People Archives - Wild About Utah

July 23, 2018July 23, 2018

Keep Utah Clean

I was a young boy when my family took our first trip from Illinois to Utah. We stopped at a scenic park with picnic tables to enjoy our lunch. A family at a nearby table had just finished and were loading their car, leaving behind all their table scraps and trash.

I was surprised to see my father approach that family and calmly request that they clean up their mess. They refused saying that someone would clean it up sooner or later. The man started his car, but was amazed when my Dad stood in front of his car blocking his exit. The man roared his engine.

My mother, siblings and I sat dumbfounded at the scene. Would my father actually allow that man to run over him? Would that man actually do it? No, he shut his car off, swore at my Dad and then cleaned up his mess. My Dad thanked him and quietly returned to our table to finish his lunch.

My Dad would have been a hero in the television series, “What Would You Do?” where actors play their parts in scenes of conflict just to see what innocent bystanders will do…if anything.

I have never forgotten that incident, and it forged a lifelong commitment in me when I moved to Utah to help keep it scenic, clean, and beautiful. There should be locations here where traces of mankind are difficult to see.

You have probably all witnessed reports of tons of plastic trash accumulating in oceans and beaches where it threatens marine life. At times, it is so bad the beaches are closed.

There is no excuse for that kind of behavior along our coastlines, or anywhere within our own State. We’ve all heard the slogan: Pack it in, pack it out.

If you have litter in your car, leave it there until you reach a trash can. Bottles, cans, gum-wrappers and cigarette butts have no place to be discarded along highways, sidewalks, or hiking trails. Take them with you for proper disposal. Don’t think that someone will clean it up sooner or later.

To most people, the idea of allowing litter and trash to pile up in slums or developing countries is a sign of surrender. It shows a lack of pride or services in their community. A small percentage of people honestly believe that they have the right to do as they please, including littering or playing loud music as they walk along trails designed for serenity and contemplation. I’m not suggesting confronting people like that because they will never be able to understand your point of view. Or perhaps they lacked the training of a father like mine. So, I tend to be one of those who usually picks up the litter that I find along the trails.
But if I see you drop it…we’ll probably have a friendly discussion.

This is Ron Hellstern, and I am Wild About Utah.

Credits:

Images: Courtesy & Copyright Ron Hellstern
Text: Ron Hellstern, Cache Valley Wildlife Association

Additional Reading

Adopt a Highway, Utah DOT, https://www.udot.utah.gov/main/f?p=100:pg:0:::1:T,V:28,340

For a Better Utah, Help Clean Up Roadside Litter, Deseret News, April 29, 1989, https://www.deseretnews.com/article/44221/FOR-A-BETTER-UTAH-HELP-CLEAN-UP-ROADSIDE-LITTER.html

John Rasmuson, Litter Bugs
A little trash pickup goes a long way, Feb 19, 2014, https://www.cityweekly.net/utah/litter-bugs/Content?oid=2374891

July 9, 2018July 12, 2018

Wild Neoteny

Annual Wildflower Festival Cedar Breaks National Monument Courtesy National Park Service, Cedar Breaks National Monument — Annual Wildflower Festival
Cedar Breaks National Monument
Courtesy National Park Service, Cedar Breaks National Monument

“Hey, stop the truck!” my wife called from the passenger seat, her nose pressed against the window. I already knew what this was about; she was out the door before the dust had cleared the hood, kneeling in the grass. While she hovered over something newly found with purple petals, I stared out across the high, open meadow of blooming wildflowers, the urge to run surging into my feet. I turned at her exclamation several seconds later, half a football field of colored space between us now. Arms spread wide; grins from ear to ear. In a field of wildflowers, we were kids again.

Scientists call it neoteny, the retention of juvenile features in the adult of a species—basically, the harboring of a playful nature into adulthood. The research into the benefits of play, especially outdoor play, is becoming more replete by the day. In humans, play puts the right hemisphere of the brain into gear, that portion responsible for artistic and creative notions, imagination and insight, and holistic thought. The cerebellum and frontal lobes light up as well, increasing attunement to coordination, executive functioning, and contextual memory development. Neoteny, scientists say, is the key to a species’ adaptability and, therefore, its survival.

Alpine Pond Upper Flowers Cedar Breaks National Monument Courtesy National Park Service, Cedar Breaks National Monument — Alpine Pond Upper Flowers
Cedar Breaks National Monument Courtesy National Park Service, Cedar Breaks National Monument

Wild neoteny could be the term used to describe the human affinity to explore one’s natural surroundings, to wander off into the hills in search of something new and interesting, to learn the nuance of a place and to gain some intimacy with it—to call it home. We do that, I think, when we go on hikes into the wild hinterlands, catapult ourselves down the turbulent waters of our rivers, or climb the rock faces we stumble upon. It’s an adrenaline rush to be sure, a high on life as they say; but it’s also an act of survival—and of remaining human.

