Category: Geology

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A Washington County Big Day

Roadrunner in a Tree, Courtesy Pixabay, Mike-RJA1988 Contributor
Roadrunner in a Tree
Courtesy Pixabay, Mike-RJA1988 Contributor
As dawn breaks, I find myself with a fellow birder at Lytle Ranch on the Beaver Dam slope, elevation approximately 2000 feet. With the binoculars and cell phones, birding apps in hand, we begin our search. By nightfall, we will be at Kolob Reservoir elevation, a bit over 8000 feet.

Lytle Ranch Courtesy & Copyright Marshall Topham, Photographer
Lytle Ranch
Courtesy & Copyright Marshall Topham, Photographer

Courtesy & Hell-Hole Canyon in the Rain Copyright Marshall Topham, Photographer Courtesy & Hell-Hole Canyon in the Rain
Copyright Marshall Topham, Photographer

Birding Students from UTU Courtesy & Copyright Marshall Topham, Photographer Birding Students from UTU
Courtesy & Copyright Marshall Topham, Photographer

My Family Birding Courtesy & Copyright Marshall Topham, Photographer My Family Birding
Courtesy & Copyright Marshall Topham, Photographer

Fishhook Cactus Courtesy & Copyright Marshall Topham, Photographer Fishhook Cactus
Courtesy & Copyright Marshall Topham, Photographer

Ephemeral Pool Copyright Marshall Topham, Photographer Ephemeral Pool
Copyright Marshall Topham, Photographer

Marshall Birding Courtesy & Copyright Marshall Topham, Photographer Marshall Birding
Courtesy & Copyright Marshall Topham, Photographer

Our list of birds observed for the day will exceed 100 different species. This day, we will have passed through numerous life zones, beginning in the Sonoran life zone of the Mojave Desert and ending up in the alpine forests of the Canadian life zone.

In birder’s language, we call this a big day.

There are 924 bird species known to be in the United States. The average county in Utah has approximately 295 species, but Washington County, Utah, boasts 400 species.

The incredible diversity of bird life is due to several factors. Probably the most important is the convergence of three different geophysical features. The Great Basin Desert invades Washington County from the north, the Mojave Desert from the south, and the Colorado Plateau comes in from the east. Each different geophysical feature brings with it its own distinct complement of plants and animals, and therefore birds. In addition to the merging of geophysical features, Washington County is incredibly diverse topography. The elevation changes from 2000 feet to over 10,000 feet at the top of Pine Mountain, which locals refer to as Pine Valley Mountain.

The numerous different life zones provide opportunity to observe many different species of birds. Erosion has also played a part in the diversity of life here. What was once the bottom of washes that filled with magma from ancient volcanoes are now the tops of ridges capped with basalt or lava. This inverse topography is not common elsewhere in a state, and it provides unique microhabitats, such as north-south slopes, which retain different amounts of moisture due to their orientation to the winter sun. The difference in soil moisture content produces different plants and attracts different birds.

There is also the fact that we are near the convergence of two different migration flight ways, the Pacific Flyway on the west and the central flyway to the east. Birds from both these flyways can find their way into the county.

Soil types should also be included in the list, from basalt to sandstone and limestone, and various different soils found in the area contribute to the diversity of plant life, and therefore bird life, as well. Sandstone is known to create both ephemeral pools after rainstorms on the surface and absorb water like a sponge, which slowly leaks out at the base, creating life-sustaining water seeps.

Surprisingly, Utah ranks only 45th out of 50 states in the United States with regard to the number of people who consider themselves birders. The national average is 24% but in Utah, only 11% think that they would qualify. This is a bit unfortunate, because research has shown birding to have tremendous advantages for human physical and cognitive health. Committed bird watchers have detectable brain differences that suggest bird watching reshapes the brain in much the same way as learning a language or a musical instrument does. Three combined studies in the UK have shown bird watching to be a remedy for stress, anxiety, and depression. Becoming a birder physically reshapes your brain. Considerable research shows that learning and practicing bird identification increases the structural density and complexity in brain regions tied to physical processing, attention, and working memory. These changes help build a cognitive buffer that protects against age-related memory decline.

