Wild About Utah Archives - Page 108 of 223

January 15, 2018March 4, 2026

Wildlife In Winter & Climate Change

Last Saturday 3 intrepid young families joined us for a morning with the Stokes Nature Center slipping and sliding along a canyon trail to discover animal and plant adaptations to survive the winter. We marveled at the American dipper as it enjoyed plunging in icy water hoping to capture its prey. The dipper remains dry due to a super-sized uropygial gland used for waterproofing its feathers as it preens combined with a thick layer of super isolative fur like feathers. Its temperature actually drops in extreme cold reducing radiated heat loss.

Water reptiles and amphibians were in deep sleep in their mud cocoons. They manage winter through slowing metabolic processes which greatly reduces their need for oxygen, nutrition and waste elimination. What little oxygen needed can be absorbed through their skin without breathing.

Animals such as bears can go into an alternate, light hibernation state called a torpor. Torpor is like hibernation, but in this condition, the bear can be awakened easily. I was reminded of this fact from a friend tagging bear cubs in Book Cliffs of eastern Utah. She would enter the bear din very gingerly trying not to awaken a grumpy mom! Ground squirrels are also among animals who torpor, however they shift between hibernation, torpor, and being awake.

The common poorwill, an uncommon bird in Utah Mountains, is the only bird that goes into true hibernation. It hibernates during extreme temperatures — when it is either too hot or too cold — and at times of food scarcity. The common poorwill can even hibernate while they are incubating eggs, proving to be not only a true survivor, but also a riveting multitasking animal.

Grouse Snow Angel Exiting Subnivean Cave Courtesy US FWS & Wikimedia, Tamarac Refuge, MN — Grouse Snow Angel Exiting Subnivean Cave
Courtesy US FWS & Wikimedia, Tamarac Refuge, MN

Snow is an excellent insulator where many of our more active animals spend most of their winters in subnivean (beneath the snow) environments. Mice, voles, and shrews retreat here for protection from cold temperatures, bitter winds, and hungry predators. Food is right at hand: grass, leaves, bark, seeds, and insects are free and unfrozen. These tiny mammals create long tunnel systems complete with air shafts to the surface above. Perhaps you’ve seen the pocket gopher tunnels revealed as the snow retreats- a snaking ridge of soil creating some interesting, artistic patterns.

Short-tailed weasels, also known in winter as ermine, have a long, slender body shape that allows them to invade subnivean tunnels to prey upon smaller mammals.Photographer: Steven HintCourtesy WikimediaLicensed under Cc-by-sa-3.0 — Short-tailed weasels, also known in winter as ermine, have a long, slender body shape that allows them to invade subnivean tunnels to prey upon smaller mammals.
Photographer: Steven Hint
Courtesy Wikimedia
Licensed under Cc-by-sa-3.0

It takes only six inches of snow for mice, voles, and shrews to have a sturdy roof over their heads and roomy living quarters below. Add another two inches and the subnivean zone remains within a degree or two of 32°F, regardless of the temperature and weather conditions in the outside world.

Living under the snow is not without risk. Owls can hear mice and voles running around underground from thirty yards away. With balled-up feet, they crash through the top crust and all the layers of snow to grab their prey. Foxes and coyotes detect by scent. With an acrobatic pounce, these predators will dive right in for their meal. Suffocation is a hazard for those left behind in a collapsed tunnel.

So what happens to these little critters in a low snow-no snow winter becoming more common in a changing climate? I’m guessing a much higher rate of mortality which may not bode well for those bigger critters- hawks, owls, fox, coyote, etc., who munch them.

This is Jack Greene and I’m Wild about Utah!!

Credits:

Images: Peter Hart, Photographer, Photo credit: PEHart via Visual hunt / CC BY-SA
Courtesy Wikimedia Steve Hint, Photographer, Licensed under Cc-by-sa-3.0
Courtesy US FWS Digital Library
Text: Jack Greene

Additional Reading:

Larese-Casanova, Mark, The Shape of Wildlife in Winter, Wild About Utah, Jan 26,2012, https://wildaboututah.org/the-shape-of-wildlife-in-winter/

Mackay, Barbara, The Subnivean Zone: Shelter in the Snow, Northern Woodlands, Dec 29, 2014, https://wildaboututah.org/the-shape-of-wildlife-in-winter/

