2009 Utah EE Conference Happenings

-by Danny Trujillo

Whats up everyone!

We have lots of cool things coming up here at USEE. The biggest one (or at least the biggest thing everyone here has been working on) is the up-coming conference that is taking place during the third week of November. We have some way awesome presenters that will be speaking this year about all things environmental education. Some of the ones topic that I am personally looking forward to are:

• Energy: The BIG Picture;
  
• Connecting Early Childhood Development and Nature; and
  
• Learning to speak the same language.

Some other really exciting presentations that will have some good information are:

• Field Trip at the Hogle Zoo;
  
• School Yard Explorers;
• Designing Games for Learning;
  
• Sowing Seeds for a New Future: Garden Education Program at the Salt Lake County Jail.

In addition to some of these presentations we will also have a free movie that will be open to the public about water issues and how the West might not have enough water for our communities. I personally have seen the film in one of my classes at the University of Utah and it makes you really think about water in a whole new way.

These are just a few of the topics that will be covered this year. Also, the key note speaker this year is Robert Michael Pyle who has written many excellent books about the environment. He is also an independent biologist and holds many other accomplishments in the environmental filed.

I hope to see you all there; it's going to be fun! For more information about this or any other up-coming events please visit our website at www.usee.org or visit our Conference Information page.

Wild About Utah: Hummingbirds

Hi, I’m Holly Strand from Stokes Nature Center in beautiful Logan Canyon.

Depending on where you are in Utah, fall is just around the corner. Or it may already be here. That means it’s time for many of our Utah birds to migrate south to warmer temperatures and more abundant food sources. Here in Logan Canyon, we’re getting ready to bid farewell to our charismatic little friends, the hummingbirds.

Hummingbirds are a New World phenomenon, living only in the western hemisphere. They are primarily tropical. Of the 330 species we know about, 95% live south of the US-Mexico border. Ecuador has 163 species--more than any other country. Colombia is next with 136 including a new species discovered just 5 years ago. Hummingbirds are known by a number of different names in Spanish including the generic term colibrí, picaflores meaning flower pickers, and the more poetic term, joyas voladores or "flying jewels."

In spite of its great size, only 16 different hummingbirds are regularly found on the North American continent. Interestingly, except for the Ruby-throated Hummingbird—all of these species breed west of the Mississippi River.

In Utah, roughly comparable to the size of Ecuador, 5 species are regular visitors. Broad-tailed hummingbird and the black-chinned hummingbird are the most common and most widespread. They both overwinter in Mexico.

The calliope hummingbird is also seen in Utah. It is the smallest breeding bird in North America weighing about as much as a penny! The calliope is also the smallest long distant migrant bird in the world traveling up to 5600 miles in a single year. The rufous hummingbird is another long distance migrant seen in Utah, traveling from as far north as Alaska all the way down to central Mexico .

There is some controversy over whether or not you should continue to feed hummingbirds in fall. Some say you should quit feeding by late August or the hummingbirds won’t migrate. This is not true. In fact, many hummingbirds begin migrating when their natural food sources are still intact. According to the Audubon Society's website, you should keep your feeders up for two weeks after you see the last bird using it in the fall. The tiny birds need to double their body mass before migration, and a bit of extra nectar can only help.

Thanks to the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation for supporting the research and development of this Wild About Utah topic. And thanks to Corrine Thul for supporting both hummingbird conservation and educational programming in Logan Canyon.

For Wild About Utah and Stokes Nature Center, I’m Holly Strand.

Credits:

Image: Courtesy and Copyright 2009 Corrine Thul
Text: Holly Strand, Stokes Nature Center

Wild About Utah is a weekly nature series produced by Utah Public Radio in cooperation with Stokes Nature Center and Bridgerland Audubon Society. Archives of the program can be found at www.wildaboututah.org.

Wild About Utah: Don't Tread on Me!

Hi, I’m Holly Strand from Stokes Nature Center in beautiful Logan Canyon.

Rattlesnakes are pit vipers with heavy bodies and broad heads. There are about 30 species and 40 more subspecies found in North and South America. They aren’t found anywhere else. All possess rattles and all are venomous.


Here in Utah we have 5 species plus 2 subspecies. The Great Basin Rattlesnake is the most widespread, living all across Western Utah at elevations up to 9000 feet. Another subspecies of western rattler--the midget faded rattlesnake--is dominant in the eastern part of the state. The Hopi rattlesnake and the greenish colored prairie rattlesnake are found in southeastern Utah. And the Mojave rattlesnake, speckled rattlesnake, and sidewinder are found only in the extreme southwest corner of Utah.

The rattle itself is a unique biological feature. It’s a loose, but interlocking series of nested segments, actually modified scales, at the end of the tail. When vibrated, the rattle produces a hissing sound.

A snake gets a new rattle segment every time it sheds it skin, and it sheds from one to four times a year. 15 or 16 rattles are common in captive snakes, but in the wild snakes with six to eight are segments more common. In wild snakes, rattles are subject to a lot of wear and tear, so they break off before they get very long. The rattle sound is the reaction of a startled or threatened snake. You’ll often see the rattling snake in a defensive S-shaped coil—but not always!

Aggression and venom in rattlesnakes vary by both species type and by individual. The western diamondback rattlesnake is the archetypal large, aggressive and very dangerous species, responsible for the majority of human fatalities caused by snake bites in America. But it’s northern range limit is south of the Utah border. However, the Mojave rattler found in southeastern Utah is extremely toxic, excitable, and its venom attacks both the nervous system and circulatory system.

Rattlesnakes aren’t out to get us, mainly they just want to be left alone. You’ll generally be fine if you stay aware of what might be in or around rocks, and don’t walk barefoot or in open-toed shoes in their habitat. Also, use a flashlight after dark; most rattlesnakes are active at night too!

