Annual Symposium
The Wallace Stegner Center annually holds a symposium during spring semester on an environmental or natural resources topic of regional, national, and international importance. The symposium is interdisciplinary in nature, and includes speakers from the sciences and social sciences, academia, government, industry, and the legal profession.
Through the symposia and other programs, the Stegner Center has brought numerous luminaries to the College of Law, including Bruce Babbitt, Sally Jewell, Wendell Berry, Helen Caldicott, Jane Goodall, Bill McKibben, Pat Mulroy, Naomi Oresekes, Lynn Scarlett, George Schaller, Michael Soule, Sandra Steingraber, Lawrence Susskind, Rebecca Watson, Terry Tempest Williams, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Eric Freyfogle, John Leshy, Patty Limerick, Pamela Matson, Zygmunt Plater, Robert V. Percival, Joe Sax, Paul Schullery, Alan Weisman, and Charles Wilkinson among others.
The R. Harold Burton Foundation was the founding donor for the symposium in 1996 and has been the principal donor each year. Other donors who have provided support for multiple years include the Cultural Vision Fund, Chevron, the Nature Conservancy in Utah, and ABA SEER.
Wallace Stegner Center 28th Annual Symposium
The Future of the Great Salt Lake | March 16-17, 2023
The Stegner Center’s 28th annual symposium on March 16-17, 2023, focused on the Great Salt Lake. One of the world's largest hypersaline lakes, the Great Salt Lake is on the verge of collapse due to climate change, drought, and population pressures that have reduced inflows and shrunk the lake by more than two-thirds. The Great Salt Lake has been in the media lately, not only locally, but nationally and internationally given the unique nature of the lake and the grave risks to human health—referred to by the New York Timesas “Utah’s environmental nuclear bomb”—that would result from the toxic dust of a desiccated lakebed.
Day one considered the state of the lake and factors leading to its decline. The symposium then focused on the risks to human health and the millions of migratory birds dependent on the lake, along with economic impacts, if this ecosystem collapses. Day two focused on solutions to preserve the lake with presentations by scientists, water policy experts, politicians, community leaders, and others.
Keynote and Stegner Lectures include the following presentations. All symposium presentations are available below.
A Perspective from the Governor’s Office (Keynote)
Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox
Great Salt Lake: The Key to Our Past and Future (Keynote)
Brad Wilson, Speaker of the House, Utah House of Representative
What’s at Stake? (Keynote)
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall
A Perspective from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Keynote)
Christopher Waddell, First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Framing the Problem: Causes and Consequences of a Shrinking Great Salt Lake (Stegner Lecture)
Kevin D. Perry, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Utah
The Great Salt Lake Food Chains: Fragility and Resiliency (Stegner Lecture)
Bonnie K. Baxter, Ph.D., Director, Great Salt Lake Institute; Professor of Biology, Westminster College
Wallace Stegner Center 28th Annual Symposium – Panels
The Future of the Great Salt Lake
Day 1:
Day 2:
Past Symposia
Twenty-seventh Annual Symposium, 2022
The Colorado River Compact: Navigating the Future
Postcard | Video Archive
Twenty-sixth Annual Symposium, 2021
The Plastics Paradox: Societal Boon or Environmental Bane?
Postcard | Video Archive
Twenty-fifth Annual Symposium, 2020
Food and the Environment: Resilient and Equitable Food Security for the West
Brochure | Video Archive
Twenty-fourth Annual Symposium, 2019
Recreation Challenges on Public Lands
Brochure | Video Archive
Twenty-third Annual Symposium, 2018
Public Lands in a Changing West
Brochure | Video Archive
Twenty-second Annual Symposium, 2017
Water in the West
Brochure | Video Archive
Twenty-first Annual Symposium, 2016
Green Infrastructure, Resilient Cities: New Challenges, New Solutions
Brochure | Video Archive
Twentieth Annual Symposium, 2015
Air Quality: Health, Energy and Economics
Brochure | Video Archive
Nineteenth Annual Symposium, 2014
National Parks: Past, Present and Future
Brochure | Video Archive
Eighteen Annual Symposium, 2013
Religion, Faith and the Environment
Brochure | Video Archive
Seventeenth Annual Symposium, 2012
Silent Spring at 50: The Legacy of Rachel Carson
Brochure | Video Archive
Sixteenth Annual Symposium, 2011
Wildlife Conservation in the 21st Century
Brochure | Video Archive
Fifteenth Annual Symposium, 2010
The Challenge of Sustainability
Brochure | Video Archive
Fourteenth Annual Symposium, 2009
Wallace Stegner: His Life and Legacy
Brochure | Video Archive
Thirteenth Annual Symposium, 2008
Alternative Energy: Seeking Climate Change Solutions
Brochure | Video Archive
Twelfth Annual Symposium, 2007
The Colorado River Compact in the 21st Century: Time for Change?
Brochure | Video Archive
Eleventh Annual Symposium, 2006
Global Climate Change: The Arctic to the Rocky Mountain West
Brochure | Video Archive
Tenth Annual Symposium, 2005
Private Property and Nature Conservation: Land Ownership in the 21st Century
Brochure
Ninth Annual Symposium, 2004
Wilderness: Preserving Nature in a Political World
Brochure
Eighth Annual Symposium, 2003
The Nuclear West: Legacy and Future
Brochure
Seventh Annual Symposium, 2002
Seventh Annual Symposium, 2002
Powell and Stegner: Fifty Years After The Hundredth Meridian
Brochure
Sixth Annual Symposium, 2001
Metropolitan Growth: From Regional Visions to Real Results
Brochure
Fifth Annual Symposium, 2000
The Presidency and the Environment: The Twentieth Century and Beyond
Brochure
Fourth Annual Symposium, 1999
Where the Rivers Flow: Sharing Watersheds and Boundaries
Brochure
Third Annual Symposium, 1998
Exploring Aldo Leopold’s Legacy: The Land Ethic and the American West in the 21st Century
Brochure
Second Annual Symposium, 1997
To Cherish and Renew: Restoring Western Ecosystems and Communities
Brochure
First Annual Symposium, 1996
The Native Home of Hope: Community, Ecology and the West
Brochure