Do you remember when windshields were covered in bug juice after a drive? I remember, but can somehow not recall the last time a bug spilled its guts on my windshield since I began driving. Native insect populations in Utah are on a death trend. Of our 94 dragonfly species, 16% are at risk of extinction due to the loss of wetlands, swamps and free-flowing rivers. Wetlands like Jensen Park in Syracuse are actively being ruined.
Jensen Park opened in 2006 to provide a prime fishing spot for locals and support for the wetland ecosystems. I’ve walked this park since I was a little girl; it has supported me in all stages of life. Now, that life is accompanied by the sound of revving engines and horns from West Davis Highway (SR 177). With no sound barriers, that ambience goes coasting through the park because UDOT’s Noise Abatement Policy only provides noise walls if the surrounding area meets density requirements; animals are clearly not worth consideration. We are tilling under the very land that defines us to make room for more people, more cars and more asphalt.
I would gladly sit in traffic for an extra 15 minutes if it meant innocent creatures got to keep their homes. As the Great Salt Lake recedes and our air quality worsens, we have to ask: At what point do we stop expanding and start protecting what little is left? If we don’t speak now, you may not have to clean your windshield of bug remains again because you’ll be standing outside choking on the fumes of toxic dust swept up from what was once the Salt Lake.
Kache Hortmann, Layton