Brian Maffly

Public lands and environment reporter

Brian Maffly has worked for The Tribune off and on since 1994. Maffly roams Utah, covering public land and environment.

(Rick Egan | Tribune file photo) A sunset along the shore of Willard Bay in January 2018. Willard Bay ranked as the third most-visited state park in 2020.

Utah’s state parks are drawing record crowds despite the pandemic. See which ones top the list.

By Brian Maffly | March 1, 2021, 3:08 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | Tribune file photo)
Then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke speaks at a news conference at the Kanab Airport in May 2017. Standing with him were Rep. Chris Stewart and a group of county commissioners.

SUWA can sue over Zinke’s secret meetings with Utah county commissioners over monuments

By Brian Maffly | February 26, 2021, 3:18 p.m.

(Graeme Jennings | Pool via AP) Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., speaks during a Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing on her nomination to be Interior secretary, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Haaland vows to visit Utah before any moves are made on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase

By Brian Maffly | February 25, 2021, 3:12 p.m.

(Jim Watson | Pool via AP) Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., delivers a gift to Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, before the start of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing on her nomination to be Interior secretary, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Sen. Mike Lee presses Interior nominee Deb Haaland on pending fate of Utah monuments

By Brian Maffly | February 24, 2021, 2:37 p.m.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jordan Clayton, supervisor with Utah Snow Survey for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) shown with his dog Gus, at the Daniels Strawberry Snotel or snow telemetry network site, Feb. 3, 2021. The tall tower is equipped with wind, temperature, snow depth and solar radiation sensors. The brown tower, left, is a precipitation gage. All the sensors send information to the equipment shelter, right, where the data is uploaded to the NRCS. Snotels are located in often remote, high-elevation mountain watersheds and monitor snowpack, precipitation, soil moisture, temperature, and other climatic conditions affecting Utah's watersheds. Since roughly 95% of Utah's water supply comes from snowmelt, Snow Survey staff use Snotel data to forecast summer water supply conditions in the state's watersheds.

Why all that snow we’re shoveling may not rescue Utah from a bad water year

By Brian Maffly | February 22, 2021, 5:45 p.m.

(Tribune file photo)
Sprinklers cool down a runner at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City in 2017. Utahns rank among the highest per-capita water users in the nation.

We’re wasting too much water in Utah. Here are simple steps you can take to help.

By Brian Maffly | February 21, 2021, 3:11 p.m.

(Tribune file photo)
A tourist enjoys the view from Dead Horse Point State Park, one of 44 operated by the Utah Department of Natural Resources. A bill before the Legislature to restructure the department would break its Division of Parks and Recreation into two divisions and could prioritize motorized recreation in grant making.

Green groups breathe easier as Utah backs away from merging environment and natural resources agencies

By Brian Maffly | February 19, 2021, 2:18 p.m.

(Steve Griffin | Tribune file photo) Mule deer stand in a sliver of morning sunshine as they graze in Emigration Canyon in 2018. Lawmakers have advanced a bill that would ban baiting in big game hunting.

Another argument for banning bait in hunting: It will slow disease spread in Utah deer

By Brian Maffly | February 17, 2021, 2:00 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | Tribune file photo) Tom Kimbrough, a retired avalanche forecaster, is shown in 2002. He, too, was once caught in an avalanche in Wilson Glades.

‘Hemingway of the Wasatch’ recounts his close call with an avalanche at Wilson Glades

By Brian Maffly | February 15, 2021, 4:50 p.m.

(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune) This graphic shows the placement of the victims of the Mill Creek Canyon avalanche on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021.

In ‘heroic’ search, skiers in deadly Mill Creek avalanche dug out those they didn’t even know were on the mountain, too

By Brian Maffly | February 13, 2021, 2:34 a.m.