Pikas, Mountain Goats, and Global Warming

The American Pika is the "canary in a coal mine" and their plight should not be ignored.  See this recent story:

https://www.kuer.org/science-environment/2026-04-08/these-fuzzy-alpine-animals-are-feeling-the-heat-of-utahs-hot-dry-winter

From this article.

"Other research has begun studying the effects of mountain goat grazing on pika habitat, too. Goats aren’t native to the La Sals, but the state introduced them there starting in 2013. Some environmental groups have argued that adding mountain goats threatens the fragile alpine ecosystem."

The Utah Native Plant Society has been one of those "environmental" groups opposed to these non-native mountain goat introductions. But the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources remains committed to introducing them where they don't belong throughout the state.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as well as the state of California have failed to conclude that any of the subspecies of the America Pika are eligible for listing under federal and state laws.  The original American Pika ESA (Endangered Species Act) petition was filed over 15 years ago.

The conclusion reached in 2010 by the USFWS (see link below) that these animals were not likely in danger of extinction or likely to be become endangered in the foreseeable future throughout all of a significant portion of the range was in my opinion flawed. There is always a lack of data but at some point you have to act in the best interest of the species and not just push decisions down the road when we know that worldwide temperatures are increasing every year and faster than expected and that the human influence on global warming is only getting worse year after year.  And until human populations stabilize and given now also extreme anti-environmental policies, species decline and likelihood of extinctions should be obvious.

Here is the USFWS 2010 decision concluding that none of the subspecies were eligible for listing:

https://www.fws.gov/sites/default/files/federal_register_document/2010-2405.pdf

See also:

https://www.aspentimes.com/news/federal-agency-denies-protections-for-tiny-pika/

https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/American_pika/action_timeline.html

However, very recent research is again indicating that they are in fact at potentially severe  and imminent risk:

https://www.colorado.edu/today/2025/11/18/new-pika-research-finds-troubling-signs-iconic-rocky-mountain-animal

Ochotona princeps subsp. uinta which is only known to occur in Utah (Wasatch Range and Uinta Mtns - has still not being ranked to Utah) and Wyoming (S1 NatureServe rank)

https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.898829/Ochotona_princeps_uinta

Subsp. uinta as well as subsp. schisticeps should have been listed in 2010.  

The current T4 rank makes little sense with respect to subsp. schisticeps, also with no NatureServe rank for Utah:

https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.895817/Ochotona_princeps_sch

These subspecies need priority attention or they may be lost.

Pictures and more information

 

Ochotona princeps subsp. princeps (Wasatch range) Sept. 2014
(photo by Tony Frates)

Utah roadless areas need protection

In light of the attacks on the environment coming out of Washington DC, here is an older article that discusses the importance of roadless areas in support of biodiversity, specifically referring to Utah:

https://www.hcn.org/articles/utah-biodiversity-thrives-in-utahs-roadless-areas-rollback-threatens-at-risk/

The article in turn references this report which concluded that roadless protections are crucial to sustaining the health and diversity of more than 100 at-risk species.  Yet the state of Utah was at that time fighting to reduce the restrictions into those protected areas. 

Potential impacts to the Ashley National Forest in Utah are of particular concern in this latest misguided effort to increase logging in our forests.

Old and older growth forests have largely already been decimated in the U.S. and need protection, not roads and logging.  This will not "fix our forests."   It is estimated that only a very few remnant old-growth forests remaining the United States (less than 1% in the East and 5% in the West (see Why old-growth forests?).

The current administration shuns science and in fact seems to instead revile it.  You can't use "common sense" (even if that normally even applies to you which it doesn't to our current  administration) to figure these things out and take appropriate management action.  Not understanding climate change (which is real) and instead referring to it as a "hoax" is code for avoiding the truth.  And the truth can be inconvenient, but it is still the truth.

NPS's I&M division on the DOGE chopping block

The National Park Service's (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring Division (I&M) is headed for a DOGE reduction or elimination in its entirety.

The I&M division provides scientific data that is critical for park management.  It helps to ensure that the parks remain healthy and are meeting their conservation objectives.