Thanks to the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation for supporting the development of this Wild About Utah topic. For Wild About Utah and Stokes Nature Center, I’m Holly Strand.

Credits:
Image: Courtesy and Copyright 2009 Holly Strand
Text: Holly Strand, Stokes Nature Center

Wild About Utah: Paper Wasps

We credit the Chinese with inventing paper 2000 years ago, but some social wasps have been making their paper nests for eons. Species of paper wasps are found throughout Utah.

The burly bald-faced hornet workers are patterned in black and white. They place their grey, basketball sized paper nests in tree branches.

Bold yellow and black striped Yellowjackets are the persistent unwelcome guests at summer picnics. They too wrap their round nests in an envelope of paper, but typically place it in a shallow underground chamber. Within the paper envelope, both hornets and yellowjackets have a muti-tiered stack of paper honeycombs, like an inverted pagoda.

Our most familiar paper wasps belong to the genus Polistes. These are the reddish-brown spindly looking wasps. They make their simple paper nests under your home's roof eaves and deck railings. A Polistes nest consists of a single inverted paper honeycomb suspended from a stiff, short stalk. There is no paper envelope, so you can readily see the hexagonal paper cells. Around your yard, look for the workers scraping fibers from weathered wood surfaces. Workers mix the chewed fibers with saliva and water, carry the ball of wood pulp home, and add it to the thin sheets of their paper nest. The nest is their nursery, where you can see the queen's tiny sausage shaped eggs and the fat white grubs. The grubs are fed by their sisters, the workers, who scour the surrounding habitat for insect prey or damaged fruit.

Utah has been invaded by the European species Polistes dominula. These interlopers are displacing our native Polistes. Where these European Polistes wasps are a stinging nuisance, you can easily dispatch them at their nests with a sprayed solution of dishwashing detergent and water. Thus stripped of its clever defenders, take the opportunity to admire their homes of paper.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:

Photo: Courtesy and © Copyright 2009 Jim Cane
Text: Jim Cane, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Wild About Utah is a weekly nature series produced by Utah Public Radio in cooperation with Stokes Nature Center and Bridgerland Audubon Society. Archives of the program can be found at www.wildaboututah.org.

Wild About Utah: Squash Bees

Three Squash Bees
Peponapis pruinosa
Copyright © 2009 Jim Cane

At long last we are enjoying full summer, and with it, the bounty of our gardens. Last August on this program, you learned about our native squash bees. Unlike honeybees and bumblebees, Squash bees are not social. Each female excavates a simple vertical tunnel in the dirt the diameter of a pencil. Lateral tunnels terminate in tiny chambers where she caches pollen and nectar to feed her progeny. She lays one egg per chamber. These nests are well concealed.

But you can readily see the feverish activity of males and females at squash, pumpkin and gourd flowers soon after sunrise, often before honeybee activity. Squash bees are the size of honey bees, but earlier, faster and more deliberate in their flight. Males have a yellow spot on the face. Unlike honeybees, female squash bees carry squash pollen dry in a brush of hairs on their hind legs.

Both sexes of squash bee are valuable pollinators, indeed they are the unheralded pollinators of most of the nations squash and pumpkins. But there is more to their story in Utah. Their native hosts, the wild gourds, only grow in the hot low deserts. Native Americans domesticated and cultivated squashes and gourds, but the practice did not spread north of the red rock country. Across most of Utah and the northern US in general, we have squash bees because we grow squash. In Utah, European settlers first grew squashes only 150 years ago. Each annual generation of squash bees spread further north, hopscotching from homestead to homestead, reaching as far north today as Boise Idaho. As you pick your zucchinis, butternuts and pumpkins, realize that your squash’s flowers also fed the descendants of our squash bee pioneers.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:

Photo: Courtesy and © Copyright 2009 Jim Cane
Text: Jim Cane, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Wild About Utah is a weekly nature series produced by Utah Public Radio in cooperation with Stokes Nature Center and Bridgerland Audubon Society. Archives of the program can be found at www.wildaboututah.org.

Wild About Utah: Migratory Locust

Vast migratory swarms of flying grasshoppers, or locusts, have periodically scoured arid parts of Africa and the Middle East since Biblical times, devastating crops and causing famine. But did you know that during the 19th century, American homesteaders were likewise plagued by migratory swarms of grasshoppers? The largest swarm passed through Nebraska in June of 1875; it was 110 miles wide, 1800 miles long and more than a 1/4 mile thick, taking five days to pass overhead. It remains the world’s largest recorded insect outbreak.

Here in Utah, at the time of the transcontinental railroad, migratory locusts periodically descended on the homesteads of Mormon settlers, laying up to 1 billion eggs per acre. These ravenous swarms devoured crops, vegetation, even laundry hung out to dry. Around the Great Salt Lake, drowned pickled grasshoppers would wash ahore in vast drifts. Native peoples gathered these salty, sun-dried hoppers for food, a rich source of protein and fat.

Why are we no longer plagued by locust swarms? It appears that the Rocky Mountain locust, went extinct at the turn of the 20th century. Entomologist Jeffrey Lockwood reports that the DNA of specimens preserved in the ice of glaciers in the Wind River Range are like no other grasshopper alive today. The cause of the locust’s abrupt extinction may never be known with certainty, but Lockwood believes that these outbreaks originated in the mountain meadows of the northern Rockies. By the 1880s, these public lands were packed with cattle and sheep, far more than the land could sustain. In a few short years, livestock stripped bare the very core habitats needed by the Rocky Mountain locust, leading to its abrupt extinction and the end of locust swarms in North America.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Rocky Mountain Locust were similar to this large grasshopper.
Melanoplus sanguinipes
Photo#215400
Courtesy & Copyright © 2008 Lynette Schimming
As found on www.bugguide.net

Credits:

Photo: Courtesy & Copyright © 2008 Lynette Schimming (As found on www.bugguide.net)
Text: Jim Cane, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Wild About Utah is a weekly nature series produced by Utah Public Radio in cooperation with Stokes Nature Center and Bridgerland Audubon Society. Archives of the program can be found at www.wildaboututah.org.