Peering into the secret world of life beneath winter snows, National Science Foundation,
https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=136986

Snow Tracks, National Wildlife Refuge System, https://www.fws.gov/refuges/features/SnowTracks.html

Glacier National Park:
Winter Ecology Teacher’s Guide https://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/education/upload/Winter%20Ecology%20Teacher%20Guide%202010.pdf

Subnivean Samba: https://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/education/subnivean-samba.htm

4-6, Unit Five, Activity 1: “Snug in the Snow” https://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/education/4-6-unit-five-activity-1-snug-in-the-snow.htm

Winter Ecology, Preparing for your Trip, 3rd-5th Grade Field Trip, https://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/education/upload/3rd-5th-winter-field-trip_GNP.pdf

Rocky Mountain National Park:
Winter Ecology Teacher Guide, https://www.nps.gov/romo/learn/education/upload/Winter-Ecology-Teacher-Guide-for-web.pdf

Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve:
Lesson Plan, Prepare for Cold Air!, https://www.nps.gov/teachers/classrooms/prepare-for-cold-air.htm

Helping you share Utah’s natural world!, Utah Nature Explorers, Utah Master Naturalist Program, https://extension.usu.edu/utahnatureexplorers/index

Porpora, Alex, Butts, Neicca, Larese-Casanova, Mark, An Introduction to Nature Journals, Utah Master Naturalist Program, https://extension.usu.edu/utahnatureexplorers/pdflessonplans/generalnature/naturejournaling/Nature%20Journaling.pdf

January 8, 2018March 4, 2026

Wild Children

Isa and Students Imitating Raptor Flight Patterns at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School(EBLS) Experiential Learning Eric Newel Director & Photographer — Isa and Students Imitating Raptor Flight Patterns at the
Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge
Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School(EBLS)
Experiential Learning
Eric Newel Director & Photographer

*Field Recording: Isa Identifies Raptors

Lisa Saunderson teaching students to observe and ponder the landscape before rendering their horizons in watercolors at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School(EBLS) Experiential Learning Eric Newel Director & Photographer — Lisa Saunderson teaching students to observe and ponder the landscape before rendering their horizons in watercolors at the
Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge
Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School(EBLS)
Experiential Learning
Eric Newel Director & Photographer

Edith Bowen third graders recently had the opportunity to visit the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Brigham City. The day was chock a block full of exciting activities like the one we just heard meant to engage students’ senses and ground their understanding of core curriculum within the context of the place we were visiting.

[We] learn better when we’re immersed in the context of the thing we study. Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School(EBLS) Experiential Learning Eric Newel Director & Photographer — [We] learn better when we’re immersed in the context of the thing we study.
Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School(EBLS)
Experiential Learning
Eric Newel Director & Photographer

Place-based and experiential education are relatively new terms for old human evolutionary qualities. Basically, we humans learn better when we’re immersed in the context of the thing we study. Being in a place, engaging each of our senses in its character, and learning how that character and our own are interdependent builds powerful context. When educators can insert their core curriculum into that context each strand of understanding becomes deeper and richer.

So we had people like my friend Isa, who you heard at the beginning of the segment, racing with students through the grasslands, imitating the flight patterns of raptors to drive home an understanding of adaptive specificity in different bird species.

Art at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge
Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School(EBLS) Experiential Learning
Eric Newel Director & Photographer — Art at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge
Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School(EBLS)
Experiential Learning
Eric Newel Director & Photographer

Our art teacher, Lisa Saunderson, sat with students to observe and ponder the landscape before teaching them to expertly render their horizons in watercolors. For my small part, I sat with students- six or seven at a time- and introduced them to Aldo Leopold. As it was the final day of November, I read from the Chapter of A Sand County Almanac honoring the month.

In reading Leopold’s words, I wanted to model for my students how close, careful observation can deepen our experience of a place and even transcend time through the words we write down- fleeting thoughts becoming immediately eternal with the stroke of a pen. When I gave them time of their own to sit, observe, and write, what they came up with gave me goosebumps.

Field Recording: Avery’s reading: All Around Me by Avery F.; In front, water is weaving around a maze of marsh
Beside me there is a bench standing all alone.
Behind there is a wall of stalks, some almost as tall as me.
Beside there is an endless walk waiting for men to walk and talk.

