A Utah Public Radio production featuring contributors who share a love of nature, preservation and education
Podcast: Wild About Utah
Wild About Utah is a Utah Public Radio production featuring contributors who share a love of nature, preservation and education. Contributors include Bridgerland Audubon Society, Utah Public Radio, Stokes Nature Center, the Edith Bowen Laboratory School (EBLS) at USU and many other nature-related individuals and institutions. See WildAboutUtah.org for a list of authors, voices and contributors.
The morels are among the most highly prized edible mushrooms in North America. Also called sponge mushrooms, morels have a long list of local names. There is an on-going debate as to how many species of morel are found in North America and what each should be named. Some suggest as few as 3 species, others as many as 50 species. For simplicity, Michael Piep of the Intermountain Herbarium, says 4: white or yellow, half-free, gray and black. All are delicious.
All morels have a cone-shaped, sponge-like head on a lighter colored stem. Appearances can be deceiving … morels are difficult to spot at the best of times, and seem adroit at hiding and camouflage.
“Where does one find Morels?”
This is an interesting question … localities range from under an old apple tree in Taylorsville to pine woodlands high in the canyons. In general, the white/yellow and half-free types tend to occur along streams and rivers most often on sand bars and tend to prefer areas with mature cottonwood trees nearby. Black morels are found at higher elevations typically on north or north-east facing slopes and most frequently under Lodgepole pine, but may be found with other conifer species and even quaking aspen. Gray morels don’t seem to be as choosy, and can be found in both habitat types.
The half-free morels start fruiting first, starting at about the time the buds on the cottonwood trees are about to burst. Yellow/white morels fruit at about the time the apple blossoms show pink; as do the grays. The black morels fruit about the time the aspen leaves are the size of a dime.
Hopefully these rough guidelines will help in your pursuit of the wily morel, and as always … Happy Mushrooming!
This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society. Credits:
Photo: Courtesy and Copyright Chris Schnepf, University of Idaho, Bugwood.org
Text: Michael Piep, Intermountain Herbarium, Utah State University
Little Brown Bats Photographer: W.D. Fritzwater Courtesy US FWS
Hi, I’m Holly Strand from Stokes Nature Center in beautiful Logan Canyon.
There are approximately 4600 mammal species in the world. A fifth—yes, 20%– of these species are bats. They are found everywhere except Antarctica. In Utah they are found at every elevation and in every ecosystem.
Bats are the only mammal that flies. “You forgot about humans,” my very precise husband points out. Well, OK bats are the only mammal that flies without a license and an airplane.
The majority of bats have smallish eyes perhaps leading to the expression “blind as a bat.” But bats are not at all blind. All of them can see and some rely solely on vision for both navigation and foraging. But most bats also have a sixth sense—called echolocation–to navigate and detect prey.
Mariana Fruit Bat From the Northern Mariana Islands Photographer: Ann Hudgins Courtesy US FWS
Echolocation refers to the process of sending out pulses of sound and listening to
the echoes to locate or avoid objects. Bats emit pulses of high frequency sound from their larynx or voicebox. These sounds are ultrasonic which means that they occur at frequencies beyond the range that humans can hear. The sounds are emitted through the mouth in some bats and through the nose in others.
The sounds bounce off external objects and echoes are returned to the bat’s ear. The size and shape of the bat’s ears help amplify the returning sound. The sound travels through the ear and is converted to vibrations in the inner ear fluid and then on to the brain via the auditory nerve.
Bat brains have unique structures that compare the features of the original sound pulse against the characteristics of the returning echoes. By assembling and assessing the return data, bats can know the direction of and distance of an object. Some bat species have evolved echolocation to such a degree that they can even distinguish shape among individual species of insects.
Townsend’s Big-eared Bat Courtesy National Park Service
Because of echolocation bats are phenomenal hunters in low light conditions. A single little brown bat can catch 300 to 3,000 insects per night, and a nursing mother little brown bat eats more than her body weight each night — up to 4,500 insects. Hmm. That’s a lot of mosquitoes. I think I’ll invite some bats to my backyard this summer.
Thanks to the Marie Eccles Foundation –the Russell Family for supporting Stokes Nature Center programs.
For Wild About Utah and Stokes Nature Center, I’m Holly Strand.