The Green Building Center

-by Alaina Caudillo


Earlier this month TJ, Nicole, and I took a trip to The Green Building Center, located at 1952 East 2700 South in the Sugarhouse area. The owner of the Green Building Center, Ashley Patterson, was incredibly knowledgeable and helpful in answering all our questions and giving us a complete tour. The store does a great job utilizing many of the same products they sell such as integrating LED lighting and the use of a solar electric system, a Chili Pepper water heater, and natural lighting fixtures called Sun Pipes. Sun Pipes resemble sky lights, but transfer less of the heat coming from the natural light indoors and they conserve more heat in winter months, all the while providing an incredibly bright lighting option for your home or business. Among other things I observed a solar oven, a few types of wood stoves, and a few alternative water heaters, many of which qualify for tax credits. One of the alternative water heaters was the Chili Pepper, which they use in the store, that notifies you when the hot water from your water heater is warm so you don’t have to run the faucet while waiting for the water to heat up.

I was amazed at the selection of books for sale that can help you get started in choosing the right products for you and your family. This is a great place to find a wealth of different information, along with green products for your next remodel or home- improvement project! Some of the options available at the Green Building Center include reclaimed, FSC certified, sustainably harvested wood as well as cork and bamboo flooring. In addition, the green building center also sells beautifully recycled glass tiles and decorative paints containing zero VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) which can be matched to the color of your choice. The possibilities are endless in terms of choosing a product that will address the issue that is most concerning to the consumer, whether that means ease of use or a certain environmental concern. For example, you can choose an oil based finish for hardwood flooring made from linseed oil, which has more VOC’s but is more absorbable and easier to use, or a water based polyurethane finish that is lower in VOC’s but can be a little harder to use. Another great resource in flooring options is the real linoleum that they carry which is made from linseed oil and pine resin which makes it a biodegradable alternative to the typical “linoleum” that is actually made from vinyl.

It’s easy to improve the aesthetic value of your home as well with sustainably made products. Consider integrating beautiful furnishings and accessories into your design scheme, such as decorative pillows and clay based plasters that add texture and color to your walls. Clay based plaster is a wonderful option for bathroom walls because they naturally absorb some of the water vapor, acting as a mold inhibitor. A great way to improve the years we spend throughout our lifetime asleep is to invest in organic cotton bedding and eco-friendly mattresses made from wool or natural latex. These materials are naturally flame retardant without being processed chemically to provide you with this very important, as well as mandatory, safety quality. So if you are looking to make some greener decisions in your home life make time to check out The Green Building Center, a wonderful local business who would love your support!

Wild About Utah: Long Billed Curlew

The Cyrano de Bergerac of the bird world is the long-billed curlew. Its bill is 9 inches long and curves downward at the tip. This 19-inch bird is the largest shorebird of North America. The long-billed curlew is cinnamon brown above and buff brown below. It is similar in size to a marbled godwit, but the bill of the godwit is shorter and turns up.

Like Cyrano, the long-billed curlew is shy. They arrive in Utah in mid-March, seeking open fields and grasslands away from trees, posts, power poles or any other perches of use to predators. They can been seen walking through fields, probing with their bill for worms, insects, spiders and even berries.

In breeding season the male repeatedly flies high, then glides downward, calling all the while.

Like other shorebirds, their nest is just a shallow scrape on the ground, lightly lined with grass. Typically 4 eggs are laid. Both sexes incubate the eggs for about 2 weeks. The down covered young hatch with their eyes open and feed themselves. Two to three weeks after the chicks hatch, the female departs. Dad stays with his chicks until after they fledge when they are about 35 days old. Soon thereafter curlews flock up to migrate south. In mid July, they fly to California or Mexico, where they frequent coastal mudflats eating crabs and other aquatic life.

The long-billed curlew was once much more common. Market hunting in the 19th century and habitat loss more recently have reduced their numbers, but they persist in parts of Utah.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Long-billed Curlew in Flight
Cresent Lake NWR, US Fish & Wildlife Service

Credits:

Photos: Courtesy Fish and Wildlife Service Online Digital Media Library
Text: Lyle Bingham, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Wild About Utah is a weekly nature series produced by Utah Public Radio in cooperation with Stokes Nature Center and Bridgerland Audubon Society. Archives of the program can be found at www.wildaboututah.org.

USEE at the SLC Farmer's Market

-by Alaina Caudillo

On a beautiful morning this last Saturday, July 18, Jason, Andree’ and I attended the Downtown Farmer’s Market promoting our programs and events. No, we weren’t selling home-grown vegetables. Our goal was to inform teachers, educators, and the public about Environmental Education in Utah. There are many great opportunities to enrich professional development in a variety of ways such as becoming a member with USEE, becoming a Certified Environmental Educator, attending Monthly Green Bag presentations, or signing up for the E-newsletter to stay up to date on Environmental Education events here in Utah. There are many benefits of membership with USEE including discounts on Green bag presentations and our Annual Conference showing your support for Environmental Education and many more.