Field Recording: Lila’s reading: November ends
The deep coolness flows through the cheeks and the nose
The water is as still as rock
Cattails are stuck in black tar
The birds whistle and sing
It spreads and spreads until you can’t hear
The grass flows as the wind blows
Where am I?

Recording Observations at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School(EBLS) Experiential Learning Eric Newel Director & Photographer — Recording Observations at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge
Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School(EBLS) Experiential Learning
Eric Newel Director & Photographer

Awareness of a place produces powerful perspectives of it, especially among the tiny human sponges we call children. The day went on and on like this, students building deep contextual understandings of their place. What were once the far hinterlands of their home range became an intimate, familiar setting they knew and spoke of fondly. Eyes lifted to goose music and the whistle of flight feathers thereafter.

To finish our visit, we heard a welcome interpretation of the natural history of the bird refuge- a bit of geographical orienting for the kids to digest and incorporate into their understanding of the place.

Field Recording: Ranger Interpretor: You live in what is called, (And this is a 4th-grade concept, but your guys are so smart, you know it just like that.)
The Bear River Watershed.
Okay, it is the corridor, in this valley, through which the rivers travel.

“Hey,” Johnny cried suddenly, catching the Ranger off guard. He pointed 20 yards beyond her as a raptor cut quick and low across our field of vision. “Look! Flap, flap, glide! It’s an accipiter!” If awareness was what we were after, we had gotten it in spades!

This is Josh Boling, writing and reading for Wild About Utah

Credits:
Photos and Sound: Courtesy Eric Newell, 2017
Text: Josh Boling, 2017

Sources & Additional Reading

Leopold, Aldo, A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold Foundation, Originally Published 1949, https://www.aldoleopold.org/about/aldo-leopold/sand-county-almanac/

Edith Bowen Experimental School, Utah State University, https://edithbowen.usu.edu/

Name That Raptor Quiz
Birdscapes: News from International Habitat Conservation Partnerships, Division of Bird Habitat Conservation, National Conservation Training Center, US Fish & Wildlife Service, https://nctc.fws.gov/resources/knowledge-resources/birdscapes/sprsum03/Inaegg.html
Courtesy US FWS and Hawk Mountain https://www.hawkmountain.org/raptorpedia/how-to-identify-hawks/page.aspx?id=353

January 1, 2018April 22, 2023

Dark Skies

Delicate Arch at Night Courtesy National Park Service, Jacob W. Frank. Photographer — Delicate Arch at Night
Courtesy National Park Service, Jacob W. Frank. Photographer

The night sky…throughout history humans have looked up after the sun set in the evening and marveled at the astral bodies spread above them in a sea of black. This sight has inspired people from every age of history and from every culture around the world.

But it’s not the same as it used to be.

For most people, the cycles of night and day are so constant in our lives that we often take them for granted. The rising of the sun in the morning and its setting every evening molds our lives, and has for all of human history. The heavenly bodies we see above us, the sun, moon, planets, comets, and stars, influence all aspects of human civilization, from religion and philosophy to art and poetry. While daytime has remained constant from the beginning to the modern day, the same cannot be said for the night.

Until the end of the 19th century, the setting sun meant a world enveloped in darkness. The night was a time for retreat to homes and hearths, a respite in human activity until dawn. Try to imagine looking up into the night sky from the side of dying campfire ten thousand years ago, or from the step of a frontier cabin only two hundred years ago and seeing the moon and stars as the only source of light around you. Today this universal heritage is quickly being lost to the artificial light emitted by humans across the globe.

It may seem strange to think of darkness as a natural resource, but its importance to life on Earth cannot be overstated. Beyond humans, the billions of plants and animals across the planet have evolved over the eons to their own niche in the day-night cycle. Sunlight, or the lack of it, controls plant and animal behavior, from when to eat or sleep, when to migrate, where to travel to look for food, and even when to reproduce. The artificial light cast by cities disrupts these natural patterns for animals and can lead to hardship and death for many.

Efforts to reduce light pollution are picking up across the country and include everything from buildings and factories shutting off all non-essential lighting during animal migration seasons, to everyday citizens simply turning off outdoor lights when they go to bed.

Despite these efforts however, most Americans in the 21st century are still affected by at least some light pollution and many city-dwellers have never seen a truly dark night sky. Even for those living away from cities, a night sky might be interrupted by sky glow, a phenomenon that occurs when clouds scatter and reflect light back to earth.

