Hardware Ranch

Hardware Ranch: Elk Herd at Hardware Ranch Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Elk Herd at Hardware Ranch
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
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Hardware Wildlife Management Area (WMA) provides refuge for hundreds of elk who congregate each December and hunker down for the duration of the winter.

Hardware Ranch: Riding Out to Feed the Elk Hardware Ranch Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Riding Out to Feed the Elk
Hardware Ranch
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer

Elk Merge on Dropped Hay Hardware Ranch Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer Elk Merge on Dropped Hay
Hardware Ranch
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer

Preparing to Push the Bale Hardware Ranch Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer Preparing to Push the Bale
Hardware Ranch
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer

Elk Fed, Riding Back Hardware Ranch Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer Elk Fed, Riding Back
Hardware Ranch
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer

Thoughts to Paper Hardware Ranch Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer Thoughts to Paper
Hardware Ranch
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer

Documenting the Experience Hardware Ranch Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer Documenting the Experience
Hardware Ranch
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer

In 2008, Hardware Education Director Marni Lee and I established a service-learning partnership. Since then, I have ventured up northern Utah’s Blacksmith Fork Canyon with about a thousand 5th and 6th graders—a half-dozen students at a time—to spend the day with DWR biologists and managers. Each morning, we feed roughly 5,000 pounds of hay to wintering elk (about ten pounds of hay per head) and we learn first-hand the details of how biologists monitor and manage wildlife and wildlife habitat.

We typically see bulls sparring or cows boxing over who gets first dibs on the freshly tossed hay. We often observe bald eagles and sometimes golden eagles. We’ve discovered flattened dried-out snakes in the hay bales who were scooped up into the baler the previous summer. We’ve helped relocate wild turkeys. We’ve examined an elk fetus after a cow elk was hit by a vehicle and miscarried on the road. We’ve seen coyote and cougar tracks. We’ve encountered moose, porcupines, beaver, ermine weasels, and snowshoe hares. Many impromptu anatomy lessons have occurred upon discovering deer carcasses—something that always fascinates students. We’ve watched biologists tranquilize wildlife, helped them humanely trap elk so they can test them for disease, measure back fat, and attach GPS tracking collars—all of which enable them to gather data that informs wildlife management decisions.

Throughout the day (and back in the classroom), math, science, and language arts curriculum standards are woven into the experience. This is my kind of school. “Mister Nool’s Schewell,” as one student wrote with a giggle.

Depending on conditions, after lunch we hike, snowshoe, or cross-country ski to various overlooks where students sit down, pull out their field journals, and write. I never check their notebooks for writing conventions—there is plenty of time to polish spelling and grammar in the classroom. The goal here is to capture the magic of mountains.

Here are few recent samples of Edith Bowen Laboratory School 5th graders’ writings recorded in the wild, with the wind in background:

Harper:
“Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be sitting on the top of a mountain with the sun smiling warmly up above on your face and the birds ‘chirpling’ happily with the polka-dotty mountains?”

Macey:
“Hardware Ranch Hike: As I write, I bathe in the sun. I hear the pages turning and I see the lime-green rock and the evergreen trees battling the white snow. As the birds chirp, the breeze makes my hair flow. The light sprinkle of snow gets rushed by the wind. I get a little chilly but the view makes up for it. The gentle curves of the mountain covered in the snow, the dark green mountains surrounding me, and the moss-coved rocks that feel like a pillow.”

Boston:
“Today we went to Hardware Ranch. We went on a great hike to the top of a mountain. I am writing these words on the top of that mountain. The wind up here is whooshing through my ears. On this hike I have collected two things. A hawk feather and an elk tooth.
This fieldtrip to Hardware Ranch was a really great fieldtrip. I hope you get to come here too.”

Mike:
“I have experienced breathtaking views before and I have seen phenomenal creatures, but I’ve never seen so many different kinds on the same day. I could live here. It’s so peaceful. The wind is paralyzing. If you haven’t come here yet, you have to do it now. This place is for wildlife lovers, nature lovers, and if you’re like me, love both. Either way this place is spectacular. I wish that I could stay.”