Perhaps Terry Tempest Williams put it best: “Birds are wherever we are. They are our companions. Birds are mediators between heaven and earth.”

This is Professor Marshall Topham from Utah Tech University. I’m wild about Utah.

Credits:

Images Courtesy & Copyright Marshall Topham, Photographer
Also included photos Courtesy US BLM: https://www.flickr.com/photos/blmutah/32152508267/in/album-72157667920964286/
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Bob Holmes, Composer, Hugh Jones, Producer, Rubber Rodeo-Before I Go Away, 1984, https://www.discogs.com/release/9698183-Rubber-Rodeo-Scenic-Views
Text: Marshall Topham, https://ees.utahtech.edu/faculty-staff/
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah pieces by Marshall Topham https://wildaboututah.org/author/marshall-topham/

417 Species in Washington County, Utah United States, eBird Printable Checklist, eBird.org [visited June 22, 2026] https://ebird.org/printableList?regionCode=US-UT-053

Birding in Washington County, UtahBirds.org, http://utahbirds.org/counties/washington/index.html Note, this is not a TSL-protected connection: http not https.

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Earth Day

Eyes on Earth, A sliver of Earth is illuminated against the blackness of space in this photo taken by an Artemis II crew member through an Orion spacecraft window on the third day of the mission. Credit: NASA
Eyes on Earth
A sliver of Earth is illuminated against the blackness of space in this photo taken by an Artemis II crew member through an Orion spacecraft window on the third day of the mission. Credit: NASA
Earth Day, Earth Week, and my preferred, Earth Year. Let’s pretend to join the Artimus 11 crew for a wild 300,000 mile journey to the dark side of the moon for an Earth rise. Suddenly a soul piercing view appears and with it, in a brief second, we are transformed into a profound Earth lover. Eyes mist. Hearts race. A deep longing sweeps over us, a homesickness never before experienced. This celestial blue oasis hanging in an infinite black void contains all that we are, all that we love, from the long arch of human history to this very moment, sweeps over us. Transfixed, transformed, filled with an unquenchable longing.

Now imagine our return flight as earth’s gravity plunges us ever faster toward north America, and Utah before veering toward the blue Pacific for splash down.

The Great Salt Lake at Sunset Courtesy Pixabay, BJohnson, Contributor
The Great Salt Lake at Sunset
Courtesy Pixabay, BJohnson, Contributor

Four planets and the Moon are visible in the twilight sky over ancient Bristlecone Pine trees at Cedar Breaks NM Courtesy US NPS, Zach Schierl, Photographer Four planets and the Moon are visible in the twilight sky over ancient Bristlecone Pine trees at Cedar Breaks NM
Courtesy US NPS, Zach Schierl, Photographer

Cedar Breaks National Monument- the Pink Cliffs Courtesy USGS Cedar Breaks National Monument- the Pink Cliffs
Courtesy USGS

Condor Committee in Zion National Park Courtesy US NPS Condor Committee in Zion National Park
Courtesy US NPS

National Parks in Southern Utah Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Natural Bridges National Monument, Zion National Park Courtesy US National Park Service (NPS) National Parks in Southern Utah
Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Natural Bridges National Monument, Zion National Park
Courtesy US National Park Service (NPS)
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/national-parks-in-southern-utah.htm

Cliffs Above the North Fork Virgin River, Zion National Park, UT Courtesy USGS Cliffs Above the North Fork Virgin River, Zion National Park, UT, Courtesy USGS

I’m reminded of the many flights taken to Southern California to train my AP Environmental science teachers, senses gratified by stunning views of the Great Salt Lake, a magnificent patchwork quilt of blues, reds, whites aware it’s teaming with brine shrimp, brine flies, and bird life, now sweeping over green, snowcapped mountains and high plateaus toward the red canyon country deeply incised by magnificent Colorado, Green, and Virgin rivers.

