This week in Utah’s land, water, and air

This week, two partners reached out asking us to share good news stories on land, water, and air in our weekly newsletter. We’re happy to oblige. First, Summit County asked us to highlight the Public Service Commission’s approval of the Community Clean En...

The biggest Utah land story this week may be the U.S. Forest Service decision to move its national headquarters to Salt Lake City. Supporters are framing it as a long-awaited shift of federal leadership closer to the landscapes, communities, wildfire risk...

This week, we hosted our third combined Northern Utah Water Users/Spring Runoff Conference in partnership with our friends at Cache Water District. We set a new attendance record with a strong showing from agricultural water users, state agency partners, ...

This week’s Utah snow water equivalent graph is a hard one to look at. As we’re seeing record-warm temperatures, this year’s line has dropped below our previous lowest recorded snow water equivalent, and the little snow we have is melting off fast. But th...

This week, we hosted a Legislative Insights luncheon with community partners where we reviewed bills that passed in the 2026 Legislative Session on topics covered in our 2025 Report to the Governor and Legislature on Utah’s Land, Water, and Air.

We’re in the last hours of the 2026 Utah General Legislative Session. At midnight Friday, the 45-day sprint will be completed for legislators, staff, advocates, and those of us who monitor these policy issues.

21 more bills have already passed this week, bringing the current session total up to 217. Every year for the last nine sessions, over 50% of bills under consideration have passed during the last week. There are still 465 “engrossed” bills that have been ...

The Great Salt Lake drew national attention this week after President Trump posted on Truth Social calling its decline “an environmental hazard that must be worked on, IMMEDIATELY,” and pledging to “make the lake great again.” Utah leaders confirmed they ...

This week in the legislative session, HB 348 Sub 1: Dedicated Water Amendments and HB 410 Sub 1: Water Leasing Amendments, which are both bills intended to prioritize leasing water for the Great Salt Lake, moved through the Senate Natural Resources, Agric...

The biggest local story of the week arrived on Tuesday in the form of a much-needed snowstorm that blanketed almost all the state with a fresh coat of white. Before the storm, it was widely reported that Florida had received more snowfall than Salt Lake C...

Last Thursday, the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air released the 2025 Metrics Report on Utah's Land, Water, Air, and Energy, which is accompanied by an online repository. The next day members of the Policy Pod were able to spend tim...

I spent the first half of the week in Washington, DC meeting with officials at the U.S. Department of the Interior and in Utah’s congressional delegation. I was greeted in our nation’s capital by incredibly cold temperatures and snow still covering the gr...

The 2026 Legislative Session is in full swing with record numbers of bills being proposed. As of Feb. 5, there are 506 numbered bills in the House and 260 numbered bills in the Senate. There are an additional 60 or so resolutions pending between the two l...

The first bills of the session passed on January 31st, including House Bill 5 Substitute 1, the Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environmental Quality Base Budget. The substitute to this bill includes an appropriation of $40 million for water rights a...

Utah made one of its most consequential moves yet for Great Salt Lake this week, announcing plans to purchase the U.S. Magnesium plant for $30 million.

I'm excited to announce that the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air is releasing this special edition of our newsletter that will be sent to you weekly during the 2026 legislative session.

The Utah Legislature’s 2026 General Session opened this week, and four of our talented ILWA students -- our “Policy Pod” -- will be covering it on our behalf.

In this issue we cover a new long-term forest management partnership, key water policy developments as the Utah legislative session begins, and the return of winter inversions and air quality challenges. We also share curated news on land, water, air, wil...

Welcome to 2026 from all of us at the Institute for Land, Water, & Air! We started the year off right this week by releasing the 4th annual installment of the Great Salt Lake Strike Team Data and Insights report.

This week we wanted to share some staff highlights from our various outdoor adventures in 2025. Getting outside is always a good way to spend time with family and friends, be inspired, and find renewed energy. Here is a list of our favorites found in Utah...

I write this week from the Colorado River Water User’s Association annual meetings in Las Vegas, Nevada. As we have discussed previously, the seven states that rely on the Colorado River are pushing dangerously close to the 2026 deadline to reevaluate how...

This past week, I was pleased to join Derek Miller, CEO of the Utah Chamber and the Salt Lake Chamber, in publishing an op-ed in the Deseret News highlighting how our quality of life and economic prosperity are tied to our state’s natural resources.

Utah’s water headlines this week show both progress and pressure points. New reporting from KUER on county-by-county progress toward water-conservation goals highlights significant variations across the state.