I do too.

I am Eric Newell,
I am Harper Famer,
I am Macey Hill,
I am Boston Winn,
I am Mike Brandley,
and we are wild about writing in the wild country.

Credits:
Images: Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer. Used with permission of the photographer, students and parents
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Kevin Colver https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/, Courtesy & © Friend Weller, https://www.upr.org/people/friend-weller, Courtesy & Copyright © Anderson, Howe, Wakeman
Thank you Eric Newell for recording the student audio clips
Text: Eric Newell, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University
Additional Reading: Eric Newell

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah Pieces by Eric Newell

Link to Hardware WMA website and information about sleigh rides:

Haviland’s Old West Adventures will offer horse-drawn sleigh and wagon rides* through the elk herd on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Dec. 6 through Feb. 9. Rides start at 10 a.m. and end at 4:30 p.m. each day. Each ride lasts about 40 minutes. Follow the link for more information, including rates:
https://wildlife.utah.gov/hardware-visit.html

Anderson, Michael, DWR, USU partner to get fifth-graders excited about science, writing, KSL-TV, January 15, 2016, https://www.ksl.com/article/38150310/dwr-usu-partner-to-get-fifth-graders-excited-about-science-writing

Hardware Ranch field experience video (2008), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x46T5jt-CDI

Edith Bowen Laboratory School, edithbowen.usu.edu
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook:
@edithbowenlaboratoryschool
Facebook, Edith Bowen Laboratory School

Mount Logan Middle School Discovery Program (2008-2016), MountLoganDiscovery.org

What is Brucellosis? https://wildlife.utah.gov/brucellosis.html

Gurrister, Tom, Utah elk test clean of brucellosis, unlike Idaho and Wyoming, Gephardt Daily, March 15, 2024, https://gephardtdaily.com/local/utah-elk-test-clean-of-brucellosis-unlike-idaho-and-wyoming-2/

The World Keeps Turning

Bald Eagle Gliding on a Thermal
Courtesy Pixabay, Dave Eslinger, Photographer/Contributor
Bald Eagle Gliding on a Thermal
Courtesy Pixabay, Dave Eslinger, Photographer/Contributor
I stepped outside on election morning, into a gusty, cold wind. Leaves skidded across the ground, mixed with heavy graupel which fell hard from sky, pelting me from all directions. Graupel is a type of snow—soft hail-like miniature snowballs—that fall with turbulent winds typically associated with either the beginning or the end of a storm cycle. It seemed fitting and it made me smile—in a curious and uneasy sort-of-way.

To the west, through the dim-gray rage of the storm, the Wellsville Mountains appeared to glow in the morning light.

Regardless of the outcome of the election, the earth keeps turning. And though elections can—and do—have direct impact on the wildlands of Utah and the health of our planet, today, the crows in the yellow pine in my front yard still call out, “Caw! Caw! Caw!” The snow still accumulates on the highest peaks. Squirrels still scurry frantically to cache enough supplies for winter. The Bear River keeps flowing to the Great Salt Lake, steady and silent.

In this climate of divisiveness I want to believe, at the core, we all share similar values that we express differently.

US Flag
Courtesy Pixabay, RoadTripGuys photographer/contributor
US Flag
Courtesy Pixabay, RoadTripGuys photographer/contributor
I found myself reflecting back on September 11, 2001—how helpless I felt watching the news throughout the day. Late in the afternoon, I headed up Logan Canyon to center my thoughts and to finish a climbing route I had been working to establish. I carefully painted the last bolt anchor at the top of the climb with stars and stripes—it wouldn’t be visible from below—and named the route “Old Glory.”

That time alone on the mountain brought clarity. I came home, called the Scouts in my troop and told them we were flying the flags and to meet at my house as soon as they could. Troop 1, at the time, volunteered to hang the US flags on Main Street in Logan for holidays—it was a task I dreaded sometimes, because it was an inconvenience. Suddenly it felt like the most important thing we could do.

