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(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) A mountain biker rides the 19th Avenue Trail in the Salt Lake City foothills on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021.

Salt Lake City’s pause in trail work disappoints some hikers and bikers

By Leia Larsen | September 19, 2021, 8:23 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The site of a proposed Kane County golf course nearKanab, on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021.

Former Utah lawmaker plans to build a luxury golf course in the desert, and locals are not pleased

By Brian Maffly | September 18, 2021, 11:22 p.m.

(Rick Bowmer | AP, pool) U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland tours near ancient dwellings along the Butler Wash trail during a visit to Bears Ears National Monument Thursday, April 8, 2021, near Blanding.

BLM headquarters is heading back to Washington

By Brian Maffly | September 18, 2021, 2:51 a.m.

(Tribune file photo by Al Hartmann) Utah is a major producer of fossil energy, as evidenced by the coal-fired Huntington Power Plant, pictured here at the edge of a gas field in Emery County. State officials are pushing back against President Joe Biden’s policies aimed at lowering carbon emissions from the kinds of hydrocarbons produced in Utah.

Utah lawmakers turn to PragerU video instead of public comment on climate change

By Brian Maffly | September 17, 2021, 12:54 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Traffic on I-80 in Parley's Canyon on Thursday, July 1, 2021. Vehicle emissions are a significant contributor to ozone pollution in Utah.

‘It could take years’ to solve ozone pollution on the Wasatch Front, state regulator says

By Zak Podmore | September 15, 2021, 10:54 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Pineview Reservoir, Ogden's primary water supply, seen on Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021, has since dropped below 16% capacity. Water managers shut off secondary water early due to Utah's prolonged drought, and now they're working to prevent residents from using drinking water instead to keep their landscapes green.

Ogden issues warning: If residents misuse culinary water, they could be charged with a crime

By Leia Larsen | September 15, 2021, 8:54 p.m.

(Janie Osborne | The New York Times) Visitors crowd a boardwalk to view Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming on July 6, 2021. The park had more than 920,000 recreational visits in August 2021, surpassing its busiest August on record in 2017, when crowds came out to watch the solar eclipse.

Yellowstone National Park sets August record for visitors

By Johnny Diaz | The New York Times | September 16, 2021, 1:29 a.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Glen Canyon Dam, on the Colorado River in northern Arizona, on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021.

Utah’s water outlook slightly improved, but West remains in grip of long-term drought

By Brian Maffly | September 15, 2021, 2:09 a.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Eric Edelman gives an overview to Salt Lake City Council member Amy Fowler of new trails in the Foothills Natural Area on Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021.

Salt Lake City mayor puts new trail construction on hold to rethink approach

By Leia Larsen | September 15, 2021, 1:28 a.m.

(Sara Diggins | Special to The Tribune) A dying tree does little to shade the intersection of 500 S. and 1250 W. in Poplar Grove on July 16, 2021. Unshaded pavement in urban areas causes ground temperatures to rise, making neighborhoods warmer during summer months. Salt Lake City is looking to plant more trees to address these “heat islands.”

Salt Lake City looks to shade trees to mitigate its ‘urban heat island’ effect

By Shelley K. Mesch | September 13, 2021, 8:06 p.m.

(Utah Division of Wildlife Resources) This pronghorn buck was illegally killed in Beaver County in August 2021.

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources seeking information after illegal killing of pronghorn buck

By Jordan Miller | September 9, 2021, 10:17 p.m.

(Friends of the Eel River) The North Coast Railroad was built a century ago along northern California’s scenic Eel River but hasn't been usable since at least 1998. Now a shadowy company with suspected ties to the Western coal industry is seeking to acquire the line in a bid to move unspecified freight to a port at Humboldt Bay.

Is coal industry behind secretive plan to preserve a defunct California railroad?

By Brian Maffly | September 9, 2021, 4:18 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Yellow tape surrounds the Fairmont Park Pond in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021. Testing has revealed the potential presence of mercury.

Salt Lake City urges caution after finding mercury may be in Fairmont Park’s pond

By Jordan Miller | September 9, 2021, 9:41 p.m.

(Lindsay D'Addato | The New York Times) A view of the Great Salt Lake from Antelope Island, Utah on Aug. 25, 2021, a wildlife sanctuary that is home to wild buffalo, antelope, birds, among other species. A red-hot economy, wildfire smoke and the shriveling of the Great Salt Lake are making Utah’s alarming air pollution even worse.