It becomes apparent that Utah has a unique beauty like no other, its varied landscapes replete with diverse life forms from Gila monsters to tetradactyl-like California condors, from over 800 bee species, to several thousand species of plants. Utah!! Home!

Considering this is factual fiction contrived by Jack’s brain, for all its splendor, let us pause over what I consider to be a standout to match a Great Salt Lake sunset- the Markagunt plateau. This magnificent piece of our beloved Earth has been sliced and diced into pure grandeur of deep canyons, much of which this mere Earthling has traipsed over- Zion National Park, Cedar Breaks NM, the shores of Navajo Lake, all resplendent with iconic species of life- pica, black hawks, black bear, Peregrine falcons, painted buntings, desert bighorn sheep, canyon tree frogs. Within the boundaries of Zion National Park our state’s highest biodiversity is found to match its magnificent, varied terrain.

Just to the west three bioregions merge where the Colorado Plateau intertwines with the Mojave desert and great basin spawning biological diversity beyond imagining!

Reaching across our marvelous state are stunning marvels- Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and an myriad of state parks that deserve national monument status considering their unique geology and grandeur- Snow Canyon, Goblin Valley, Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Kodachrome Basin, Dead Horse, Goosenecks, Antelope Island, Great Salt Lake- Splashdown! Now back to reality, a lovely spring morning to celebrate Spring replet with canyon wildflowers, gushing spring runoff, and the return of neotropical birds bless us with their hatchlings.

This is Jack Greene for Bridgerland Audubon Society and I’m Wild about our otherworldly Wild Utah.

Credits:

Images: Earth -Courtesy NASA – Artemis II Crew
Courtesy USGS – Cedar Breaks & Zion Cliffs
Courtesy US NPS, Zach Schierl, Photographer,
also Courtesy US NPS, Condors and Southern Utah National Parks
Sunset at the Great Salt Lake Courtesy Pixabay, BJohnson, Contributor https://pixabay.com/photos/sunset-utah-great-salt-lake-6032689/
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections and
Anderson, Howe, and Wakeman.
Text & Voice: Jack Greene, Bridgerland Audubon, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/
Additional Reading Links: Jack Greene & Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading:

Wild About Utah Pieces by Jack Greene, https://wildaboututah.org/author/jack/

National Parks in Southern Utah, National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/national-parks-in-southern-utah.htm
Condors, Zion National Park, US NPS, https://www.nps.gov/zion/learn/nature/condors.htm

Arches National Park, Geology and Ecology of National Parks, USGS, https://www.usgs.gov/geology-and-ecology-of-national-parks/arches-national-park
Bryce Canyon National Park, Geology and Ecology of National Parks, USGS, https://www.usgs.gov/geology-and-ecology-of-national-parks/bryce-canyon-national-park
Canyonlands National Park, Geology and Ecology of National Parks, USGS, https://www.usgs.gov/geology-and-ecology-of-national-parks/canyonlands-national-park
Capitol Reef National Park, Geology and Ecology of National Parks, USGS, https://www.usgs.gov/geology-and-ecology-of-national-parks/capitol-reef-national-park

Cedar Breaks National Monument, USGS, https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/cedar-breaks-pink-cliffs

Utah State Parks, https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/

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Giant Hole in the Ground

Giant Hole in the Ground: Rio Tinto Kennecott Bingham Canyon Mine Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer
Rio Tinto Kennecott Bingham Canyon Mine
Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer

Bingham Canyon Mine from the International Space Station 2007 Courtesy NASA
Bingham Canyon Mine from the International Space Station 2007. This astronaut photograph ISS015-E-29867 was acquired September 20, 2007, by the Expedition 15 crew with a Kodak 760C digital camera using an 800 mm lens. The image is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image in this article has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast.
Courtesy NASA

Kennecott Mine from Outside Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer Kennecott Mine from Outside
Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer

Years ago, I was flying in an airplane headed into Salt Lake when the captain came on the intercom and suggested we look out the windows. Below us was a truly huge hole in the ground. This was my first look at the Kennecott open pit copper mine.