We also promote and encourage community discussion groups and at the farmers market we highlighted Menu for the Future. Menu for the Future addresses key issues involving our relationship with food examining topics like the history of agriculture in this country, healthy choices, and even global perspective such as hunger and fair trade. You can find USEE, and other non-profits, about half way down 300 West by the dog park and the bicycle collective valet parking in upcoming weeks on the 1st of August and September the 19th.

For information on how you can be involved or start a discussion group with other interested citizens, contact USEE @ (801) 328-1549 or sign up for the E-newsletter:

Help Utah’s Black Bears- Clean up Your Campsite!

Photo Credit

By Alaina Caudillo (USEE Intern)

It started on July 1st, only two weeks ago. The first Black Bear of the year was shot and killed by a citizen at a campsite after following his nose to some tasty food scraps, most likely left behind by previous campers. This is the time of year when the weather is warm and more people are getting out into Utah’s mountains to recreate and enjoy time with their families and friends.

In the past two weeks, four other Black Bears have been killed; three of the five incidents involving campsites. Bears have an extremely strong sense of smell, and are drawn to things like soap, perfume, and food items and their residues such as grease from your hamburgers, and fish heads or skins. By keeping our campsites cleaner and properly storing food, either in bear containers or suspending items 12 feet high from a tree, we are doing our part to protect these magnificent animals.

Keeping things tidy upon your departure from designated camping and hiking areas also helps to protect other Utah families that camp after you, from these unexpected visitors. Listed below are some tips from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources about staying safe in bear country.

• Don’t leave food and scented items, such as deodorants and tooth paste, out where a bear can get them.
• Keep your campsite and cabin area clean.
  
• Don't toss food scraps and other trash around.
• Don't keep any food in the same area where you're sleeping.
• If an item has a strong smell to it, consider leaving it at home.
• Never feed a bear.
• Black bears can be discouraged by a counter attack so fight back if a scuffle ensues.

For more info about black bears, click here.

USEE Visits the Great Salt Lake Institute

Photo: Issac Hall sampling from a paddle board in the GSL

By: T.J. Adamson (USEE Intern)

Do the brine shrimp really look like Sea Monkeys? How does the Great Salt Lake harness sunlight? How much salt is really in the Great Salt Lake?

Once a month, the USEE staff has been visiting various organizations around the community that are involved with environmental education. The goal is to keep in touch with our connections, learn more about their operations, tour their facility, and discuss ways that we can help each other out. For this month’s field trip we checked out the Great Salt Lake Institute (GSLI). Andree, Nicole, Alaina and I meet with the coordinator Jaimi Butler. Jaimi received a college degree studying brine shrimp and birds. After working at the brine shrimp factory, she now in charge of operating the GSLI and is involved with many projects. We sat down with her as she told us all about their work and what they are doing.

The Great Salt Lake Institute, not to be confused with Friends of Great Salt Lake, is fairly new and located in the heart of Westminster College. They are funded by a verity of grants and receive much of their support form the college. GSLI’s mission is to be dedicated to education, research, and stewardship of the unique ecology and history of the Great Salt Lake. They are not an advocacy group, rather an educational institution that furthers research and creates public awareness. Their goal is to provide a better understanding of the GSL and its relationship to ecology and the environment. GSLI seeks partnerships with public and private groups such as colleges, universities, industry, government agencies, and non-profit organizations to engage in collaborative research efforts.

The GSLI is also working to promote science and environmental education of K-12 students by encouraging student and teacher involvement. They provide lesson plans and project opportunities to educators and link many of the research activities to current curriculum. This is a great resource for any teacher or non-formal educator. Their website offers a wonderful database of free lesson plans, activities, and projects that are open to anyone interested in teaching or learning about the Great Salt Lake. Their website provides a wide selection of lesson plans that are included in following categories: “Land Form Lessons”, “Lake Effect Lessons”, “Brine Shrimp Lessons”, “Salinity Lessons”, “Sand Lessons”, “Lake Lessons”, “Water Lessons”, “Salt Lessons”, “Ecosystem Lessons”, “Tributaries of the Great Salt Lake”, and “Seasons Lessons”. As a free resource, I would defiantly check it out. Visit www.GreatSaltLakeInstitue.org and click on the Outreach tab, then the gsl lesson plans tab.

Students of Westminster College also play an active roll. GSLI provides many opportunities for undergraduate research and scholarships in working with the GSLI. The director of the GSLI Bonnie Baxter, PhD, and Associate Director Brian Avery, PhD are both professors at the college that teach in the science and biology departments. Throughout the years, they have focused much of their research towards studying the Great Salt Lake. Currently, they teach and mentor undergraduate students interested in biological science and ecosystems.

Currently, Jaimi is putting the final arraignments together for the “Camp Great Salt Lake” summer camp. This three day camp is designed to give high school students a “true” college experience. Participants stay in the dorms and spend a few days as scientists. On the first day, students travel to the lake and take a tour on paddle boats that are fully equipped with of research equipment. They collect samples and learn about the many functions of the lake. Day two is spent in a lab at Westminster where they conduct basic experiments with their findings. On the final day they revisit the lake to see and apply what they have learned. The summer camp is open to high school students that are at least fifteen years of age and five teachers. It runs from July 12th through the 14th and cost students $150 and the teachers are paid. Scholarships are available for the students that attend. To apply, visit their website at www.GreatSaltLakeInstitue.org or contact Jaimi at jbutler@westministercollege.edu.

We learned a lot about the Great Salt Lake Institute. If you are interested in participating in or contributing to their studies, they have a free membership directory available online. You can also keep informed by becoming a fan on their Facebook page. For more information or follow their contact information provided below or visit their website where you will find a wealth of information, resources, a blog, and upcoming events.

