Is the Great Salt Lake Past the Point of No Return?

<p dir="ltr">Three months ago, we told you the Great Salt Lake was disappearing &mdash; and what Utah stood to lose. Today, we ask the harder question: Is anyone actually saving it?</p>

<p dir="ltr">In June, "<a href="https://pages.deseret.com/podcasts/deseret-voices">Deseret Voices</a>" Episode 37 laid out the stakes: toxic dust, billions in health costs, and an ecosystem on the brink. Since then, the lake has dropped even closer to its all-time low &mdash; losing 800,000 acre-feet per year despite near-normal precipitation. A new commissioner has been appointed. A president has promised a billion dollars. And only a fraction has arrived.</p>

<p dir="ltr">In this follow-up episode, host Jane Clayson Johnson sits down with three people at the center of the response:</p>

<p dir="ltr">▸ Sen. John Curtis &mdash; Utah's Republican senator, who is navigating the gap between a presidential promise and a congressional check, while making the case that saving the lake is an economic imperative as much as an environmental one.</p>

<p dir="ltr">▸ Hannah Freeze &mdash; Utah's new Great Salt Lake commissioner, appointed July 2026. A farmer's daughter turned quarterback of the state's multi-agency rescue effort, she brings a five-point federal spending plan and a pilot program where 90 farmers voluntarily lease water to the lake.</p>

<p dir="ltr">▸ Ben Abbott &mdash; The BYU ecologist who returned to &ldquo;Deseret Voices&rdquo; with a blunt update: only 26% of the lake is still functioning, saving a saline lake is something no country has ever done, and the restoration goal will require a 40% reduction in water consumption.</p>

<p dir="ltr">In this episode, you'll hear:</p>

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<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Where Trump's $1 billion Great Salt Lake promise actually stands &mdash; and why Congress hasn't written the check.</p>

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