Luckily for Utahns however, dark skies might be closer than you think. Utah is home to nine different “Dark Sky Parks”, certified by the International Dark-Sky Association. Among these places are Canyonlands and Capitol Reef National Parks; Natural Bridges, Hovenweep, and Cedar Breaks National Monuments; Dead Horse Point, Goblin Valley, and Antelope Island State Parks; as well as the North Fork area in Weber County. These dark sky parks offer a distinguished quality of starry nights and a nocturnal environment protected for future generations. So whether you are an astronomy enthusiast, an animal lover, or just want to see the night sky as our ancestors saw it for thousands of years, dark sky parks are the place for you.

Starry Night Vincent van Gogh Courtesy: Google Art Project — Starry Night
Vincent van Gogh
Courtesy: Google Art Project

As Vincent van Gogh, the mastermind behind the famous painting Starry Night once remarked, “For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”

For Wild About Utah, I’m Kajler Rask.

Credits:
Photos: Courtesy National Park Service, Frank W. Jacobs, Photographer
Starry Night, Vincent van Gogh, Courtesy: Google Art Project
Text: Kajler Rask

Clear Sky Charts, Utah, Attilla Danko, ClearDarkSky.com, https://cleardarksky.com/csk/prov/Utah_charts.html

Utah Leads The World With Nine International Dark Sky Parks, International Dark-Sky Association, https://www.darksky.org/utah-leads-the-world-with-nine-international-dark-sky-parks/

Dark Sky Parks, Utah Office of Tourism, https://www.visitutah.com/things-to-do/dark-sky-parks

Top 5 Star Gazing Spots in Utah, Utah.com, Utah Travel Industry Website, https://utah.com/article/top-5-star-gazing-spots

Eyes In The Sky: Exploring Global Light Pollution With Satellite Maps, International Dark-Sky Association, https://www.darksky.org/eyes-in-the-sky-exploring-global-light-pollution-with-satellite-maps/

Dark Skies, Antelope Island State Park, https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/antelope-island/dark-skies/

Utah State Parks Dark Skies Program, State Parks, Utah Department of Natural Resources, https://stateparks.utah.gov/resources/utah-state-parks-dark-sky-initiative/

Stargazing, Arches National Park, https://www.nps.gov/arch/planyourvisit/stargazing.htm

Lightscape / Night Sky, Arches National Park, https://www.nps.gov/arch/learn/nature/lightscape.htm

Night Skies, Natural Bridges National Monument, https://www.nps.gov/nabr/learn/nature/darkskypark.htm

Marc Toso, AncientSkys.com, https://www.ancientskys.com/

Experience the Magic of the Stars at Utah’s State Parks, Utah State Parks Blog, State of Utah, April 13, 2023, https://stateparks.utah.gov/2023/04/13/experience-the-magic-of-the-stars-at-utahs-state-parks/

December 18, 2017August 3, 2020

Sixty In-stream Habitat Structures in Four Days: Demonstrating Creek Restoration Techniques

In-stream Habitat Structures: Crews from multiple agencies gather in the encroaching pinyon-juniper forest to begin building the in-stream structures in Birch Creek, UT. Courtesy & Copyright Shauna Leavitt, Photographer — Crews from multiple agencies gather in the encroaching pinyon-juniper forest to begin building the in-stream structures in Birch Creek, UT.
Courtesy & Copyright Shauna Leavitt, Photographer

The job of building 60 in-stream habitat structures in one week seems like a daunting task. But an energetic group of 16 natural resource managers, researchers and volunteers, finish all 60 in four days.

The crew members come from numerous agencies including the Bureau of Land Management, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, the National Forest Service, interagency firefighting hotshots, and Utah State University.
The purpose of the project is to demonstrate how effective various in-stream structures are at improving habitat for Bonneville cutthroat trout and restoring riparian habitat on a two-mile stretch of Utah’s Birch Creek, located southeast of Beaver, Utah.

In-stream Habitat Structures: Crews from multiple agencies building in-stream structures to restore Birch Creek. Courtesy & Copyright Shauna Leavitt, Photographer — Crews from multiple agencies building in-stream structures to restore Birch Creek. Courtesy & Copyright Shauna Leavitt, Photographer

At one time Birch Creek was rich with beaver, riparian vegetation and diverse in-stream habitat making it an ideal home for Bonneville Cutthroat trout and sage grouse.

