Study focus: There is widespread interest in restoring drying saline lakes. At Iran’s hypersaline Lake Urmia, managers have sought a uniform target lake level of 1274.1 m above sea level to lower salinity below 263 g L−1 and recover Artemia to sufficient densities to support flamingos. We suggest that addressing a broader range of objectives will allow more flexibility for managing the lake. We define eight restoration objectives to lower salinity, sustain Artemia and flamingo populations, separate islands from each other and the mainland, reduce lakebed dust, maintain commercially valuable ions, and improve recreational access from resort beaches. We use 40 years of experimental, field, satellite, and model data to relate each objective to lake level. We describe variations through time and associated uncertainties for meeting each objective.

New hydrological insights: We show that:1) Lake variations prevent setting a precise target restoration level; 2) The current target may not sufficiently lower salinity to recover Artemia to sufficient densities to support flamingos; 3) Restoration objectives do not converge to a single lake level; tradeoffs are murky; 4) Lake Urmia managers should focus on multiple ecosystem services and track how they are met as lake level varies over time; and 5) As information about the lake improves, managers should adapt their management strategies to meet the most attainable objectives.