In 1847, when Brigham Young and the first Mormon pioneers arrived in the Utah territory, this bit of land we were flying over was an 8,000ft mountain, part of the range the Native Americans called the Oquirrhs. Back then two brothers were grazing their cattle in these mountains when they noticed some gold that had washed down the mountain and settled in a sandy stream bed. They took the gold and showed it to Brigham Young. Brigham Young told them to “forget it.” Growing food for the survival of the settlers was his top priority.

The Bingham boys went back to grazing cattle, but by 1873 the news had gotten out that there was gold in these hills. People started to move in, many of them recent immigrants. The Finns and Swedes settled up Carr Canyon, while the Austrians and Slavs settled near the Highland Boy mine. The town of Bingham grew up around 30 saloons, its many brothels , as well as many boarding houses where single men rented a room and took their meals. I really enjoyed reading a memoir written by Violet Boyce, whose Aunt Becky ran one of these boarding houses. She tells us the softer side of life in the early mining town, like one miner, Pete Kalvos, who had a beloved pet magpie. Now this bird was the chief suspect when Aunt Becky’s thimble, teaspoons, and jeweled pin disappeared. Aunt Becky got so mad she took the bird outside and told it to “git.” Joe moped around the house until the bird returned. Luckily by then Aunt Becky had cooled off, because some repair work on the chimney had revealed the magpie nest and all the missing items.

Everything changed in Bingham Canyon in 1906 when new entrepreneurs and engineers decided the real future of the canyon was in copper, and the best way to get it out was with an open pit mine. Dynamite started blasting away the hillsides. Violet writes how vases were knocked off shelves and pictures turned sideways on the walls in her house. As the mine kept expanding, the walls of her house crumbled. Eventually the whole town was devoured.

Nowadays, if you go to the Visitor Center at the Kennecott mine, you can stand on the viewing platform on the upper lip of the huge bowl-shaped pit. It’s a breath taking 2 ½ miles wide, ¾ of a mile deep – and still getting bigger. Trucks the size of two-story houses lumber up the inside of the bowl carrying away the newly blasted debris. It now takes 2 tons of this mix of rock, dirt and ore to eventually produce 9 pounds of pure copper.

The story of this giant hole in the ground is woven into Utah’s history, but it’s also left its mark on our planet Earth. The Kennecott open pit copper mine is one of a handful of man-made structures that can be seen from the International Space Station as it passes over us, 250 miles away.

This is Mary Heers and I’m Wild About Utah

Credits:
Photos: Courtesy NASA and Mary Heers,
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Anderson, Howe and Wakeman
Text: Mary Heers, https://cca.usu.edu/files/awards/art-and-mary-heers-citation.pdf
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah, Mary Heers’ Wild About Utah Postings

Crump, Scott, The Oquirrh Mountains, Utah History Encyclopedia, https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/o/OQUIRRH_MOUNTAINS.shtml

Strack, Don, Years of Discovery, to 1863, Railroads and Mining in Utah’s Bingham Canyon, Discovery to 1863, UtahRails.net, https://utahrails.net/bingham/bingham-discovery.php

The Bingham Mine – Our National Historic Landmark, Rio Tinto, https://www.kennecott-groundbreakers.com/stories/the-bingham-mine—our-national-historic-landmark

Milligan, Mark, GeoSights: A View of the World’s Deepest Pit – Bingham Canyon Mine Overlook, Utah Geological Survey (UGS), Utah Department of Natural Resources, Survey Notes, v. 49 no. 2, May 2017, https://geology.utah.gov/map-pub/survey-notes/geosights/geosights-bingham-canyon-mine/