Utah’s weak link: Surging air pollution

By Simon Romero | The New York Times | September 8, 2021, 9:04 p.m.

(Brian Maffly | The Salt Lake Tribune) Ryan Benson, pictured here at Lindon Marina, is the CEO of Lake Restoration Solutions, the company proposing to dredge Utah Lake as part of a controversial $6.4 billion plan to clean up the lake. The company says it has secured financing for the project and is several weeks away from moving forward on the permitting process.

Developers say they have $6 billion lined up to ‘fix’ Utah Lake

By Brian Maffly | September 8, 2021, 1:00 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Courtyards at the offices of Arch Nexus in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021.

See inside Utah’s first ‘living building’ — Can this approach help save the world?

By Tony Semerad | September 6, 2021, 12:05 p.m.

Utah school land trust to sell unprofitable 8,000-acre block near Powder Mountain

By Brian Maffly | September 4, 2021, 7:58 p.m.

(Franciso Kjolseth | Salt Lake Tribune file photo) A view of Bryce Canyon, taken in 2014. Proposed new National Park Service regulations soon may limit the number of aerial tours that can be flown over Bryce, as well as Arches and Canyonlands national parks and other Utah natural wonders.

National Park Service proposes strict rules for scenic air tours

By Brian Maffly | September 5, 2021, 9:39 p.m.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Food waste from restaurants, grocery stores, hotels, caterers, breweries, food processing-manufacturing plants, cafeterias, hospitals, schools and universities is processed, Sept. 1, 2021. Wasatch Resource Recovery produces a fertilizer and natural gas from decomposing food. The facility processes organic waste which includes food scraps, liquid waste and manufacturing food waste. The process, in operation since 2019, turns the organic matter into sustainable resources, biogas and bio-based fertilizer and the facility will pilot a food scraps pickup program for residents.

A Utah company wants to turn your food scraps into energy and fertilizer

By Shelley K. Mesch | September 7, 2021, 10:48 p.m.

(Jeff Gearino | Casper Star-Tribune via AP) Steam rises from the huge boiler units at the Jim Bridger Power Plant east of Rock Springs, Wyo., in 2006. PacifiCorp will start the process of ending coal-fueled operations at the Jim Bridger units, but will seek permitting for a natural-gas conversion of the units by 2024.

Rocky Mountain Power’s parent company wants to reduce carbon by 98% by 2050, but environmentalists say it’s not enough

By Jordan Miller | September 3, 2021, 2:31 a.m.

(Brian Maffly | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson addresses reporters Wednesday at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, announcing the county's opposition to a gondola state transportation officials are considering for the famous canyon.

Both Salt Lake County and Salt Lake City criticize UDOT’s Little Cottonwood plan

By Brian Maffly | September 2, 2021, 5:00 p.m.

(Brian Maffly | Tribune file photo) Pump jacks pull up hydrocarbons in the Three Rivers oil field southwest of Vernal, pictured on June 14, 2019. On Tuesday, the Bureau of Land Management resumed offering oil and gas leases in the Uinta Basin after a federal judged ordered the Biden administration to lift is leasing moratorium.

BLM resumes oil and gas leasing in Utah

By Brian Maffly | August 31, 2021, 10:17 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Robert Gehrke.

Will oil and gas foxes be watching Utah’s air quality henhouse? Robert Gehrke asks

By Robert Gehrke | August 31, 2021, 1:43 p.m.

(Tribune file photo by Francisco Kjolseth) A 4-year-old female mountain lion slowly shakes off the effects of a sedative after researchers from Utah State University and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources replaced her radio-collar afer being captured in the Oquirrh Mountains.

Is Utah waging ‘perpetual war on cougars’ with hunting rules?

By Brian Maffly | August 27, 2021, 3:13 p.m.

(Tom Wharton | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah's Navajo Lake, pictured here in 2016, is a popular fishing destination, but it has become overrun with chub, a non-sport fish native to Utah. Now state fisheries officials plan to poison all the fish in the lake this fall to create a chub-free trout fishery.

Why is Utah poisoning all the fish in Navajo Lake?

By Brian Maffly | August 26, 2021, 12:00 p.m.