Cows vs. buffaloes?
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/04/us/politics/trump-buffalos-montana.html
The outcome is not hard to predict.
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Monday, May 4, 2026
Trump EPA gaslighting on air pollution
While the Trump administration advocates for fossil fuels, they want to blame Asia now for Salt Lake City's (and Phoenix's) air pollution problems (and so want to cut those cities some slack in terms of regulatory impacts):
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/30/climate/phoenix-salt-lake-city-pollution-epa.html
This is of course insanity and propaganda by the current administration (which does not believe in science nor facts).
The causes of pollution along the Wasatch Front (where Salt Lake City is situated) are well known.
Just a few resources to respond to this ridiculous EPA claim:
https://cwc.utah.gov/smog-lake-city-the-history-of-utahs-poor-air-quality/
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2023/11/14/reaching-air-how-historic-mistake/
https://www.slc.gov/sustainability/air-quality/
Friday, April 10, 2026
Pikas, Mountain Goats, and Global Warming
The American Pika may represent the "canary in a coal mine" for climate change impacts, and their plight should not be ignored. See this recent story:
As also indicated in 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:
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
See comments below regarding subsp. saxatillis which should also be receiving conservation attention; these subspecies need priority attention or they may be lost.
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| Ochotona princeps subsp. princeps (Wasatch range) Sept. 2014 (photo by Tony Frates) |
The five subspecies of the American Pika:
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| Journal of Mammalogy, Volume 91, Issue 2, 16 April 2010, Pages 401–417, https://doi.org/10.1644/09-MAMM-A-277.1 |
Subsp. princeps - occurs in the Wasatch Range and overall occupies the northern portion of the range of the species. Has a brighter, more rusty-brown or cinnamon color in summer.
Subsp. schisticeps - occurs in Great Basin. Has grayish markings in its summer fur and less cinnamon tones. Adapted to drier habitats.
Subsp uinta - occurs in the Uinta Mountains and Wasatch Range. Intermediate in size and color as compared to the coastal (dark) and southern Rocky Mountain (light) subspecies.
Subsp saxatilis - only occurs in Utah in the La Sal Mountains where it is disjunct from where it occurs in Colorado and New Mexico. Generally larger than the other subspecies and lighter in color (more grayish and light brown). This subspecies should have a high priority conservation status in Utah given its sparse distribution and the impacts of global warming and introduced mountain goats. While this subspecies has been considered as secure in Colorado, recent research as noted previously suggests that it may in be fact in decline. More information:
While NatureServe currently ranks the species as a whole as S4 for Utah, all of the subspecies are SNR (not ranked) which doesn't make much sense.
Why isn't the Utah DWR giving these subspecies more attention? They should all have state NatureServe ranks.
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
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:
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.
Saturday, May 24, 2025
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):
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
Friday, May 23, 2025
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:
More information
Bee City USA (an initiative of the Xerces Society) website:
Xerces website:
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.
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
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:
"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://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
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| Yucca jaegeriana in Mohave Co AZ 4/25/1986 (Tony Frates photo) |
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