facebook-pixel

Environment

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Record-breaking snow accumulations are pictured in Park City on Thursday, March 16, 2023.

192% of normal: Utah snowpack breaks 40-year-old record

By Leia Larsen | March 24, 2023, 11:57 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Cyclists use the designated bike lanes along 300 South in downtown Salt Lake City on Thursday, March 16, 2023.

Better biking for all: Three takeaways from The Tribune’s recent reporting

By Sofia Jeremias | March 24, 2023, 12:27 p.m.

(Tandin Chapman | Onaqui Catalogue Foundation) These two stallions, part of Utah’s Onaqui wild horse herd, were illegally killed last week, likely shot from Simpson Springs Mountain Road in Tooele County. A $22,500 reward has been posted for information about the crime. The pinto was known as Jasper and the pair were known to be companions that roamed freely together before they were found dead March 19.

Who is shooting Utah’s Onaqui wild horses?

By Brian Maffly | March 24, 2023, 11:55 a.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Snowpack is high in the mountains as shown in Park City on Thursday, March 16, 2023. Authorities believe the heavy spring runoff will take place in the coming weeks and could cause floods across Utah.

With record snowpack, where will it flood in Utah?

By Paighten Harkins | Jacob Scholl | March 23, 2023, 9:43 p.m.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune ) An air tanker air drops fire retardant on the Pole Creek fire in September 2018. The Forest Service's decision to not immediately put out the Pole Creek and Bald Mountain fires is now the subject of a lawsuit filed by property owners seeking damages from the federal government.

U.S. Forest Service faces lawsuit over wildfire damage from Pole Creek fire

By Brian Maffly | March 22, 2023, 12:00 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) A cyclist passes one of the bike lanes along 300 South in downtown Salt Lake City on Thursday, March 16, 2023.

SLC plans more bike lanes and trails to improve cyclist safety

By Sofia Jeremias | March 22, 2023, 3:25 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Dropping lake levels on the Great Salt Lake, along the north side of Antelope Island, continue to expose more reef-like structures called microbialites on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023.

Great Salt Lake rises by two feet since historic low

By Jeff Tavss | Fox 13 | March 22, 2023, 12:55 a.m.

(Trent Nelson | Tribune file photo) Geneva Rock's operation at Point of the Mountain, Feb. 27, 2020.

Quarry expansion at Point of the Mountain gets ‘tentative approval’ despite objections from Draper officials

By Brian Maffly | March 21, 2023, 12:00 p.m.

(106 Reforestation) This image from a promotional video shows how a Utah company called 106 Reforestation bulldozes overgrown forests on the Tavaputs Plateau with the hope of restoring aspen that have been crowded out by subalpine fir and other conifers. The Utah Legislature has appropriated $4.4 million dollars since 2019 to promote the experimental forest treatments as a way to enhance stream flows.

Legislature gave $1 million to sell company’s ‘roller felling’ to federal land managers

By Brian Maffly | March 21, 2023, 7:47 p.m.

(Rachel Rydalch | The Salt Lake Tribune) Two hikers enjoy a walk above the inversion pollution at Tunnel Springs Park in Salt Lake City in January 2022.

Why does Logan have ‘the worst wintertime air’ on the Wasatch Front?

By Jacob Scholl | March 21, 2023, 10:31 p.m.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Christopher Waddell, First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints delivers a keynote address, "A Perspective from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" at The Wallace Stegner Center's 28th Annual Symposium to address the plight of the Great Salt Lake, March 17, 2023.

Read the text of LDS leader’s landmark speech on water conservation, Great Salt Lake and sustainability

By David Noyce | March 19, 2023, 3:37 a.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) A female mountain lion after being captured by scientists in the Oquirrh Mountains in 2011.

Cox signs wildlife bill that includes year-round cougar hunting, trapping

By Brian Maffly | March 18, 2023, 12:27 p.m.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Christopher Waddell, First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints delivers a keynote address, "A Perspective from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" at The Wallace Stegner Center's 28th Annual Symposium to address the plight of the Great Salt Lake, March 17, 2023.

‘We realize this is just a start’ — LDS Church leader talks historic water donation to Great Salt Lake

By Leia Larsen | March 18, 2023, 4:16 p.m.

(Jerry McBride | The Durango Herald via AP) Eric Hjermstad, co-owner and director of field operations for Western Weather Consultants, adjusts the amount of silver iodide released near Breen, Colo., Jan. 15, 2016, with the hopes of increasing precipitation in a process called cloud seeing. The Southern Nevada Water Authority on Thursday, March 16, 2023, voted to accept a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to fund cloud seeding in other Western states whose rivers feed the parched desert region.

Feds spend $2.4 million on cloud seeding for Colorado River

By Brittany Peterson | The Associated Press | March 17, 2023, 4:57 p.m.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Dan Harris of Eden walks around the snow bank just off his front porch, Mar. 6, 2023. Harris grows hay and Christmas trees on his 9-acre farm and is the president of Middle Fork Irrigation Co.

Farmers have yet to lease water to help the Great Salt Lake. Here’s what they have to say.

By Leia Larsen | March 20, 2023, 2:48 a.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Alfalfa processor Keith Bailey in a barn filled with alfalfa at Bailey Farms International in Ephraim, where bales are compressed for export to Asian dairies, on Thursday, March 2, 2023.

Should Utah be exporting its alfalfa?

By Brian Maffly | March 16, 2023, 12:03 p.m.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Angel Moroni atop The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Bountiful Temple, Dec. 10, 2022, with the shrinking Great Salt Lake visible in the background.

LDS Church to permanently donate thousands of acre-feet of water to the Great Salt Lake

By Leia Larsen | March 16, 2023, 12:16 a.m.

FILE - This July 16, 2004, file photo, shows a gray wolf at the Wildlife Science Center in Forest Lake, Minn. Wisconsin wildlife officials opened an abbreviated wolf season Monday, Feb. 22, 2021, complying with a court order to start the hunt immediately rather than wait until November. The hunt will run through Sunday, Feb. 28 across six management zones. (AP Photo/Dawn Villella, File)

Lawmakers spend $500,000 to recruit out-of-state hunters for Utah’s war on wolves

By Brian Maffly | March 15, 2023, 10:38 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Snow coats Stansbury Island and dry sections of the Great Salt Lake on Monday February 27, 2023.

3 charts that show why Great Salt Lake is still in trouble

By Leia Larsen | March 15, 2023, 11:58 a.m.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Dan Harris poses for a portrait in his Eden home on Mar. 6, 2023. Harris grows hay and Christmas trees on his 9 acre farm. He's also the president of Middle Fork Irrigation Co. which provides water shares to 11 users.

Farmers are skeptical about participating in water leasing to save the Great Salt Lake. Here’s why.

By Leia Larsen | March 14, 2023, 5:59 p.m.