The Great Salt Lake Institute
1840 South 1300 East
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
www.GreatSaltLakeInstitue.org

Coordinator: Jaimi Butler
jbutler@westministercollege.edu.
Director: Bonnie Baxter, PhD
bbaxter@westminstercollege.edu
Associate Director: Brian Avery, PhD
bavery@westminstercollege.edu

Wild About Utah: Bark Beetle Mania

Pine beetle damage to ponderosa pine
in Dixie National Forest
2000 USDA Forest Service

Hi, I’m Holly Strand of Stokes Nature Center in beautiful Logan Canyon.

For a creature that’s typically less than six millimeters in size, bark beetles certainly have a mammoth footprint. Outbreaks of the tiny insects in forests across western North America have changed millions of trees into shriveled, rust-colored sentinels of a changing ecosystem. In Utah alone, between 1990 and 2005, wood-boring beetles ate their way through more than 466,000 acres which equals 3% of Utah’s total forested area.

Bark beetles are native to our forests and evolved together with their respective hosts. For example, the Douglas-fir beetle evolved with Douglas firs, and the spruce beetle with Engelmann spruce. The mountain pine beetle is the least discriminating. It attacks lodgepole pine, ponderosa pine and, more recently, high elevation species such as whitebark pine, limber pine, and bristlecone pine.

At healthy population levels, bark beetles renew forests by killing older and declining trees, allowing young, more productive ones to flourish. Female beetles initiate the assault, simultaneously attracting males using pheromones. Within hours the tree becomes the site of a “mass attack” of thousands of beetles. Then the females begin to reproduce. An individual female may lay over 100 eggs. As eggs hatch, larvae construct feeding galleries in the inner bark of the tree. These galleries eventually girdle and kill the tree by cutting off the exchange of nutrients between the roots and the crown of the tree.

Some of the biggest outbreaks in Utah have occurred in the Dixie and the Manti La Sal National Forests. The spruce beetle is responsible for thousands of acres of dead Engelmann spruce trees in both of these forests. The Piñon Ips beetle also thrives in piñon pines in southern UT. Meanwhile, on the other end of the state, the mountain pine beetle is causing serious outbreaks in the Uintas. The Wasatch Range forests have yet to experience extensive diebacks but the mountain pine beetle, Douglas fir beetle and spruce beetle are all causing higher mortality rates than they have in the past.

Certain forestry management practices are partially responsible for the unprecedented bark beetle outbreaks. Dense, homogenous forests with repressed fire regimes are more susceptible to attack. On the other hand, uncrowded, variable age stands composed of lots of different species are healthy and resilient.

Warming climate conditions have also contributed to the severe bark beetle outbreaks. Early fall and late spring freezes, and extremely cold temperatures help repress bark beetle populations. I’ll try to keep this in mind when it’s snowing in June here in Cache Valley. At least our pine trees will be healthy and safe from the bark beetle.

Barbara Bentz, research entomologist with the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station and adjunct faculty member with Utah State University’s Department of Wildland Resources, provided the scientific information for this piece.

Thanks to the USU College of Natural Resources and the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation for supporting research and development of this Wild About Utah topics. For Wild About Utah and Stokes Nature Center, I’m Holly Strand.

Credits:
Images: UDSA Forest Service: Assessment and response to bark beetle outbreaks in the Rocky Mountain aea. Report to Congress from Forest Health Protection (see below)
Text: Mary-Ann Muffaletto, Holly Strand

Wild About Utah is a weekly nature series produced by Utah Public Radio (link to www.upr.org) in cooperation with Stokes Nature Center (link to www.logannature.org) and Bridgerland Audubon Society (link to www.bridgerlandaudubon.org/index.htm ) . Archives of the program can be found at www.wildaboututah.org.

Indoor Plants and Indoor Air Quality

-by Alaina Caudillo

At USEE's most recent Green Bag Lecture, Indoor Plants and Indoor Air Quality, Brandie Balken from Cactus and Tropicals had some excellent points about why indoor plants are beneficial both emotionally and physically for our indoor environments.

First of all, people gravitate toward natural environments. We like to shop in stores with plants, people drive slower on streets lined with trees, and they have many aesthetic qualities such as blossoms that make us feel happy.

Brandie pointed out that plants aren't just pretty to look at as they have amazing benefits for us during our time spent in indoor environments like our homes and offices. Tropical plants in particular thrive in the same humidity level range that people like to thrive in (30%-60% humidity). By including plants in your decor, they will clean the carbon dioxide emitted from our exhaled breaths out of your indoor air, replacing it with fresh oxygen to nourish us.

Plants naturally add clean water vapor through evapo-transpiration to our indoor air, allowing the optimal humidity levels so that we can breathe easier. House plants also break down toxic chemicals found in the indoor environment like benzene and formaldehyde, often used in the production of common household goods like furniture.

Some people feel that they are not "plant people". For those of you with this concern, take solace in knowing that there are plants that are right for every kind of person, from easy to needy plants, depending on the care and light you can provide them.

To improve the quality of air indoors, you need about 2 plants for every 100 square feet, so stop by your local nursery today to find your new friends. They will help clean the air while you are away in exchange for a little water and sunlight.

Photo Credit

Wild About Utah: The Lizard and His Tail

Hi, I’m Holly Strand of Stokes Nature Center in beautiful Logan Canyon.

One of the most beautiful lizards I’ve ever seen lives right here in Utah. The collared lizard has a gold head, a green body and 2 black collar stripes. I stumbled upon one last week during a hike in Professor Valley north of Moab. It was just shy of a foot long from tip to tail, with most of that length in the tail. It bravely stood its ground as I crept closer to admire it. Instinctively, I wanted to reach down and catch it!

The urge to catch lizards seems to be innate. Maybe our ancient ancestors used to eat them and the desire to catch them is a relict evolutionary trait.