I didn’t ask permission from anyone. I had the key to the flag shed.

Four or five teens and I loaded one hundred American Flags into my van. As we drove slowly down Main Street—hazards flashing, stopping at each light post so the boys could mount each flag—everyone driving past honked and cheered. The boys knew we were part of something special that night—something that mattered. We were part of building a sense resilience and unity.

I have flown the flag at my house ever since.

United we stand.

Votes are being cast as I write. When this segment airs on Monday, we should know the outcomes of local, state, and national races. And those first rays of sunshine that set the Wellsville’s aglow through the graupel this morning—I hope they are a signal for all of us that the end of this storm is near. I hope we can all move past hate, past fear, past division, to a place of understanding that the left wing and the right wing are extensions of the whole bird.

My wife shared Mary Oliver’s poem, “I Worried,” with me this morning and I think I shall do as Mary did:

She wrote: “Finally, I saw that worrying had come to nothing. And gave it up. And took my old body and went out into the morning and sang.”

I am Eric Newell and I am Wild About Utah

Credits:
Images: Bald Eagle-Courtesy Pixabay, Dave Eslinger, Photographer/Contributor, https://pixabay.com/users/dave_e-6829662/
US Flag-Courtesy Pixabay, Road Trip Guys, Photographer/Contributor, https://pixabay.com/photos/us-flag-old-glory-american-flag-3838582/
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Kevin Colver https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/ and Rubber Rodeo-Before I Go Away, Producer, Hugh Jones, Writer, Barc Holmes, https://www.discogs.com/artist/311765-Rubber-Rodeo
Text: Eric Newell, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University
Additional Reading: Eric Newell

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah Pieces by Eric Newell

https://avalanche.org/avalanche-encyclopedia/snowpack/weak-layer/storm-snow-weak-layers/graupel-rimed-particles/

https://www.mindfulnessassociation.net/words-of-wonder/i-worried-mary-oliver/

Naomi Peak

Climbing Mt Naomi, Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Climbing Mt Naomi
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Nature Journaling, Mt Naomi Hike, Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Nature Journaling
Mt Naomi Hike
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer

Nature Journal Entries After Climbing Mt Naomi, Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer Nature Journal Entries After Climbing Mt Naomi
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer

One September day when I was a fifth grader, my dad pulled me out of school to climb the Pfeifferhorn, an 11,000 foot peak in the Wasatch Range. That was the most meaningful and defining day of my elementary school experience.

Years later, when I first arrived in Logan, my younger sister Heather and I climbed Naomi Peak the day before our USU classes started. We made it an annual habit. At just under 10,000 feet elevation, Naomi Peak is the highest point in the Bear River Mountains.

Fast forward forty years from that day on the Pfeifferhorn and I’ve made a career of taking students out of class and into the mountains. Outdoor school programs are synonymous with science, but you can justify any destination with the language arts curriculum by having students write for authentic purposes and read meaningful texts.

When I taught at Mount Logan Middle School, we offered a literacy-based summer school program for incoming sixth graders. Part of that two-week experience was an overnight backing trip up to High Creek Lake. The next day we would climb Naomi Peak, then pack down the trail to Tony Grove. It is a grueling journey. We did it with student groups two to four times each summer for more than 15 years. Our strategy was simple, walk until our students were tired, then sit down, eat snacks, create word lists, and read and discuss a chapter of the book we were reading together. When students began to fidget, we’d hit the trail again. We repeated the pattern for eight hours, or however long it took to reach our destination. We wove science, math, and social studies concepts into the learning, but our main curriculum focus was literacy.

Four years ago, we decided to carry on these traditions with our sixth graders at Edith Bowen Laboratory School where I work, facilitating outdoor experiential learning opportunities for students. The second week of school each year we take four separate groups of students from Mr. Baggaley’s and Mrs. Jenkins’ classes to Naomi Peak to start off the school year. The round trip is just over 6 miles and it takes us 6 hours with our learning stops.