This May 2025 article concerning the federally listed Navajo Sedge (Carex specuicola):

https://www.nps.gov/articles/protecting-navajo-sedge-in-natural-bridges.htm

was authored by an I&M research scientist and the related work was done by experienced I&M staffers along with Natural Bridges National Monument staff.

More about the I&M division:

https://www.nps.gov/im/index.htm

DOGE has been illegally in control of the NPS since April of 2025.

Related articles:

Elon Musk's DOGE is now running America's national parks (April 21, 2025)

https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/doge-running-national-parks-20287023.php

DOGE now in control of the National Park Service (April 23,2025):

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/impacting-travel/doge-now-in-control-of-the-national-park-service-what-we-know

DOGE Is Now in Charge of U.S. National Parks (April 24, 2025)

https://www.fodors.com/news/news/national-parks-will-now-be-run-by-elon-musks-doge

Navajo Sedge information

Utah Rare Plants website:

https://www.utahrareplants.org/pdf/Carex_specuicola.pdf

ECOS:

https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/species/8579

Provo recognizes the critical importance of native pollinators

Provo is the first city in Utah to join the Bee City USA initiative which focuses on native pollinator  education and conservation.

BYU student newspaper article:

https://universe.byu.edu/metro/provo-joins-bee-city-usa-as-first-in-utah-to-boost-pollinator-conservation

More information

Bee City USA (an initiative of the Xerces Society) website:

https://beecityusa.org/

Xerces website:

https://xerces.org/

Related:  

Project 1100 (based in Utah) website:

https://www.projectelevenhundred.org/

Note: Project 1100 is named in honor of the some 1100 species of native bees found so far in Utah.  While Utah is known as the "honeybee state" and has a state flag that utilizes a fanciful beehive graphic, honeybees are not native bees and hive placement (among other impacts) can have a seriously negative impact on our native bees. Utah's native flora (which includes some 3,000 vascular plant species alone) evolved alongside native bees (and other pollinators, but bees typically have been the most significant) and not honeybees.   And without plants, we would not exist.

ESA protection for two Joshua Tree species required to be reanalyzed

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has been ordered to reanalyze climate change threats to  the Western and Eastern Joshua Tree species.  Endangered Species Act (ESA) designations as threatened species was previously denied.

Related links:

https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2025/05/15/joshua-tree-protection-ruling/83658422007/

https://abcnews.go.com/US/federal-court-rules-attempt-withhold-endangered-species-act/story?id=121792589

https://wildearthguardians.org/press-releases/federal-court-sides-with-conservationists-joshua-tree-analysis-unlawfully-sidesteps-climate-science/

https://wildearthguardians.org/brave-new-wild/where-we-work/arizona/inside-the-courtroom-legal-fellow-casey-bage-wins-for-wildlife/

"The court emphasized the need for the FWS to adequately address the threats posed by climate change, including prolonged droughts, increasing fire, and habitat loss, to the Joshua tree."

There are two separate species involved.  The species that occurs in the southwestern corner of Utah is the Eastern Joshua Tree, Yucca jaegeriana, and not Yucca brevifolia (which does not actually occur in Utah as was historically thought).  In Utah Y. jaegeriana is considered to be criticially imperiled (S1) at the NatureServe state ranking level.   The two species may appear superficially to be similar in appearance but they have different growth habits, different leaf lengths, different pollinators, and different fruit and flower morphologies.  Y. jaegeriana is for example generally not as tall and is branched compared to the taller, unbranched Y. brevifolia.  

Y. jaegeriana in Utah solely occurs in Washington County extending to western Arizona and  then from southeastern to southwestern Nevada and then slipping just over the border into southeastern California.  Y. brevifolia also occurs in Nevada but farther to north in southwestern Nevada and then extending more into the interior of southeastern California.  While there is an area where they meet, they are mostly not sympatric.

Both species are highly threatened by climate change, wildfires, habitat loss and invasive species.

Some journal references and related links:

Recognition of Y. jaegeriana as a species in 2007:

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1050&context=aliso#:~:text=Yucca%20brevifolia%20s.s.%20is%20arborescent,5).