The beaver are now gone, and the once woody riparian vegetation has been largely replaced by an encroaching pinyon-juniper forest. The creek is one narrow ditch-like channel.

According to Joseph Wheaton, Associate Professor in the Department of Watershed Sciences and Principal Investigator, “Without the help [of man-made structures or beaver dams] recovery from this type of degradation could take centuries.”

The crews built a variety of simple structures, some designed to mimic beaver dams and others to imitate natural accumulations of wood and debris jams.

In-stream Habitat Structures: An in-stream structure build from juniper branches, cobble, gravel and mud. Courtesy & Copyright Shauna Leavitt, Photographer — An in-stream structure build from juniper branches, cobble, gravel and mud. Courtesy & Copyright Shauna Leavitt, Photographer

The largest structures are built with an excavator. The machine pulls up large junipers and drops them in the stream so the water can run over, around and through the juniper and its root wads.
Wheaton explains, ”By putting the [Juniper} in the channel we’re making habitat for fish and at the same time raising water tables, which support a whole range of riparian vegetation and wetland vegetation.”
Another structure is the Beaver Dam Analogues (BDAs), which is a simple, cost-effective method of using posts and juniper branches then adding rocks and mud to partially plug up the deliberately leaky dams, designed to be passable to fish.

In-stream Habitat Structures: A pool forming behind a newly build in-stream habitat structure. Courtesy & Copyright Shauna Leavitt, Photographer — A pool forming behind a newly build in-stream habitat structure. Courtesy & Copyright Shauna Leavitt, Photographer

Crews see immediate improvements after each structure is built. New pools form, old-channels that haven’t seen water for decades begin to flow parallel to the main channel, and formerly dry floodplains become wet sponges and wetlands.

These wet sponges will release their water later in the season providing additional moisture in dryer times.
Justin Jimenez, Fisheries Riparian Program Manager with Bureau of Land Management explains why these pools are essential, “We’re working to improve the habitat for native fish by increasing the pool frequency and depth. The depth provides thermal cover.” Which is cooler for summer rearing habitat, and warmer for winter survival.
Before this project began, downstream water-rights holders were concerned about how these structures would impact water for irrigation.

In response to their concerns, Gary O’Brien, a Geomorphologist in the Fluvial Habitat Center at USU installed a common measuring device called a V-notch weir at the top and bottom the of the two-mile stretch to measure the discharge of the stream.

According to O’Brien, “once all the structures fill their pools and the system adjusts for infiltration, we expect the top and the bottom weirs to measure a relatively consistent discharge.”
By the addition of a pressure transducer in the pool behind the weirs, O’Brien will have continuous flow of data at every stage.

With these readings the ranchers can be kept up-to-date on the impact the structures are having on the water resources. The agencies have agreed to remove the structures if gaging shows the structures are negatively impacting downstream water users.

Throughout the project, UDWR, BLM and the USFS will be monitoring cutthroat trout response, and USU will be monitoring how the habitat responds and changes through time.

By monitoring the responses, managers and researchers will be able to make more informed decisions about which types and mix of structures can be most effectively used to restore similar streams cheaply across the state.

This is Shauna Leavitt for Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Photos: Courtesy and Copyright Shauna Leavitt
Text: Shauna Leavitt

Sources & Additional Reading

Streams & Rivers Restoration, Restoration Center, NOAA Habitat Conservation, National Marine Fisheries Service,
https://habitat.noaa.gov/restoration/techniques/srrestoration.html

White, Courtney, Thinking Like a Creek, originally published by The Carbon Pilgrim, March 6, 2014,
https://resilience.org/stories/2014-03-06/thinking-like-a-creek/

Stream Restoration, United States Department of Agriculture(USDA), Natural Resources Conservation Service(NRCS),
https://nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/water/manage/restoration/

Rubenstein, Marcus, CPESC, Stream Restoration, Purpose Practice and Methods, Southeast Storm Water Association,
https://seswa.org/assets/Services/Annual-Conference/2010/11%20-%20stream%20restoration%20%20methods%20purpose%20and%20practices%20rubenstein.pdf