- Ben Abbott, BYU ecology professor, is dedicated to saving the Great Salt Lake.
- He emphasizes reducing water usage by 40% to prevent ecological and economic disaster.
- Utah aims to restore the lake by 2034, backed by political and financial support.
SALT LAKE CITY — Ben Abbott answers to many titles: BYU ecology professor, executive director of Grow the Flow, board member of Great Salt Lake Rising, father of four.
But if in five, or 10, or 15 years from now, the Great Salt Lake is still with us, he’ll be forever known as the guy who, like the Dutch boy in the fable, kept his finger in the dike until the rest of us got our act together and saved the third largest saline sea on the planet.
There is nowhere this man won’t go, no one he won’t talk to, no stone he’ll leave unturned, when the subject is saving the lake — and ourselves — from catastrophe. The list includes me. A week ago I emailed Ben and asked if he had a minute to talk. His reply: Sure, when can you get here?…