Leslie Forero

Nitrogen oxide makes for hazy days and coughing fits, and Hunter and Huntington Power Plants in southern Utah aren’t blameless. 

With housing costs along the Wasatch Front climbing 80% since 2005, you might expect the Bastian family, farmers in Salt Lake County, to cash in for a tidy paycheck. But instead they opted to donate 100 acres of prime farmland to Utah State University Extension, with the goal of building a center for increasing agricultural literacy.

The Rotary Club of Logan was chartered on June 17th 1919 making this week the centennial celebration for the club.

Sometimes it’s a good year for one kind of wild plant and sometimes it’s a good year for another kind. But what causes these fluctuations in plant abundances from year to year? A new study suggests it might be linked to soil microbes underneath those plants.

John Wesley Powell is one of the iconic explorers of the American West. A teacher, botanist, geologist, and amputee, he is probably best known for his 1869 and 1871 explorations of the Colorado River.

The Four Corners region is transitioning from fossil fuels to renewables, and the new $94 million loan from USDA should support the transition. The coal-fired Navajo Generating Station is expected to close in December 2019 after the Navajo Nation Council voted against purchasing it. Kayenta II, a new solar farm, is expected to open this month.

In parts of Utah, the heavy rainfall has created problems for farmers. Reports show that central Utah is experiencing its second wettest spring on record and planting had to be pushed back due to flooded fields. But in Cache County, a 10-day break in the weather allowed planting to happen mostly on time.

Research tells us that early springs can offset the impacts of climate change. The earlier green-up makes for a longer growing season, and more carbon dioxide captured from the atmosphere. But we haven’t been able to tell if spring is coming earlier for conifers in the mountains – until now.

Utah has a reputation for being a good place for families, and a new report by the Georgetown Center for Children and Families suggests that the voter-approved Medicaid expansion passed this year could make it even better.

Earlier this month the city of Logan announced that it was only able to recycle #1 and #2 plastics. For some, this is unfortunate, especially because so many people in Logan like recycling.

If you live in one of Utah’s towns that are overrun with turkeys, you might be interested in a new Division of Wildlife Resources proposal that will add new release sites for captured turkeys –making the new sites far away from suburbs and farms.

If you’ve ever wanted to pick up a snake and carry it home with you, a proposed change to reptile and amphibian collection rules in Utah could make your wish come true. Right now, if you want to catch a wild reptile or amphibian in Utah to keep as a pet, the process is a bit convoluted.

Cutler Marsh and the Bear River provide wonderful habitat for birds - and bird-watchers - in Cache Valley. Utah State University’s beautifully treed campus also has nice habitat for birds, but at a cost: perishing when hitting a window.

It’s springtime and river flows are ripening, and thanks to Utah's healthy snowpack this winter, spring runoff is supposed to be 120 to 130% above average. Although more water is good in our dry state, these flows can be dangerous – in spring 2017 six people drowned as a consequence of these hazardous flows.

In the 1990s, Utah experienced its first recorded severe spruce beetle outbreak. Over 122,000 acres were infested and over 3 million spruce trees were killed. 

Outbreaks of Equine Herpesvirus 1, or EHV-1, were recently detected in four of Utah’s neighboring states - Nevada, Idaho, Arizona and Wyoming. Although there aren’t any current outbreaks in Utah, the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food urges equestrians to be aware of the disease.

UPR Science Reporter Leslie Forero interviews the Utah State University Jackson Lab about their work on CRISPR - a tool for editing an organism's genes.

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), with support from Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), re-introduced a bill that failed last year called the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming, or OFF Act. The OFF Act is intended to reduce conflicts of interest in the agricultural industry in checkoff programs.

Utah’s snow-water equivalent is well above median, and currently none of the state is in a severe-to-extreme drought. But Utahns shouldn’t relax about their water supplies just yet.

Moab’s sweeping vistas, roaring whitewater and unique wildlife make it a hotspot for river rafting, helicopter tour, and for conflict over recreation impacts. The Bureau of Land Management’s Moab field office recently nullified their decision and canceled a special recreation permit for a helicopter shuttle, pending further study on impacts to desert bighorn sheep.

The Bureau of Land Management is tasked to maintain the delicate balance between protecting wild horses and burros while conserving rangelands. Unfortunately, the current population of 81,950 wild horses and burros is more than three times the size public lands can support. 

Utah beer lovers will soon be able to get beer with as much as 4.0 percent alcohol by weight in the grocery store with the passage of an amended Utah bill -- Senate Bill 132. The bill was one of the last passed during the 2019 legislative session. 

Microevolution, or traits varying due to natural selection, is pretty settled in evolutionary science. But macroevolution – the evolution of new species – hasn’t been observed. 

The Estonian company Enefit had hoped to install Utah's first oil shale development, but the fate of the project may be in jeopardy since a coalition of seven different environmental groups issued a notice of intent to sue over the proposed project in eastern Utah. 

Coal is big in Utah. It's our state rock and according to the US Energy Information Administration, it represents one-third of our state's total energy production. But Utah's coal may be having unexpected consequences on the grasslands and wetter places in the nation.