There is a lot to be thankful for this year. While we ended the 2025 water year on a low, we started off the 2026 water year on a precipitation high with record levels of rainfall across much of the state. The Great Salt Lake rose a few inches after reach...

November 11 marked the deadline for “a deal in principle” on a state-led solution to sharing the increasingly stressed Colorado River.

Come enjoy hot chocolate and cookies in the LSB while you learn about the latest research on Utah's land, water, and air!

The Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air is hosting a student event to discuss key topics from the recentl...

In a nod to one of the most pressing issues facing the Western United States, policymakers gathered for a two-day conference this week in Denver to discuss how to achieve “energy superabundance.”

As the federal government shutdown extends into yet another week, people continue to flock to Utah’s National Parks. In an interesting turn of events, it appears that visitors are donating money in lieu of entrance fees at Zion National Park despite not h...

Yesterday, we released the 2025 Report to the Governor and Legislature on Utah’s Land, Water, and Air—our flagship publication that connects science and policy on some of Utah’s most pressing environmental issues.

Water Year 2026 started with a bang over the weekend in Salt Lake City, with the arrival of the second wettest day in history according to the National Weather Service.

The U.S. Federal Government shut down at midnight on Oct 1 when Republicans and Democrats in Congress failed to come to an agreement on the 2026 budget. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will continue “significant agency activities” with roughly 1...

This week, Utah leaders made a big splash on behalf of the Great Salt Lake. On September 24, Governor Cox joined state, philanthropic, business, and conservation partners at an event in Farmington.

I write this week from Utah Energy Week—an event hosted by the University of Utah in partnership with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Utah State University.

Next week, the first annual Utah Energy Week will take place at the University of Utah. The Institute will host a breakout session on the Energy + Environmental Nexus, and Brian will keynote on Critical Minerals in Critical Landscapes. We’ll also feature ...

Last week’s storm seems like a distant memory. As we look at the effects from our late summer’s “non-soon” rains, we see clean up from the Provo mud slide, picture-perfect Labor Day weather with...

After one of the driest summers on record, parts of Utah got a summer’s worth of rain on Wednesday morning.

It’s interim week at the state capitol, and it was a busy one for natural resources. Several significant updates were provided regarding Great Salt Lake, including updates on the condition of the lake.

As we begin the transition toward fall, a quick skim of our summer newsletter messages makes it clear that Utahns face daunting challenges with wildfire, declining lake levels, increased ozone levels, and more.

Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed revoking its 2009 “endangerment finding,” which declared greenhouse gases—such as CO₂—pose a threat to public health and the environment, enabling emissions regulation under the Clean Air Act.

Hot and dry. That summarizes Utah right now, and it’s having significant impact on Utah’s land, water, and air. The Monroe Canyon fire has now burned over 30,000 acres and is just 11% contained.

On July 24, 1847, Brigham Young arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. There, he first viewed what generations of Native Americans had known before him.

On July 4th, President Trump signed into law the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act (apparently OBBBA for those in the know). And as promised in last week’s newsletter, I am dedicating this week’s message to digesting a little of what is in it.

Utah made headlines this week for being the only state in the U.S. entirely in drought conditions. This puts the state back into territory not seen since October of 2022, with 100% of the state in either moderate or severe drought. Hot and dry conditions ...

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend Lieutenant Governor Henderson’s nuclear energy trade mission to the United Kingdom. We met with experts from government, industry, and academia in both England and Wales to learn what’s working and what could be ...

Lands are again front and center in this week’s news. Fires continue to burn in southern Utah, which is still experiencing hot, dry, windy weather. The Forsyth fire, started last Thursday, has spread to nearly 9,000 acres and destroyed 13 structures.

Continuing with the wildfire topic from last week’s message, several major blazes have now appeared in southern Utah. The largest, the France Canyon Fire, is burning to the west of Bryce Canyon National Park and is located in difficult terrain with abunda...

Although the summer solstice is still a few weeks away, this week’s hot temperatures are unmistakably signaling the end of spring. As Utahns begin watering lawns and gardens, water managers in several Wasatch Front water districts are sounding the alarm a...

It has been a big week on the Utah energy and mining front. The U.S. Department of the Interior recently announced the permitting of the Velvet-Wood uranium and vanadium mine in San Juan County after a breathtakingly fast 11-day environmental review.

Warm, dry, sunny weather is forecasted for the next 10 days, and that means wildfire is already a significant concern as we head into summer months.