When you catch a lizard, you might just cause him to drop his tail. Tail dropping is a defense mechanism. In many species of lizard the tail has weak fracture planes between the vertebra, allowing the tail to detach easily. After breaking off, the thrashing tail attracts the would-be predator, enabling the lizard to escape. Some lizard tails are brightly colored, which enhances the decoy effect.

Unfortunately, there are serious consequences to losing one’s tail. A long tail acts as a counterbalance, enabling a lizard to lift its forelegs when running. This is important because a lizard can move more quickly on two legs than on four. A large lizard running on two legs can sprint up to 12 miles an hour!

Male lizards need their long tails for social status. Low status males have much more difficulty mating. Tail loss also might mean that a juvenile will have trouble acquiring a home range due to low social standing. Finally, fat stored in a tail provides a food source during periods of starvation and reproduction. With this in mind, I hope you can join me in my effort not to catch lizards. Let’s admire these wonderful creatures from a distance.

For Wild About Utah and Stokes Nature Center I’m Holly Strand

This Wild About Utah topic was adapted from A Naturalist’s Guide to Canyon Country by David B. Williams, courtesy of the Canyonlands Natural History Association.

Thanks to the Sorrel River Ranch Resort and Spa for supporting the development of this Wild About Utah topic. The Ranch offers deluxe lodging and services on a scenic bend of the Colorado River, 20 minutes from Moab in the spectacular Professor Valley.

Credits:

Images: Photo Copyright © 2005 & courtesy of Jerry Shue, Canyonlands Natural History Association

Text: Stokes Nature Center: Holly Strand

Wild About Utah is a weekly nature series produced by Utah Public Radio (link to www.upr.org) in cooperation with Stokes Nature Center (link to www.logannature.org) and Bridgerland Audubon Society (link to www.bridgerlandaudubon.org/index.htm ) . Archives of the program can be found at www.wildaboututah.org.

Utah "Blueberries" Discovered on Mars

-by T.J. Adamson

I recently went hiking in Snow Canyon State Park near St. George, Utah. Surrounded by sandstone rocks, the park is perfect for a great hike or scenic drive. My favorite part of hiking the area is finding what I like to call “sand-marbles.” Ranging from the size of a pea to that of a golf ball, these rocks are known as hematite concretions and are formed when underground minerals are precipitated from flowing groundwater. These little rocks are pretty much native to Utah and can be found in many of Southern Utah’s state and national parks including Zion, Capitol Reef, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and in the Moab area.

So why am I telling you this? Well, in 2004, NASA’s Opportunity Rover discovered the same rocks on Mars. They call them “blueberries” because it reminded one of the scientists of blueberries in a muffin. Since their discovery, many geologists and NASA researchers have tested the sediments and formation conditions of the rocks found in Utah and compared them with the rocks found on Mars. Many believe that the discovery of hematite rocks on Mars suggests signs of water and thus possible life on Mars. “On Earth, whenever we find water, we find life — in surface or underground water, hot water or cold water — any place there is water on Earth there are microbes, there is life,” said Bill Parry of the University of Utah emeritus geologist to the UCR-News. “That’s the bottom line: hematite is linked to life.”

Take a look at these pictures. Check out how similar Utah’s hematite concretions, or sand-marbles, are compared to the pictures of “blueberries” on Mars taken by NASA’s Opportunity rover on Mars.

Hematite concretions or “earth Blueberries”,
from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah.
Photo Credit: Brenda Beitler

Marble like rocks, or “Blueberries, taken by the Opportunity rover on Mars
Photo Credit: NASA

Hematite concretions, or “earth Blueberries”, on the surface of

Navajo sandstone at Grand Staircase-Escalante
Photo Credit: Brenda Beitler

Formed millions of years ago, the Utah rocks (left) are similar to “blueberries”
discovered on Mars (right), hinting clues about the history of water on Mars.
Photo Credit: NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Cornell University

My pictures of Snow Canyon hematite concretions, or “Earth Blueberries:”













In this picture, you can see the rocks forming on the surface of the sandstone.

Photo Credits: T.J. Adamson

Wild About Utah: Starlings

I’ll bet you’ve always wanted to know about starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), whose Latin name speaks volumes. They’re noisy, gregarious, messy and are blamed for forcing many hole-nesting birds, bluebirds and flickers, even an occasional kestrel, out of their nests for fun and profit. For this the starlings plead “no contest.” They spread across the United States and Canada like the plague after their introduction into New York City’s Central Park in the late1800’s, just so we unwashed Americans could have the joy of being able to associate, up close and personal, with all the birds mentioned by Shakespeare. I think Pay Back by the Brits sums it up nicely, kind of like the Russians and cheat grass, halogeton, tamarisk and Russian thistle (tumbleweed).

So what can be said that could possibly redeem this rapid breeding invader whose short intestinal tract means they have to consume beaucoup amounts of food to survive? This is great during the summer when insects and creepy-crawlies are their favorite cuisine; it’s during the winter when man-produced food pellets meant for our livestock are like Quaker’s puffed rice or wheat, the digesta are “shot from guns”, another not so an endearing image of the starling. They cost feedlot owners and berry farmers hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. Imagine 100,000 and up to two million starlings descending on your holly orchard or your feedlot. Imagine them staying around for the winter. It’s not hard to imagine spreading Starlicide-treated pellets around your livestock.

