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Our team works passionately on multiple issues tied to Great Salt Lake. From riverscape restoration to our Migratory Shorebird Survey in Utah, our team cares deeply about the lake and communities who depend on it--from shorebirds to humans.
Check out The Nature Conservancy's recent article highlighting the work of Sageland Collaborative staff. Findings include bird activity as potentially linked to the shrinking lake.
We've been talking a lot about beavers, and we're not alone! CBS Mornings shared this story, which features our stream restoration site where we recently released beavers with our partners.
A huge thank you to the amazing group of volunteers at our recent Conservación de Castor event.
Thank you as well to our partners at GreenLatinos, Tracy Aviary, Latinos In Action, Arts de Mexico en Utah, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation who made this possible. Read the full Fox13 story here.
The health of the shrinking Great Salt Lake is "a matter of life and death for migratory shorebirds," according to Janice Gardner, Sageland ecologist quoted in a recent KSL article. "However, with the lake's water level dropping to historic lows two years in a row," the article continues, "shorebirds are slowly losing critical habitat."
As climate change, drought, and questions about water allocation converge in the West, scientists like stream ecologist Rose Smith work to find meaningful solutions. What kinds of issues can stream restoration help support? Read this recent Fox 13 article to learn what scientists are saying.
We're excited that Utah Public Radio recently hosted Wasatch Wildlife Watch project lead Austin Green. Austin discusses a recent study based on the project, all about how human influence is altering the behavior of several species in northern Utah. Listen to the story here.
Read the paper, published in Conservation Science and Practice, to learn more about effects of human development, environmental factors, and a highway on our Wasatch wildlife. This information is crucial to successful conservation and mindful development. And it's all thanks to our amazing Wasatch Wildlife Volunteers and donors, project leads Austin Green and Mary Pendergast, and our many partners. Thank you!
High in the snow-covered mountains of Northern Utah, Kim Savides, a graduate student in the Department of Wildland Resources at Utah State University waits for the daily avalanche report during winter months. If favorable, she ventures out to remote bird feeders in hopes of finding black rosy-finches.
The finches thrive in bad weather. When it’s a clear, sunny day Savides knows her likelihood of seeing a finch is slim. But on nasty, snowy, windy days she can count on seeing hundreds of the finches around the feeders…
What Glen Canyon once was, is slowly starting to come back. At Lake Powell’s high water mark, which hasn’t been under water in over 20 years, dozens of plants, insects and wildlife have been gradually settling back in.
“Because of continued demand for water, for Colorado River water, and climate change as well, we’ve had a two-decade-long shortage on the river system,” Eric Balken, director of the Glen Canyon institute explained. “These canyons that were once filled by the reservoir, they’re now out of water, and there’s a big question as to how those canyons are restoring.”
During the first half of the show, Nell and Chris learned about the Wasatch Wildlife Watch, a massive citizen science effort using camera traps to gather data about wildlife in the Wasatch Front and how they are impacted by humans. Dr. Mary Pendergast from Wild Utah Project, and Austin Green with the University of Utah joined Chris and Nell to share the details and how listeners can get involved as volunteers.
“On October 22, 2022, it was another mundane, quarterly gathering of technical experts and brine shrimp harvesters reporting data on Great Salt Lake. Yet, in the middle of the meeting, I found myself — a biologist who has worked with the lake for 15 years — escaping from the conference room to cry in the bathroom.”