When we reach the summit, we have students pull out their field journals and use their word lists from the trail to create vivid descriptions of their journey. This is the best classroom to teach writing—where students can write with purpose about real emotions and experience. Writing forces students to slow down, to be still, and to be fully present with the landscape and with their thoughts. It allows them to construct meaning.

One student wrote, “I kept doubting myself, asking if I should turn back—my thighs aching, my feet sore, my stomach hungry. Every doubt was a new reason to quit, making me question if it is worth it. But I made it.”

Students huff and puff and we talk about the importance of pacing and controlling our breathing. We focus on being efficient, not fast. Students make new friends. They build confidence and they have fun along the way—even if they don’t want to admit it. One student wrote, “It was meh.”

As an educator I’m accountable to the state to connect learning to curriculum standards—I take that seriously. Outdoor programs give purpose to learning—making the state curriculum a means rather than an end. But I’m also accountable to these little humans to bring joy to the learning process, to nurture their curiosity, and give them a sense of belonging.

I do wonder what these kids will remember about Naomi Peak. I wonder if they will ever come back in the years ahead. Will they remember the adversity tree we stopped to talk about? The steep inclines? How tired they were? Or will they just remember the euphoria of standing on the summit while a cool breeze blows all their cares far away into Wyoming?

A student shared her journal entry with me on the summit: “I have never been so proud of myself and my mental self. The view is unreal. I am so lucky and happy, but I wish my mom was here because she pushed me to go. I’m so lucky to have my friend. She helped me and I helped her. I can live life accomplished. I am calm and I am free.” Underlined twice, in giant letters, she finished her entry: “I am amazing!”

I am Eric Newell and I am Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Images: Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell
Text: Eric Newell, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University
Additional Reading: Eric Newell & Lyle Bingham, Bridgerland Audubon

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah Pieces by Eric Newell

Morgan, Susan K, Geologic Tours of Northern Utah, 1992, Found on website hosted by Utah Geological Survey, Department of Natural Resources, State of Utah, https://ugspub.nr.utah.gov/publications/misc_pubs/mp-92-1.pdf

Mt Naomi Wilderness Map, Wilderness Connect, University of Montana, https://umontana.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=a415bca07f0a4bee9f0e894b0db5c3b6&find=Mount%20Naomi%20Wilderness

Mountain Goats in Northern Utah?

Mountain goats in northern Utah?  Mountain Goats, Mount Timpanogos Wilderness Area, Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Mountain Goats
Mount Timpanogos Wilderness Area
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Mid-September, 2016, while rambling in a seldom-traveled area of the Mount Naomi Wilderness, my son Nate asked, “Dad, what’s the coolest animal you’ve ever seen in the Bear River Mountains?”

“Oh, all the regular creatures you’d expect,” I said. “Deer, elk, moose, coyotes, porcupines, lots of cat tracks, and a couple of badgers.”

We took a few more steps and I glanced at the cliff bands above. Atop a limestone crag was the unmistakable massive shoulders and white wool of a Rocky Mountain goat.

“Uhhhh,” I stammered and pointed, “THAT is actually the coolest animal I’ve ever seen in the Bear River Range.”

We laughed at the timing as the goat nonchalantly climbed out of sight.

The previous spring I spotted a mountain goat on a rock outcrop on the south side of Highway 89, not far from Brigham City. It was absolutely a mountain goat—Oreamnos Americanus. If there was a mountain goat in Box Elder Canyon, then they certainly must be in the Wellsvilles. It is logical that Willard Peak goats would move north.

But this goat in the heart of the Bear River Range was perplexing. Where had it come from? Had it wandered south from Star Valley or worked its’ way northeast from Willard Peak? Either way is a lot of ground to cover where a mountain goat would be vulnerable to predators.

Mountain goats thrive in the highest and harshest alpine environments. They have a two-layer coat—hollow, longer strands of polar-bear-like hair that grow up to 8 inches long and dense wool beneath. They can subsist on moss and lichen. Specialized hooves enable them to climb places predators can’t follow. Their best defense is their climbing skills. Cliffs provide safety, but that comes with a caveat—the leading causes of death of mountain goats are avalanches, rock fall, and, well, falling.