Bingham Canyon Mine, USA, Captured 20 April 2021, by the MSI instrument, aboard the Sentinel-2 satellite, NASA, https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/news/worldview-image-archive/bingham-canyon-mine-usa

1904 to 2022, Bingham Mine through the Years, https://youtu.be/yvoQuH9C2d0?si=wQhMZWXYs-M-zclW

Massive landslide at Utah copper mine generates wealth of geophysical data, GSA Today, The Geological Society of America, https://rock.geosociety.org/net/gsatoday/archive/24/1/pdf/gt1401.pdf

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Utah’s Public Lands

Utah's Public Lands: Canyonlands National Park Courtesy Pixabay, Contributor: Sharon Kehl Califano, Photographer
Canyonlands National Park
Courtesy Pixabay, Contributor: Sharon Kehl Califano, Photographer
One might justly conjecture we have been cursed by Utah’s magnificent wild landscapes, which have caused such division and consternation among our political leadership and their constituents. Some see vast sweeps of our national public lands as having little to offer for recreation or scenery, waste lands of little value beyond mineral extraction, or selling them to the highest bidder. These lands have been a hot issue in Utah for most of our state’s history. Absentee landowners continue to be viewed with a jaundiced eye. State and local control is championed, which is often in opposition to the majority of Utah citizens.

Preeminent naturalist John Muir stated, “The bottom third of Utah should become a National Park!” He was overtaken by its rugged, unadulterated majesty. Many other prominent authors and naturalists have spoken in its behalf- Terry Tempest Williams, Ed Abbey, Wallace Stegner, Steve Trimble, to name a few.

More recently, our Native people have jumped into the fray- Navajo, Paiute, Ute, Shoshone, and many other tribes. Following years of relentless negotiations, they finally have been offered a seat at the table on how these lands should be managed.

“Our ancestors knew that this land is not just our home, but a place that sustains us, nurtures us, and connects us to something far greater than ourselves, If we do not stand together, our children will never know the beauty these lands hold.” Louise Fernandez

I too have real affection for our national public lands. The first part of my existence was in Michigan farm country surrounded by “Keep Out” signs. There was little opportunity to escape to open space. Thus, I view these public lands in a very different lens from many of the “locals”, who perceive them as restricting their rights to use these lands as they see fit. Two very different cultures and lived experiences.

As a naturalist educator, I have led my students and others into many of these wild spaces. The experience is often transformative. Never before have many of them experienced such beauty and untrammeled landscapes. One of my international students was nearly brought to tears, reminiscent of his cattle herding days in the rural landscapes of Egypt.

Beyond serving as recreational and inspirational retreats, these incomprehensible, uncompromised wide-open spaces serve as bulwarks for clean air, healthy watersheds, and as a sanctuary for an abundance of species beyond our own, some threatened or endangered from creeping human contrivances.

As I write this, the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Utah’s attempt to gain state control over 18.5 million acres of federal BLM lands, representing about 1/3 of our state’s area. The fight will continue, just as the seasons will continue in these priceless, sacred lands.

This is Jack Greene for Bridgerland Audubon Society and I’m wild about Utah’s Wild Lands

Credits:
Image: Courtesy Pixabay, Sharon Kehl Califano, Contributor https://pixabay.com/photos/canyonlands-canyons-desert-6600504/
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Kevin Colver https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections/kevin-colver, Courtesy & © Anderson, Howe and Wakeman,
Also includes audio Courtesy & © J. Chase & K.W. Baldwin
Text: Jack Greene, Bridgerland Audubon, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/
Additional Reading: Jack Greene & Lyle W Bingham, Webmaster, Bridgerland Audubon, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading:

Jack Greene’s Postings on Wild About Utah, https://wildaboututah.org/author/jack/