The new planned state prison and Inland Port will place prisoners and employees closer to the extensive wetlands and the mosquitoes they naturally produce. Attempting to control mosquitoes is likely to create some serious problems. These noxious biting insects are pesky, and they carry a variety of diseases including malaria, West Nile virus, Zika and dog heartworm. They … [Read more...]
Squaw Peak Road – My favorite Sunday drive in Utah
I rediscovered the great American road trip in the 1980s after returning from graduate school in Alabama. I had just started up Provo Canyon in my car when I saw the turnoff to the Squaw Peak Road (FS Road 27) on the right leading to the Rock Canyon area above downtown Provo. The Rock Canyon “Gorge” is easily visible from I-15, immediately above the Provo LDS Temple, and … [Read more...]
CSAs to the Covid Rescue: The newest growing reasons for healthier diets
As a local gardening and wild foods instructor through West high School’s Community Education program for years, I have noticed a steady increase in the interest of the community to eat healthier, local foods. My students have indicated that they are starting backyard gardens or even foraging the many available foods to increase their health through better nutrition and more … [Read more...]
Winter Gardening — Why Wait for Spring?
Why Wait for Spring? Most gardeners believe the only way they can grow vegetable plants during the dead of winter is in some type of greenhouse. However, I have successfully grown cold-hardy plants such as spinach, lettuce, arugula and even carrots, beets, radishes and Swiss chard right through the coldest Utah winters for more than 30 years without any protection from the … [Read more...]
Four easy ways to conserve water in Utah from snow
Utah Water Conservation Utahns live in one of the driest places in America. We know about the very real need for water conservation in Utah, we talk about it all the time. Yet those living along the Wasatch Front waste more water per person than almost anywhere else in the world. To make things worse, we water our yards with expensive drinking water, which consist mostly of … [Read more...]
Utah Hunting: Modern Day Big Game Hunting Cooperatives
Putting red meat on the table Utah Hunting Although my grandfather was an avid duck hunter and helped to start Utah’s first duck hunting club, and my father was an avid pheasant hunter, neither of them introduced me to hunting big game. I started hunting mule deer when I was 21 and a poor undergraduate wildlife student at Utah State University. Forty-four years later, I … [Read more...]
A Few Practical Ideas On Reducing Car Idling
Over the years, improvements in energy efficiency of newer cars, and more freeways facilitating higher car speeds traveling at higher gear ratios have contributed to reducing air pollution per mile traveled. Unfortunately, smog from vehicles along the Wasatch Front continues to worsen. In this article, I attempt to provide a few ideas towards reducing car … [Read more...]
The Endangered Utah Lake June Sucker
The June sucker (JS), native only to Utah Lake, was placed on America’s Endangered Species’ List more than a decade ago when there were less than 400 remaining in the lake. Two other native fishes of the lake, Utah Lake sculpin, and a unique form of our state fish, the Utah Lake Bonneville cutthroat trout, are already extinct. To save this unique suckerfish and its extremely … [Read more...]
Local Native Wildlife: Pigeons, Squirrels, and Blackbirds, Oh My!
As a longtime promoter of local native wildlife, I have always been intrigued by native animals adapting to the urban environments of Salt Lake City. Native deer, doves, and ducks all do well and whole herds of mule deer now live well within city limits. Many mourning doves now raise their young in our neighborhoods and no longer migrate south as they had done for millennia. … [Read more...]
Dog Obedience for Everyone
Decades ago, my grandfather was the pharmacist at a downtown Rexall Drug store, but his heart lay in the outdoors. He was well known as an avid fly fisherman, and also helped to establish the first duck hunting club in Utah; the Utah Duck Club. His true passion, however, was in training hunting dogs, a passion that was handed down to me. I mostly train bird … [Read more...]