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The State And Fate Of The Great Salt Lake, Part II

Elaine Clark
/
KUER

According to scientists who study it, the Great Salt Lake — the largest saltwater lake in the western hemisphere — is drying up.The lake has already reached the lowest water level in history, and its receding waters and growing shorelines could bring massive changes to its complex ecosystem.

When we spoke with her earlier this summer, microbiologist Bonnie Baxter said that by this fall we would have a strong sense of whether or not the Great Salt Lake ecosystem would collapse. She says what we’re witnessing on the lake right now is a grand experiment: How many stressors can it endure before it can’t take anymore? This Friday at 11 a.m., Baxter and her colleague Jaimi Butler join us to discuss the web of life that depends on the lake, and efforts to save it. We’ll also hear from an avid kayaker who recently completed a circumnavigation of the lake to document its wonders and its decline.
 
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Doug Fabrizio has been reporting for KUER News since 1987, and became News Director in 1993. In 2001, he became host and executive producer of KUER's RadioWest, a one hour conversation/call-in show on KUER 90.1 in Salt Lake City. He has gained a reputation for his thoughtful style. He has interviewed everyone from Isabel Allende to the Dalai Lama, and from Madeleine Albright to Desmond Tutu. His interview skills landed him a spot as a guest host of the national NPR program, "Talk of the Nation." He has won numerous awards for his reporting and for his work with RadioWest and KUED's Utah NOW from such organizations as the Society of Professional Journalists, the Utah Broadcasters Association, the Public Radio News Directors Association and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
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