Its promised land drying, Mormon Church works to save the Great Salt Lake
By Karin Brulliard
Washington Post
June 25, 2023
SALT LAKE CITY — The valley here was shades of brown, its vast saline lake shimmering, when Brigham Young first surveyed the landscape in 1847 and recognized a place he had seen in a vision: a spot to make the desert bloom, a promised land for the persecuted flock he led as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Today, the valley is the headquarters of a faith with 17 million adherents worldwide and a tableau of verdant lawns, fertile farmland and booming growth. Yet the transformation is threatened: Because of overuse of water and climate change, the Great Salt Lake is drying up — and the Mormon Church is taking on an unusually public role to help save it.