Moving to Salt Lake City during the great floods
Watching I-80 ripple as the trucks drove by
Wading through the brine flies, a mile offshore
To float in the salty water and feel the sting of salt on scratches
Flying above the salty surface in a jetboat
Counting the endless specks of stilts walking on water in the wetlands
Going to a show at the Great Saltair
An Englishman observing "Great place you have here--Like the Taj Mahal on Mars"
Picking up drifts of dead gulls on a bitterly cold windblown shore
Mass casualties of botulism, trying to keep more bacteria from infecting the muck
Watching sunsets reflected on the endless inland sea
Visiting an island on the North Arm
Armored by an expanding perimeter of salt on the east side, 
No longer an island on the west side
Baby pelicans looking up dumbfounded at the coyotes
Riding my bike on the causeway
Looking at a stream that was once a bay
The lake now reflecting like a series of puddles in the setting sun
Walking past graders parking lots and warehouses
Further and further to get to the wetlands and away from the people
Hemmed in from all directions
Death of a thousand cuts with no water to wash the wounds
Now I wonder
Will the Lake always be there?

Chris is an environmental toxicologist who has worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for almost 20 years, cleaning up and restoring rivers and wetlands feeding the Great Salt Lake. She is amazed, inspired and concerned by the lake’s toughness and fragility, simplicity and boundless complexity, and hopes that it is here for us all to love and learn from for a long, long time.