Studying a dying Great Salt Lake takes an emotional toll on scientists. Here are the insights one such expert has and the steps she says are needed to prevent ecosystem collapse.
Bonnie Baxter, a biologist with Utah's Westminster College, is reflected amongst the small pools of salt water that surround the dome like structures she is studying known as microbialites.Editor’s note: This story was originally published byLast summer, thousands of American white pelicans disappeared from their usual nesting grounds on Gunnison Island in Utah’s Great Salt Lake.
High Country News recently spoke with Baxter about the status of the Great Salt Lake, the emotional toll on scientists and the steps needed to prevent ecosystem collapse.High Country News: In a nutshell, what is the crisis at the Great Salt Lake?It’s largely about the watershed as opposed to the lake. Saline lakes are canaries in the coal mine because they’re at the bottom of a watershed. If we use too much water upstream, it doesn’t make it to the bottom of the watershed.
HCN: You have also talked about climate grief with your students. What have those conversations been like?
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