For thousands of years, Great Salt Lake has played a surprisingly central role in the lives of humans and animals throughout the American West and across entire continents. Once a destination for wellness seekers, the lake's alarming disappearance is already affecting skiing, tourism, and the region's economic future. As humans continue to divert its waters for agriculture and mine its marshlands for industry, Great Salt Lake could vanish entirely within five years. A refuge for more than 330 species of migrating birds, the lake also keeps vast swathes of the western United States habitable by keeping naturally occurring arsenic, toxic dust, and other health hazards trapped safely in the earth.

The Once and Future Lake brings together nature writers, scientists, and storytellers to reveal the beauty of this complex ecosystem and to proclaim a future where Great Salt Lake will once again thrive--as long as we act before it's too late. Through essay, story, and poetry, these writers show how intertwined the lake's fate is with our own and that restoring and rewilding Great Salt Lake is possible, practical, ambitious, and essential.