, National Audubon Society
- Ted Ballinger, Rio Tinto, Kennecott Utah Copper
- Rachel Musil, Central Utah Water Conservancy District
- Eric Anderson, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
8:50 – Watershed Stewardship—Our Communities’ Opportunity to Protect Great Salt Lake; Laura Briefer, Salt Lake City Department Public Utilities
9:15 – Demonstration of the Great Salt Lake Hydro Mapper: A Public Tool for Visualizing Lake Level Information; Ryan Rowland and Christine Rumsey, US Geological Survey
9:40 – Keeping It In the Lake: Compass Minerals’ Conservation Water Right; Joe Havasi, Compass Minerals
10:05 – Break/Posters
10:30 – Water Quality Standards to Keep the Lake Great; Jake Vander Laan, Utah Division of Water Quality
10:55 – When in Drought: Improving Snowmelt Water Supply Predictions in a Changing Climate in Great Salt Lake Water Supplying Catchment; Meg Wolf, 2021 Doyle W. Stephens Scholarship recipient
11:20 – Perchlorate-Reducing Microbes in the Desert of Great Salt Lake Are the Key to Rearing Plants on Mars (Prerecorded presentation); Colin Robinson, 2021 Doyle W. Stephens Scholarship recipient
11:50 – Lunch/Posters
Hemispheric Connectivity & Habitat Protection
1:05 – Keynote: A Drop Here, A Drop There: Sharing Lessons Throughout the Hemisphere; Marcela Castellino and Rob Clay, Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN)
1:45 – Managed Shorebird Habitat in the Face of Climate Change; Heidi Hoven, Gillmor Sanctuary, National Audubon Society
2:10 – An Oasis in the Desert: The Delicate Relationship Between Waterfowl and Great Salt Lake; Blair Stringham, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
2:35 – A Wetland Needs Water; Jeff McCreary, Ducks Unlimited
3:00 – Willard Spur WMA—A Local Treasure; Ashley Kijowski, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
3:25 – Opportunities and Challenges Facing the Jordan River Parkway and Jordan River Watershed; Søren Simonsen, Jordan River Watershed Commission
3:50 – The Many-Angled Approach to Great Salt Lake Wetlands Research; Diane Menuz, Utah Geological Survey
4:15 – Closing Remarks
6:00 - 9:30pm – Reception & Banquet at the Alta Club:
- 2020 Friend of the Lake Award presented to Neka Roundy
- 2022 Friend of the Lake Award presented to Rep. Tim Hawkes
- Reflections by Professor Bob Adler, University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law
- Laketime Achievement Award presented to Professor Bob Adler
Click to download .pdf schedule: