Jake Dreyfous is a fifth-generation Utahn and holds a degree in environmental studies and biology from Middlebury College. He has worked for the Nature Conservancy of Utah, the Woodwell Climate Research Center's community science initiative Science on the Fly, Save the Bay, and the Utah Rivers Council.

Jake is the managing director at Grow the Flow (growtheflowutah.org), a nonprofit organization focused on restoring the Great Salt Lake through policy innovation and implementation, public engagement, and action-oriented research. He views the lake's loss as Utah's preeminent environmental crisis, and he is working to protect habitat for 12 million migratory birds, $2.5B in direct economic output, and the health of millions of residents in Northern Utah impacted by toxic dust storms from a dry lake.

Jake's work with Grow the Flow focuses on community organizing to build a robust coalition of Great Salt Lake advocates from the private, nongovernmental, and public sectors. In tandem with his work, Grow the Flow and partners are drafting local and state water policy, creating connections with saline lake conservation initiatives around the world, and convening researchers across institutions to turn the latest evidence into action-oriented solutions.

Of more than 100 saline lakes worldwide, almost all of them are in chronic decline, and no community has reversed this trend. Jake believes Utah has an opportunity to become the first community to save their saline lake and hopes to use Utah's success as a roadmap to saline lake conservation around the globe.