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...