2026 Summit Program
9:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Check-in, Tabling & Networking
Singing Resistance-SLC - will lead us in singing: Gather Your Courage as we gather for the Plenary
9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Opening Plenary
Welcome - Deeda Seed, Center for Biological Diversity
State of the Lake
Ecosystems & Hydrology Presented by Dr. Ben Abbott, a global ecologist at Brigham Young University and the executive director of Grow the Flow
Dust & Public Health Presented by Dr. Kevin Perry, Department Chair of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Utah
Development at the Edge
Presented by Dr. Brian Moench, co-founder of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment and Carmen Valdez, Radioactive and Toxics Program Manager from HEAL Utah.
How we develop in the Great Salt Lake Basin has a major impact on the lake itself. The state is entertaining, enabling and in some cases even encouraging a variety of industrial development within the basin and sub-basins that put irrevocable stress on desperately needed water sources. We'll examine these industry demands, their impact on the lake, and what they could mean for your health.
As Utah pursues data centers and inland ports in the watershed, the state is also enabling projects across the nuclear fuel chain, including uranium processing, fuel production, reactors, and high-level radioactive waste facilities, that could place additional demands on limited water supplies and create risks for groundwater, wetlands, wildlife, and communities. Utah already has a difficult history from radioactive contamination in our state and watershed and not learning lessons from the past could lead to harmful situations for the lake.
Financing the Lake Rescue
Presented by Beth Parker, a law professor at the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law, where she serves as Associate Director of the Stegner Center’s Great Salt Lake Project. Her research focuses on water security, water law, and air pollution, and she teaches Water Law, Air Pollution Law & Policy, and Environmental Policy Accelerator Clinics focused on Great Salt Lake.
Restoring the Great Salt Lake will require major, sustained investment from local, state, and federal governments alike — and the return on that investment is simple: water delivered to the lake, as quickly as possible. This talk lays out proven strategies for putting that funding to work effectively, so every dollar invested translates into measurable gains for the lake.
Singing Resistance-SLC – will lead us in singing: We Say No!
Indigenous Perspectives on the Essence of Water, Survival, and Allyship
Indigenous peoples have always understood our responsibility to water and the life it sustains. This panel centers the voices of Indigenous women and young people in its discussion of Indigenous relationships to water and methods of collaboration. Protecting Great Salt Lake requires all of us to listen, learn, and work together. Our survival depends on collective action, and allyship means showing up, taking responsibility, and standing together to protect the water and ecosystems that sustain us all.
Moderator: Jessica Wiarda (Hopi-Tewa) — Co-organizer, Monumental Dance Rally for Bears Ears
Panelists:
Charlene Pete (CTGR-Goshute) — Education Director, Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation. Activist, The Southern Nevada Water Grab. Retired, Tooele County School District.
Deena Ute (Ute Mountain Ute) — Executive Director, A'Nuche, Inc.
Franci Lynne Taylor (Choctaw) — Educational Consultant and Curriculum Developer. Former Director of the American Indian Resource Center, University of Utah.
Emerson Hackford (Ute) — Ute Youth Activist and Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition Youth Council Representative. Co-organizer, Monumental Dance Rally for Bears Ears.
Singing Resistance-SLC – will lead us in singing: The Future Is Calling
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Lunch
Singing Resistance-SLC – will lead us in singing: Who’s Got the Power? as we head to the Breakouts
12:30 PM - 1:45 PM
Afternoon Breakout Sessions
DIY Air Purifier Workshop
"Join Grow the Flow, HEAL Utah, and USU's Community and Natural Resources Institute for a hands-on workshop exploring the connection between clean air, community health, and Great Salt Lake. Participants will build their own DIY air purifier, while learning how air pollution affects the places where we live, work, and play. Together, we’ll explore the sources of Utah’s air pollution and examine how a shrinking Great Salt Lake could expose more lakebed, increasing the potential for dust to reach communities across northern Utah. You’ll have the opportunity to ask questions, engage directly with researchers, and better understand the steps individuals and communities can take to protect clean air and Great Salt Lake.
No technical experience is necessary—just bring your curiosity! You’ll leave with a working air purifier, practical knowledge about improving indoor air quality, and a deeper understanding of the science connecting the health of Great Salt Lake with the health of Utahns.
Availability is limited to 30 participants, and registration is required on a first-come first-serve basis. RSVP HERE.
Wetlands, Water & Data Centers workshop: protecting our communities
Join Dr. Brian Moench (UPHE), Deeda Seed (Center for Biological Diversity) and community leaders from TooeleCARES, and B.E.A.R. (Box Elder Accountability Referendum) who are fighting data centers right now. Learn about what is working, how to engage at the local level, and the challenges ahead. Learn how communities are fighting back, and how you can join the movement.
Words Are Not Water: The Need for a People’s Great Salt Lake Charter
In 2025, Governor Cox and Utah Leaders signed a charter promising to save the Great Salt Lake by the 2034 Winter Olympics, but have their words been followed with the action we need? Join UYES, Sierra Club, and Utah Rivers Council for an exciting announcement and learn how we can hold power accountable to their promises. Come ready to engage and you'll walk away equipped with the tools you need to ensure your legislator is making a real commitment to the lake.
Lake Grief Circle & Workshop
Great Salt Lake’s decline and polycrisis bring up intense emotions in all of us, including grief, fear, confusion, and rage. We rarely have opportunities to talk about these emotions or process them as a community. Theorists like Joanna Macy and practitioners like Kritee Kanko teach us that it is vital for organizers and activists to hold space for these emotions in order to keep our movements healthy, especially in the context of ecological collapse.
This session is a space for us to reconnect with our bodies and with this place so that we can return to our work feeling nourished. We will engage in somatic practices to find quiet within ourselves. We will engage in deep listening to locate grief in our bodies and in this watershed. We invite anyone who wants to access stillness, connection, and belonging to join us for this session. We hope it will nourish the community with tools to stay centered and rooted when urgency and crisis are always swirling around us.
Making Waves is supporting this session facilitated by Sav Pearson & Kara Komarnitsky We will be facilitating further conversations and workshops on ecological grief and polycrisis throughout the Vigil for Great Salt Lake.
2:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Summit Opportunity Drawing
Make sure to stick around until the end of the day for a chance to win awesome prizes donated by partner organizations, Patagonia, and more!
Ticket entry — receive ONE entry for registering and attending the People's summit. Receive ONE entry for attending and participating in a breakout session after lunch. Winners must be present at the drawing to receive their prize.
As we gather for the Drawing, Singing Resistance-SLC – will lead us in singing our requests