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Environment

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Families begin their hike to Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022. The Forest Service is floating the possibility of enacting fees at trailheads, while reducing fees for some picnic areas. Fees could be at different places around the Uintah-Wasatch-Cache National Forest.

Pay to play is coming to Wasatch trails, including Big and Little Cottonwood canyons

By Brian Maffly | August 8, 2022, 3:37 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Mira Petersen, and Kaitlyn Kunz hike on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022 along one of many social trails that break off of the Grandeur Peak Face Trail, which starts at the north end of Wasatch Boulevard. A connector trail between that trailhead and the Pipeline Trail in Mill Creek Canyon is slated to be completed by the end of the year. It has been in the works for more than 20 years and will create 10 continuous miles of Bonneville Shoreline Trail.

Mill Creek Canyon neighbors worry new BST link will bring more people into their backyards

By Julie Jag | August 5, 2022, 3:46 p.m.

(Ecoflight) An aerial view of the Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell, Thursday, April 14, 2022.

Potential loss of hydropower at Lake Powell is not the biggest worry, according to new report

By Zak Podmore | August 3, 2022, 8:08 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The site of a proposed quarry near Vernal, just west of Dinosaur National Monument, on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021, where the Playa Sand Project would produce sand for use in fracking operations in the Uinta Basin.

Proposed quarry looks to mine fracking sand near Dinosaur

By Brian Maffly | August 1, 2022, 6:10 p.m.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Subdivisions abut Steve Pettingill's fruit orchards near 300 South 1200 West in Perry, Thursday, July 28, 2022.

As sprawl takes root, say goodbye to orchards, fresh fruit and a Utah tradition

By Leia Larsen | August 3, 2022, 4:54 p.m.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) The area in Parleys Canyon where Granite Construction is proposing to excavate a limestone quarry, Wednesday, July 27, 2022. The mine would open a massive pit under Grandeur Peak, drawing massive push back from Salt Lake County officials and nearby property owners.

Parleys Canyon mine tests the limits of authority of Utah’s mining division

By Brian Maffly | July 29, 2022, 4:09 p.m.

(Otto De Groff) Bristlecone pines in Utah’s Johns Valley north of Bryce Canyon National Park, like this one photographed May 26, 2022, are beginning to die from bark beetle attacks. A new study by the U.S. Forest Service has documented the first known instances of beetle-induced mortality among Great Basin bristlecones, the Earth’s most long-lived organism.

What is killing the West’s notoriously resilient bristlecone pines?

By Brian Maffly | July 29, 2022, 12:00 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The boat marina on Antelope Island is rendered inoperable as The Great Salt Lake continues to shrink as seen on Tuesday, March 15, 2022. The U.S. Senate passed a bill on Thursday, July 28, 2022 that would fund research to help save the Great Salt Lake.

U.S. Senate approves $10 million to study Great Salt Lake

By Emily Anderson Stern | July 29, 2022, 12:41 p.m.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Tootie Neumann, left, and her daughter-in-law Kathy Neumann examine water-wise plants at the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy Garden Park while gathering ideas about how to flip the strip at Tootie's house, Thursday, July 14, 2022.

Lawn gone: ‘Localscaping’ may save water, but can it rescue the Great Salt Lake?

By Leia Larsen | July 26, 2022, 8:14 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rainbow trout are put into Smith and Morehouse Reservoir by Utah's Division of Wildlife Resources on Tuesday, June 21, 2022. Last year’s extreme drought conditions have led Utah officials to consider how hot temperatures and less water could kill fish throughout the state.

Here’s how extreme drought has changed fishing in Utah

By Jessica Miller | Jeff Parrott | July 26, 2022, 5:32 p.m.

(Utah Fire Info) A helicopter dips from a “pumpkin" water tank to suppress flames from the Halfway Hill Fire near Fillmore, which grew to 6,640 acres in 24 hours.

5 tips for a safe campfire this summer

By Julie Jag | July 22, 2022, 12:00 p.m.

Heather L. King | Courtesy Campfires, and roasting marshmallows for s'mores, could become a thing of the past as Utah becomes hotter and drier.

Summers without s’mores? That ‘sad’ reality is closer than you may think.

By Julie Jag | July 22, 2022, 6:09 p.m.

(Ben B. Baun | Deseret News) Carroll Dolson, a member of the Chesapeake Duck Club near Corinne, Box Elder County, prepares his boat club on Wednesday, July 13, 2022.

How duck hunters, wetlands and conservation help the Great Salt Lake

By Amy Joi O'Donoghue | Deseret News | July 22, 2022, 3:56 p.m.

(Ecoflight) An aerial view of the Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell, Thursday, April 14, 2022.

Lake Powell and Lake Mead could collapse without more water cuts along the Colorado River, a new paper explains

By Zak Podmore | July 22, 2022, 5:58 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Gov. Spencer Cox sits down for an interview at the governor’s mansion to talk about the ongoing drought and the Great Salt Lake on Tuesday, July 19, 2022.

Yes, Utah got ‘lackadaisical’ about water, Gov. Spencer Cox concedes. Here’s why he remains hopeful.

By Leia Larsen | July 26, 2022, 2:48 a.m.

(Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining) A cleanup crew mops up some of the 400 barrels of crude oil that leaked from an oil field outside Escalante in Utah's Dixie National Forest last fall. Discovered Oct. 29, 2021, the leak from a corroded pipeline operated by Citation Oil and Gas Corp. left a 1.37-mile stream of crude into Pet Hollow in the headwaters of the Escalante River.

A Utah oil field spilled 400 barrels near Grand Staircase last fall — and it’s still cleaning up the crude

By Brian Maffly | July 21, 2022, 8:46 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Hikers at the Great Salt Lake on Saturday, June 18, 2022. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney told reporters on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, that it would likely take billions of dollars to save Great Salt Lake.

Sen. Mitt Romney: Saving Great Salt Lake will likely cost ‘billions’

By Emily Anderson Stern | July 21, 2022, 7:47 p.m.

(The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah's Bonanza Power Plant. The plant's operator Deseret Power acquired an 11,000-acre-foot water right from oil shale developers in a deal that environmentalists say is a shady scheme to keep the right from expiring.

Why did Utah oil shale developers give away priceless water rights?

By Brian Maffly | July 19, 2022, 1:00 p.m.

(Rachel Rydalch | The Salt Lake Tribune) Brian Footen kayaks along the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake while digital mapping on Friday, March 25, 2022. He is planning to paddle the entire lake in June.

See an up-close view of Great Salt Lake’s shrinking shoreline — from Spiral Jetty to the state park marina

By Leia Larsen | July 19, 2022, 10:20 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The shore of the Great Salt Lake on Stansbury Island on Saturday, March 26, 2022. The shrinking lake has spurred Utah's congressional delegation to bring federal dollars to find solutions.

Sen. Romney, Stewart and Owens pitch Congress on a Great Salt Lake rescue bill

By Saige Miller | KUER | July 16, 2022, 12:00 p.m.