When I returned home that day, I called the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) and asked a slew of questions. The previous year there had been several sightings of a solitary mountain goat near Cinnamon Creek, then in Logan Canyon, and then our sighting further north. There were also sightings in the Wellsvilles. In the years since, several reports trickled in of mountain goats on Cherry Peak. Last spring, a goat carcass was found up Blacksmith Fork Canyon in an avalanche run-out zone.

Mountain Goat Looking Over the Cliff Edge
Courtesy & Copyright, Eric Newell, Photographer
Mountain Goat Looking Over the Cliff Edge
Courtesy & Copyright, Eric Newell, Photographer

In 1967 six Rocky Mountain goats were transplanted from Olympic National Park to the Lone Peak Wilderness. Since then another 270 were released in various other locations. Utah goat populations peaked in 2011 around 2,100 animals. Interestingly, the Willard Peak herd has declined from around 200 to about 30 goats.

The 2018 Utah DWR Management Plan states:

“A number of records exist that document the historical presence of mountain goats in Utah prior to reintroduction…. However, there are not as many documented records as with some other wildlife native to Utah, which has led to some controversy about their native status…. They are certainly native to the Northern Rocky Mountains and neighboring states to Utah. UDWR’s position is that mountain goat habitat exists in Utah and that mountain goats are a valuable part of our wildlife resource diversity and are a legitimate part of our modern Utah faunal landscape.”

The Bridgerland Audubon Society’s stance is that mountain goats are a non-native species that may damage endemic plants. Fellow Wild About Utah contributor Jack Green, wrote a 2020 opinion piece opposing the introduction of Oreamnos Americanus in the Bear River Mountains and suggested focusing on restoring bighorn sheep populations instead.

One complication is that bighorns are more susceptible to disease from established domesticated sheep herds than mountain goats are. And for perspective, domestic sheep grazing has far greater impacts on habitat than a small herd of mountain goats ever will.

The Utah DWR has no plans to “introduce” goats into the vicinity because they are already here. Biologists are conducting surveys to understand the impacts goats have on endemic plant species to inform management decisions.

No matter how it all shakes out for the few solitary mountain goats that have worked their way into northern Utah, it is a thrill to watch these impressive climbers roam the wildest and craggiest portions of the mountains—with blasé confidence.

I am Eric Newell, and I am Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Images: Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright Friend Weller, Retired Engineer, Utah Public Radio, https://www.upr.org/people/friend-weller
Text: Eric Newell, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University
Additional Reading: Eric Newell & Lyle Bingham, Bridgerland Audubon

Additional Reading

WildAboutUtah pieces by Eric Newell, https://wildaboututah.org/author/eric-newell/

Bridgerland Audubon Society, Rocky Mountain Goats in the Bear River Range, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/our-projects/advocacy/mountain-goats-in-the-bear-river-range/

Chadwick, Douglas, A Beast the Color of Winter, Sierra Club Books, 1983, https://www.amazon.com/Beast-Color-Winter-Mountain-Observed/dp/0803264216/

Chadwick, Douglas, Darling Guardians of the Heights, National Geographic, Vol. 154, NO. 2, August, 1978 Available with subscription through https://archive.nationalgeographic.com/

Green, Jack, Locals Can Still Halt Harmful Mount Goat Introduction, Herald Journal, July 24, 2020 https://www.hjnews.com/opinion/columns/soapbox-locals-can-still-halt-harmful-mountain-goat-introduction/article_e85f7536-5201-55d7-b766-f089eb57d7ed.html

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Utah Mountain Goat State Management Plan, https://wildlife.utah.gov/pdf/bg/mtn_goat_plan.pdf

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Where to See Mountain Goats in Utah this Spring, https://wildlife.utah.gov/news/utah-wildlife-news/1384-where-to-see-mountain-goats-this-spring.html