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.

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Wallace Stegner Center 28th Annual Symposium

The Future of the Great Salt Lake | March 16-17, 2023

The Stegner Center’s 28^th annual symposium on March 16-17, 2023, will focus 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 will consider the state of the lake and factors leading to its decline. We will then consider 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 will focus on solutions to preserve the lake with presentations by scientists, water policy experts, politicians, community leaders, and others.

The symposium will be hybrid, with speakers in person and attendees joining in person and online.

Twenty-sixth Annual Symposium, 2021

Twenty-fifth Annual Symposium, 2020

Twenty-fourth Annual Symposium, 2019

Twenty-third Annual Symposium, 2018

Twenty-second Annual Symposium, 2017

Twenty-first Annual Symposium, 2016

Twentieth Annual Symposium, 2015

Nineteenth Annual Symposium, 2014

Eighteen Annual Symposium, 2013

Seventeenth Annual Symposium, 2012

Sixteenth Annual Symposium, 2011

Fifteenth Annual Symposium, 2010

Fourteenth Annual Symposium, 2009

Thirteenth Annual Symposium, 2008

Twelfth Annual Symposium, 2007

Eleventh Annual Symposium, 2006

Tenth Annual Symposium, 2005

Ninth Annual Symposium, 2004

Eighth Annual Symposium, 2003

Seventh Annual Symposium, 2002

Sixth Annual Symposium, 2001

Fifth Annual Symposium, 2000

Fourth Annual Symposium, 1999

Third Annual Symposium, 1998

Second Annual Symposium, 1997

First Annual Symposium, 1996

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