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/ecology-and-evolution/articles/10.3389/fevo.2023.1266892/full

In July of 2023 California passed the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act to conserve western Joshua tree and its habitat 

https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Environmental-Review/WJT

Yucca jaegeriana in Mohave Co AZ 4/25/1986 (Tony Frates photo)

Honey bee apiaries on public lands and in natural areas

Some references relating to concerns about honey bees especially when apiaries are placed on public lands or in/near natural areas follow:

Commercial honeybees threaten to displace Utah’s native bees

Nick Bowlin March 7, 2019, High Country News

https://www.hcn.org/issues/51-5/public-lands-commercial-honeybees-threaten-to-displace-utahs-native-bees-pesticides/

Fighting for Flowers: Native Bee Conservation and the Dangers of Honeybee Permitting on Public Lands 

Thomas Meinzen, Grand Canyon Trust, March 2020 presentation

https://www.unps.org/miscpdf/MeinzenProtectBeesMarch2020.pdf

Will Putting Honey Bees on Public Lands Threaten Native Bees?

https://e360.yale.edu/features/will-putting-honey-bees-on-public-lands-threaten-native-bees

by Jennifer Oldhamd, September 15, 2020, Yale Environment 360 (published by the Yale School of the Environment)

Article quotations:

As suitable sites become scarce, commercial beekeepers are increasingly moving their hives to U.S. public lands. But scientists warn that the millions of introduced honey bees pose a risk to native species, outcompeting them for pollen and altering fragile plant communities.

“There are no feral honey bees in Utah — the winters are too long and cold,” Cane said. “This is essentially the most intact native bee fauna in the U.S. It’s worth protecting.”

 

Environmental groups want to block honeybees from Utah’s national forests

By Brian Maffly,  Aug. 23, 2020, Salt Lake Tribune

https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2020/08/23/environmental-groups-want/

 

Investigating Imperiled Bumble Bee Species Distributions and Habitat Associations

Oct 1, 2023  to Jan 30, 2026, USDA Research Project:

https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/project/?accnNo=445663

Bumble bees are critically important pollinators for wild plants and agricultural crop production, but are declining globally. Bumble bee population declines have been attributed to several interacting stressors, including land-use alteration and climate change. 

Project 1100 

Various articles from 2019 to 2021 including:

Why Honey Bee Apiaries Should Never Be Permitted On National Public Lands by Vincent Tepedino (2019).

https://www.projectelevenhundred.org/the-science

Xerces

An Overview of the Potential Impacts of Honey Bees to Native Bees, Plant Communities, and Ecosystems in Wild Landscapes:  Recommendations for Land Managers

https://xerces.org/sites/default/files/2018-06/16-067_02_Overview%20of%20the%20Potential%20Impacts%20of%20Honey%20Bees_web.pdf

Comment: contains many recommendations with respect to the placement of apiaries on public lands and natural areas.

Citation:

Hatfield, R. G., S. Jepsen, M.Vaughan, S. Black, E. LeeMäder. 2018. An Overview of the Potential Impacts of Honey Bees to Native Bees, Plant Communities, and Ecosystems in Wild Landscapes: Recommendations for Land Managers. 12 pp. Portland, OR: The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

Want To Save The Bees? Focus On Habitat, Not Honey Bees

By Rich Hatfield and Matthew Shepherd on 6. July 2023

https://xerces.org/blog/want-to-save-bees-focus-on-habitat-not-honey-bees

Honey Bees in North America: Why Getting a Hive Won’t “Save the Bees”

by Rich Hatfield and Matthew  Shepherd (Xerces), 2023

https://xerces.org/sites/default/files/publications/22-011.pdf

 

Why preserve the natural world?

This question is closely related to the "Why care?" question that arises when talking about why we should avoid causing plant species to become extinct.

How about this:  We exist because of plants.  The very air that we breathe is because of plants.  They sustain us and shelter us.  Yet we give them so very little respect.

A February 15, 2024 World Economic Forum report provides even more logical reasons such as:  half of the world's GDP is dependent on nature.   Yet we are likely losing species due to rapid habitat loss without even realizing it.  Kew estimates that there may be as many as 100,000 unnamed plant species over and above the roughly 400,000 that are known.

Preserving the natural world is critical to our very survival as well as our economic well-being. It should be our highest priority.  Without it, we have nothing.