Robin Moore, a professor at North Carolina State University, says “the natural environment is the principle source of sensory stimulation….” “Sensory experiences,” he says, “link [our] exterior world with [our] interior, hidden, affective world.” The outdoor environment is a medium of human connection where, as Moore puts it, the “freedom to explore and play…through the senses…is essential for healthy development….” Dr. Stuart Brown, clinical researcher and founder of The National Institute for Play, behooves us in his Ted Talk on the subject to explore our individual histories of play. If you close your eyes and imagine yourself at play, where are you? The open water, a deep forest, a mountain peak, or maybe a field of wildflowers?

In his national bestseller, Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv calls nature a “reset button.” It is the place where we are reminded of ourselves and our purpose. Australian musician Xavier Rudd sings, “Take a stroll to the nearest water’s edge/Remember your place.” It’s often proffered that in a time of industrial expectation and hyper-communication, we need the wild spaces more than ever. There’s some truth to that; but I think I’d go play there anyway, even if it wasn’t to escape the, quote-unquote, “workaday life.” I’m most human when I’m running through a field of blooming wildflowers.

I’m Josh Boling, and I’m Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Photos: Courtesy US National Park Service, Cedar Breaks National Monument
Text: Josh Boling, 2018

Sources & Additional Reading

Cedar Breaks, Plan Your Visit, National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/event-listing.htm?eventID=68A2C9C9-155D-451F-679007F885E5FA1A

Cedar Breaks National Monument, National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/cebr/index.htm

Neoteny, Reference Terms, ScienceDaily, https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/neoteny.htm

March 19, 2018March 21, 2018

Journey North

To those who take personal pride in their yard, park, field, or community you could become part of an amazing network called Journey North. This is a free, extremely easy Citizen-Science online activity that people can simply enjoy, or enter data about their own backyard and join over 80,000 other people and schools that participate regularly.

Journey North began in 1994 as a way for people to contribute to the study of Phenology (which is the observation of seasonal changes in living things). Of course these changes take place based upon latitude, altitude, soil types, and proximity to water.

Basically, people observe what is happening in their own yard on any particular day, then they go to www.learner.org/jnorth/ where they can register their location and record their observations of certain birds migrating back north, or the budding and flowering of plants as the temperatures warm in the Spring. It’s interesting to compare the differences between Southern sites like Moab and Saint George to the Northern cities like Logan.

Nobody ever inspects your property, and the data is kept confidential on the Journey North site. There are no ads or phone calls to try to sell anything. This is strictly to collect science data. There ARE options to email other observers around the world, but nobody is required to respond.

Once you enter data, a dot will appear on the world map showing your general location. The dots are colored, based on the date of the entry so everyone can witness seasonal changes sweeping northward in full color.

What kinds of data does Journey North record? They’ve prepared a general list realizing that not all these species will be seen by everyone. A sample of birds includes: Hummingbirds, Bald Eagles, Whooping Cranes, Common Loons, Orioles, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Robins, and Barn Swallows.

Other sightings include the first day you observed: Milkweed growing, Monarch Butterflies, Earthworms surfacing, Frogs singing, the emerging and flowering of Tulips, the flowing of Maple sap, the date when tree buds opened into leaves, when ice melted off of nearby lakes, and when you first saw bats chasing insects around city lights.

Some reports come from around the world including South America, Eurasia, Africa, Asia, Australia and all of North America so don’t be surprised to see data about Gray Whales and Manatees. There’s even “Mystery Class” contests where people can try to guess the location of a school based upon their observation entries and the length of daylight they have reported during the season.

Journey North provides an opportunity for everyone to become a Citizen Scientist.

This is Ron Hellstern, and I am Wild About Utah.

Credits:

Images: Courtesy Journey North, jnorth.org, Map images used by permission, Elizabeth Howard, Director
Text: Ron Hellstern, Cache Valley Wildlife Association

Additional Reading
http://jnorth.org/ has moved to:
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/

Journey North’s Spring Monarch Migration Monitoring, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Citizen Science Central, http://www.birds.cornell.edu/citscitoolkit/projects/journeynorth/monarchs/

Our .state butterfly, the monarch, is at risk, Make Way for Monarchs, a Milkweed-Butterfly Recovery Alliance, July 29, 2014, http://makewayformonarchs.org/i/archives/1455/

March 12, 2018March 16, 2018

Recovery of Native Bonneville Cutthroat Trout in Right-hand Fork

In the 1970s, many feared Utah’s native fish, the Bonneville Cutthroat Trout, was extinct.
A search began and in a short time, with a sigh of relief, state managers were able to report the Bonneville cutthroat trout was still in Utah’s rivers and streams, but the sub-species was imperiled and had experienced dramatic reductions in abundance and distribution rangewide.