Credits: Images: Courtesy US FWS and USDA Forest Service
Text: Stokes Nature Center: Holly Strand
Bat Week 2015
Sometimes misunderstood, bats are important and fascinating animals. Watch this video to learn some bat facts, find out what challenges are facing bats today and what you can do to help #savethebats. Bat Week Video
In early May, pale yellow carpets some hillsides of Northern Utah. The plants are a non-native known as Dyer’s Woad. This Asian member of the cabbage family has been cultivated as a dye and medicinal plant in Europe and Asia for 2000 years. Dyer’s Woad produces a glorious blue dye, but the process is tricky. No synthetic dye equals the color and characteristics of woad dyes.
Woad had arrived in Utah by 1932 as a seed contaminant. Now it is a noxious weed. Woad has a number of unique abilities that contribute to its vigor. Being a biennial plant, it spends the first year of life as a rosette of leaves, building reserves. In its second year, those reserves allow a woad plant to send forth a tall, lanky stem covered with pale yellow flowers that ultimately yield up to 10,000 seeds per plant.
Although Dyer’s Woad is not toxic, few animals relish it either. The seeds have chemicals that inhibit germination and root elongation in other plants, giving woad a competitive edge. Woad causes millions of dollars in losses each year, so control is a major issue. Herbicides and mechanical removal are best used against the rosettes, but nature has provided a native fungus that views woad as dinner. This rust fungus is very effective at eliminating or severely reducing seed production. Plants infected with the rust fungus are misshapen, wrinkly, and covered in dark spots. Those spots brim with rust spores. Therefore, when removing woad, leave the sickly plants to infect yet more woads.
This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society. Credits:
Photos: Brad Krupp, Utah State University, Bugwood.org
Text: Michael Piep, Utah Native Plant Society
Beaver with branch in water Courtesy US FWS, Steve Hillebrand, Photographer
Hi, I’m Holly Strand from Stokes Nature Center in beautiful Logan Canyon.
Beavers and beaver dams are a common feature of the Utah landscape. You’ll see the dams on smaller streams and side channels, constructed of branches, downed trees and mud. The still, deep water of the resulting pond creates ideal conditions for a beaver lodge. Beavers can escape and hide from predators by slipping into the pond and disappearing into the lodge. Beavers also use their ponds to cache their favorite
food—aspen and willow.
Because of their tree cutting and dam making skills, humans tend to have two divergent opinions of beavers: 60-pound nuisance or environmental engineer.
Beaver lodge Courtesy US FWS Hans Stuart, Photographer
Beavers are considered a nuisance when they gnaw down trees that humans want to keep. Dams can flood roads or stop up irrigation canals. When beaver activity conflicts with human interests, they—the beavers–are likely to be trapped and killed.
However, beaver activity has many positive environmental consequences that we are just beginning to appreciate. Wetlands created by beaver dams help soak up sediments, improving downstream water quality. Because of beaver dams, the winter snowpack isn’t lost in a short spring pulse, This results in a more constant stream flow through the summer –and that’s important as Utah’s climate is predicted to become drier. Finally, beaver dams enhance habitat for many other fish and wildlife species and plants.
Beaver in pond Courtesy US FWS Steve Hillebrand, Photographer
According to Dr. Joe Wheaton, a geomorphologist at Utah State University, there’s a lot of untapped potential for employing beaver engineers in stream and floodplain restoration. Say you want to restore a stream by reconnecting it with its floodplain. You need to excavate channels, redirect stream flow, revegetate and nurture the
area for a long period of time. To accomplish this, you often need a
number of highly trained professionals and some large Tonka toys.
Alternatively –under the right conditions– you might transplant a
colony of beavers and let them apply their vigorous work ethic to your
landscape and get quite satisfying results.
Recognizing that nuisance beavers can be rehabilitated into hard
working wetland engineers and stream habitat restorationists, the Utah
Division of Wildlife Resources has rolled out the state’s first beaver
management plan in 2010. This plan encourages live trapping of entire
families of beavers in nuisance areas and moves them to specific sites where their
environmental services can be appreciated and put to use.
Beaver in snow Courtesy US FWS
Thanks to the USU College of Natural Resources for supporting this Wild about Utah topic.
For Wild About Utah and Stokes Nature Center, I’m Holly Strand.
Credits: Images: Courtesy US FWS, Photographers: Steve Hillebrand and Hans Stuart, https://images.fws.gov
Text: Holly Strand, Stokes Nature Center
Prettyman, B. 2009. Utah wildlife: Leave it to the beavers. Article in Salt Lake Tribune, October 16, 2009. https://www.sltrib.com/ci_13570110 [ Accessed April 29, 2010]