Not to defend this image, especially after working with the little rounders for 14 years (six years with the Feds, eight years as a graduate research topic), but they showed me that I was working with quite an intelligent species. Observing these birds in the field, in large pens in Green Canyon and in Skinner boxes in the Experimental Psychology laboratory on USU’s campus, these birds made reasoned judgments concerning the food they ate, spatially and temporally learning to avoid poisoned food, teaching another the avoidance pattern they had learned, making decisions just like we do, thinking, learning from mistakes. We tried to eliminate them without success. We could try convincing them that eating at feedlots or orchards is a dangerous game and repel the little rounders. Whatever the case they are here to stay, but it would be nice if there weren't quite so many.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:
Photo: Dr.Thomas G. Barnes, US Fish & Wildlife Service,
Text: C. Val Grant, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Wild About Utah is a weekly nature series produced by Utah Public Radio (link to www.upr.org) in cooperation with Stokes Nature Center (link to www.logannature.org) and Bridgerland Audubon Society (link to www.bridgerlandaudubon.org/index.htm ) . Archives of the program can be found at www.wildaboututah.org.

Wild About Utah: Buttes & Mesas

Hi, I’m Holly Strand of Stokes Nature Center in beautiful Logan Canyon.

Not long ago , driving from Logan to Moab, I was admiring the dramatic and austere landscape features from the highway. To the north were the vertical escarpments of the Book Cliffs—gray slopes and cliffs that extend all the way from Price, Utah, to Grand Junction, Colorado. Gazing at them from the highway, I wondered : Are they plateaus? mesas? buttes? Any self-respecting Utahan should know the difference between these terms. But even with a master’s degree in geography, the concepts had become fuzzy in my mind with the passage of time.

When I got back home, I turned to Home Ground, a collection of American landscape definitions edited by Barry Lopez. Here you’ll read that a plateau is an extensive area of nearly level land that rises abruptly above a surrounding landscape on at least one side. In this sense, the Tavaputs is a classic Utah plateau and the Book Cliffs form its south-facing escarpment. The Wasatch Plateau –home of the headwaters of the San Rafael and Fremont Rivers --is another classic plateau.

Plateaus are sometimes called tablelands. This can be confusing, because plateaus aren't necessarily elevated on all four sides and they are too big to look like tables. But mesas do look like tables and the word mesa means “table” in Spanish. A mesa is a flat-topped mountain or rock mass, usually capped with a layer of weather-resistant rock. In general, a mesa is smaller than a plateau, but the size difference between them is not defined in any absolute terms.

At least everyone seems to agree that a mesa is always wider than it is tall. A butte, on the other hand, is always taller than it is wide. At one point in its development, the butte was probably part of a mesa. Then, over time, the connecting rock eroded away. I’ve often heard buttes referred to as a mesa’s child, or orphan. As a child, the butte’s parent mesa still exists nearby; erosion has removed an expanse of rock leaving two structures instead of one. When the butte is an orphan, the surrounding rock has been completely removed, leaving a solitary outpost of resistant geologic history.

Eventually, even with a resistant cap, a butte will be weathered down to a landform that is narrower than it is tall. Then it becomes a spire. Synonyms for a spire include tower, monolith or monument.

You’ll often find that a particular butte is called Such and Such Mesa, and a mesa may be called Such and Such Butte or Plateau. This is because local names given by early explorers and settlers stuck whether or not they were consistent with any accepted definition. Thus, in the cliff-rimmed Professor Valley northwest of Moab, Dome Plateau is really a mesa and Convent Mesa is really a butte. And Grand Mesa, to the east of Grand Junction, is a whole lot larger than Beckwith Plateau near Green River, UT.

For pictures of Utah plateaus, buttes and mesas, check out our web page: www.wildaboututah.org. Thanks to the Sorrel River Ranch Resort and Spa for supporting the development of this Wild About Utah topic. The Ranch offers deluxe lodging and services on a scenic bend of the Colorado River, 20 minutes from Moab in the spectacular Professor Valley.

And to Dr. Jack Schmidt in the Watershed Sciences Dept. at Utah State University.

For Wild About Utah and Stokes Nature Center I’m Holly Strand.

Credits:
Images:
1. "Book Cliffs" Source: BLM
2. "Professor Valley: Dome Plateau is really a mesa" Source: Sorrel River Ranch (Matt Ceniceros)
3. "Professor Valley: Convent Mesa is really a butte" Source: Sorrel River Ranch (Matt Ceniceros)
4. "Close-up of Fisher Towers in Professor Valley" Source: Utah Geological Survey

Text: Stokes Nature Center: Holly Strand

Wild About Utah: Thrushes

Utah is blessed with many melodious songbirds, but which one sings most beautifully of all? I vote for the haunting, achingly beautiful melodies of our two common thrushes, Swainson's Thrush and Hermit Thrush. These birds have been leisurely migrating northward from the tropics since early spring. By June, males are singing on their forested territories.

Thrushes are a bit secretive, but if you're lucky, you'll see a bird a tad smaller than a robin clothed in rich brown back feathers that contrast with a pale breast sporting descending lines of fat brown spots the size of raindrops. Both thrush species look much the same, however. To distinguish them, you need to listen. Their haunting melodies arise deep in their chests, in the syrinx. Their syrinx works something like our larynx, using vibrating membranes that can be stretched taut or relaxed to produce different notes. Unlike our larynx, the bird's syrinx sits where it's two tracheae meet the windpipe. The most skilled songsters, like these thrushes, can work the two sides of their syrinx independently to produce two simultaneous notes.

The song of the Swainson's Thrush always ends in a spiral of ascending notes.

Now listen to the song of the Hermit Thrush. It ends with a warbling flourish that alternately rises or falls in pitch.

It helps me to remember the song of the Hermit Thrush as being a lonely hermit talking to himself in two different voices, one ending high, the other low.

The glorious songs of thrushes grace our woodlands all through the weeks of early summer. So listen carefully and see if you too can now distinguish the song of Swainson's Thrush from that of the Hermit.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.