For over a decade, managers and anglers worked to keep the fish off the Endangered Species list.

In 1997, to ensure the long-term conservation of our state fish in Utah, four federal agencies, two state agencies, and the Goshute Tribe, came together to create and sign the Conservation Agreement for Bonneville Cutthroat Trout in the state of Utah.

The signers of the agreement rely heavily on ongoing, research and monitoring about important populations and the trout’s environment, to make good management decisions.

One source of this data is the Fish Ecology Lab of Phaedra Budy, professor in the Watershed Sciences Department and Unit Leader for the U.S. Geological Survey Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit at USU and her research team.
With this data, managers can focus their restoration efforts on areas where they are most likely to succeed.
One such location is the Right-hand fork, a tributary of the Logan River located in mountains of Northern Utah.
Prior to 2013, the Right-hand fork was brimming with exotic and invasive Brown Trout. In 2002, Budy’s lab recorded 4,000 brown trout per kilometer in the tributary – denser than any other recorded population on earth. This exotic fish pushed out native trout.

Brown Trout thrive in Right-hand fork because of the creek’s abundance of spawning gravel, beaver dam ponds, and bugs; but the principal reason why trout flourished here is that the stream is spring fed. The spring stabilizes the water temperatures year round keeping it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, which promotes fish growth and survival.

Budy hypothesized the dense population of Brown Trout were overflowing into the main leg of Logan River, increasing the exotic trout population there. She predicted if managers could replace the Brown Trout with a population of Bonneville Cutthroat trout, these native fish would thrive. Once the native trout population were recovered and robust, they too would begin to overflow into the main arm of the river and increase the native trout’s population throughout Logan River.

Cutthroat Trout Conservation Project at Temple Fork
Courtesy YouTube.com and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://youtu.be/zwHdFx0Qbo0

In about 2010, a partnership of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, U.S. Forest Service, Cache Anglers, and Utah State University began taking steps for recovering the Bonneville Cutthroat trout in the tributary.

In 2013, they used a chemical treatment to remove the Brown Trout from the Right-hand fork.

To ensure the exotic trout would not re-enter Right-hand fork, researchers installed structures at the mouth of the tributary allowing trout to exit but not return.

The new population of Bonneville Cutthroat trout had to come from the Logan River, so the genetics would remain the same.

Paul Thompson, deputy director of the Recoveries Program in Utah’s Department of Natural Resources said, “Because [the Logan River] has whirling disease we couldn’t move live fish, so we collected eggs from the spawning fish in Temple fork, another tributary of the Logan River.”

The Cache Anglers played a large role in the relocation of these trout.

Budy explains, “Removing [the eggs and embryos] then restocking the juveniles was largely the responsibility of the Cache Anglers. They did a wonderful job.”

The Bonneville Cutthroat trout are now thriving in the Right-hand fork with multiple age classes and big, fat, catchable native trout.

It has been over 50 years since managers feared the Bonneville Cutthroat trout waswere extinct. With ongoing conservation efforts, the native trout has now been restored to 40% of its historic range.

This is Shauna Leavitt and I’m Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Photos: Courtesy and Copyright Paul Thompson, Utah DNR
Text: Shauna Leavitt

Sources & Additional Reading

http://cacheanglers.com/

https://wildlife.utah.gov/fishing-in-utah.html

Bengston, Anna, Cutthroat Trout, WildAboutUtah.org, 2014, July 10, https://wildaboututah.org/cutthroat-trout/

VanZanten, Chadd, A “no-trouts-land” on the Logan River, WildAboutUtah.org, 2016, December 5, https://wildaboututah.org/a-no-trouts-land-on-the-logan-river/

Cutthroat Trout, Native trout of the interior west, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://wildlife.utah.gov/cutthroat-home.html

McKell, Matt, Small Stream Cutthroat Trout, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, May 10, 2016, http://wildlife.utah.gov/blog/2016/small-stream-cutthroat-trout/

Hansen, Brad, Albert Perry Rockwood, WildAboutUtah.org, 2017, February 3, https://wildaboututah.org/albert-perry-rockwood/