Credits:
Photos: Courtesy Fish and Wildlife Service Online Digital Media Library
http://www.fws.gov/digitalmedia/
Audio: Dr. Kevin Colver, www.wildsanctuary.com
Text: Jim Cane & Jason Pietrzak, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Wild About Utah: Riparian Habitat

Hi, I’m Holly Strand from Stokes Nature Center in beautiful Logan Canyon.

When you think of Utah, a number of iconic landscapes come to mind. The arches, buttes and mesas in southeastern Utah's red rock country, the snow-capped mountains of the majestic Wasatch Range, the endless horizon of the Bonneville Salt Flats, and the immense expanse of the Great Salt Lake. But the most critical ecosystem in terms of life support for Utah's plants and animals is not always recognized. I'm referring to riparian zones. These are the ecosystems that occur along the banks of streams and rivers. They are most recognizable in the desert where they occur as distinctive green strips of vegetation along waterways. But they also occur in grasslands, shrublands and forests, albeit with different compositions of plants and animals.

Riparian areas provide all the basic needs of life - food, water and shelter from predators - in a surprisingly compact space. Intact riparian zones are physically complex, with a layer of grass, then shrubs, then upper canopy trees. This structural complexity creates a number of biological niches. That's why the highest levels of biodiversity are consistently found there. Average bird densities are approximately twice as high in riparian areas as in adjacent upland areas. And more wildlife species use riparian areas than all other habitats in Utah combined. Even fish populations are higher in streams adjacent to riparian areas. Fish use woody debris as shelter, and the vegetation stabilizes stream channels and reduces temperature fluctuations in the water.

Riparian areas only cover about one half of one percent of Utah's total land area. Above 5500 feet the dominant woody plants are willow, cottonwood, water birch, black hawthorn and wild rose. Common animals include the northern river otter, the beaver, American dipper, smooth greensnake and the rubber boa.

Lowland riparian areas represent one of the rarest habitats in the state-covering only 0.2 percent of Utah's total land area. Fremont cottonwood, netleaf hackberry, velvet ash, desert willow and squaw-bush are the most visible plants here. The exotic tamarisk and Russian olive are now frequently part of the lowland mix. Mollusks, broad-tailed hummingbirds, canyon treefrogs, Allen's big-eared bats, yellow-billed cuckoos, and many other animals depend on lowland riparian habitats. My personal riparian favorite is the belted kingfisher that patrols the green-lined waterways in search of tasty fish.

Humans were originally riparian creatures. But once we learned to pipe and move water at will, we were free to settle elsewhere. Nevertheless, we are still attracted to aquatic landscapes. So Utah's riparian areas have taken on a recreational function for many of us. They offer great fishing, they cool us off as we paddle or float, and they provide a quiet sanctuary to enjoy the sight and sound of water. Best of all, riparian areas offer an excellent opportunity to catch a glimpse of Utah's amazing wildlife.

Thanks to the USU College of Natural Resources for supporting research and development of this Wild About Utah topic. And thanks to Frank Howe of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and Charles Hawkins of USU's Watershed Science Department for their help with the scientific content of this piece.

For Wild About Utah and Stokes Nature Center, I’m Holly Strand.

Credits:

Text: Stokes Nature Center - Mary-Ann Muffoletto, Frank Howe & Holly Strand

Photos:

• High Creek, an upper riparian area - Courtesy & Copyright © 2006 Stephen Peterson
• Lower Calf Creek: A lower riparian zone - Courtesy and Copyright © Charles Hawkins
• Invasive Tamarisk(Salt Cedar) populates a lower riparian zone in Professor Valley along the Colorado River - Courtesy and Copyright © 2009 Holly Strand
  

Wild About Utah: Snowbank Mushrooms

Hiding beneath and fruiting near the retreating snow banks here in the western mountains of North America are legions of mushrooms. Collectively known as snowbank fungi, this diverse group of fungal species is found only in the high elevation forests of our mountains were snow lingers into the summer months. These species are found mostly in the spruce-fir zone in mature forests were there is abundant litter and woody material on the forest floor and the snow pack is deep and lingers in the deep shade the trees provide. Many of the species found in such conditions are found no where else, while others are found elsewhere in the world, but not under these unique conditions.

This diverse group of fungi was first reported by Wm, Bridge Cooke in 1944 from Mt. Shasta, California. Here along the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, the snowbank fungi are a predictable lot and diverse and often abundant enough to wow even the experienced mushroomer. Some species are strictly decomposers that break down the forest litter and woody debris that carpets the forest floor while others are mycorrhizal forming those ecologically important beneficial relationships with the area plants.

The species found range from silver-gray gilled species to colorful cup and jelly fungi. At an otherwise drab time in the forest blue-stained orange cub fungi litter areas were squirrels have cached conifer seeds and cones; pale orange jelly-like poor man’s gumdrops drops dot woody debris on the forest floor. Large logs and stumps play hot to the deep orange sponge polypore with its deep ragged teeth, hidden on the forest floor is the black champagne glass-shaped Plectannia nannfeldtii, while the pale-brown, gilled Clitocybe albirhiza is rather widely scattered on the forest floor it is easily distinguished by the copious white root-like projections at the base of the stem just below the soil surface. Slime molds are found fruiting as is the edible wood ear, beneath the soil are several false truffles attracting the squirrels with enticing (to them) aromas.

So why wait for the snow to melt to enjoy the high forest? These and many more wait to be discovered just under the melting snow.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:
Photo: Lentinus montana.; by Don Johnston, © 2009 Intermountain Herbarium
Text: Michael Piep, Intermountain Herbarium, Utah State University