The ongoing saga of the shifting federal landscape continues, with many significant changes and discussions in energy.

Annual U.S. News Best States rankings were released this week. Utah has much to celebrate, as we’re the best state for the third consecutive year. Similar to last year, however, we still lag in natural environment metrics, even falling a few spots, now to...

It’s graduation week here at USU. We are so proud of all the graduates and the good they will do in the world. We are especially proud of our graduating Institute personnel. Congrats to our student employee Makenna Roberts who is this year’s Valedictorian...

Happy Earth Day! We celebrated Earth Day by volunteering with our friends at Enbridge Gas Utah to pack 300 outdoor cleanup kits.The kits will be distributed to Enbridge employees to help improve their own neighborhoods, parks...

We’ve seen many land, water, and air developments at the federal level over the past few days. Reports say that President Trump is planning to make major changes to the Endangered Species Act by narrowing the definition of harm to a species to exclude dam...

Sending out a quick reminder that the legislative wrap up event hosted by the Institute for Land, Water, and Air Student Chapter will be held today from 2-3:30 in ECC 201/203 (Eccles Conference Center 2nd floor).

Last Thursday, the Trump administration issued an "emergency situation determination" resulting in opening up nearly 60% (113 million acres) of national forests to logging activity by simplifying permits and easing environmental reviews.

This week, the Third District Court denied the state's request to dismiss the conservationists’ case regarding Great Salt Lake, in which they argue that the state must do more to protect the lake under its “public trust” obligations.

Our team has been on a statewide water tour over the past ten days, from presenting at the Utah Water Users Workshop in St. George, to convening water users in Beaver and Iron Counties, to co-hosting the annual Northern Utah Water Users/Spring Runoff Conf...

Happy first day of spring! My daughter and her teammates celebrated the change of season by shoveling several inches of snow off their artificial turf softball field in preparation for their game last night.

The 2025 Utah Legislative Session concluded last Friday at midnight, with 582 total passed bills, 176 of which went through on Friday alone. On Monday, we met with some of our donors and stakeholders to review key land, water, and air bills.

LOGAN, Utah – Utah State University and the Northern Utah Water Users have announced the 2025 Northern Utah Water Users/Spring Runoff Conference, set to take place on March 25-26.

Happy meteorological spring! Emotionally, I’m ready for crocus sprouts and days in the 60s. Intellectually, the active weather pattern is important for Utah’s water year, so I’ll try to be excited about more snow. Sigh.

The Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water and Air at Utah State University has announced a $50,000 partnership with Big West Oil, made possible through the Call to Action Philanthropies, the institute’s first Peak-Level community partner.

In what otherwise seemed to be a chaotic time on the federal level, we got some surprisingly good news from Washington, D.C. this week. Governor Spencer Cox, Secretary of Interior Doug Bergum, and Senator John Curtis celebrated the finalization of a signi...

We are a little late getting the newsletter out this week. It is a very busy time for the Utah State Legislature as we head into the final two weeks of the session, and we are right in the middle of it.

It’s our 100th episode of “This Week in Utah’s Land, Water, and Air!” We hope you’ve found this newsletter to be a helpful explainer and compiler of key stories and happenings in the state’s shared resources.

I write this week from the exciting halls of the Utah State Capitol. We have made it almost half-way through a very busy 2025 legislative session. Energy remains a hot topic, with several bills advancing out of Senate committee last week.

This Friday, we’ll be hosting a group of USU students on a field trip to the Capitol for ENVS 6900 – Utah Natural Resources and Environmental Legislation. Brian is teaching an elective for students in the Quinney College of Natural Resources on the proces...

On Monday, the nation witnessed the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States. The second Trump presidency is off to a bold start, with many natural resource issues making headlines. One of these is the President’s desire to ...

The Great Salt Lake Strike Team released our 2025 Data and Insights Summary yesterday, which summarizes the best modeling and science available on the lake.

It got pretty cold in Utah last night, but nowhere was as frigid as Peter Sinks, which logged a low of -26°F. (And that’s nothing compared to its record of -69.3°F in 1985, the second-coldest ever recorded in the lower 48 states.)

January is a great time to both look back and forecast ahead. Here are a few good examples: check out this summary of 2024 Utah weather trends, and read through this analysis of Utah’s public lands challenges coming in 2025.

Happy Holidays from our team to you! We hope you have a wonderful season and we're so excited to see what the new year will bring for Utah's land, water, and air.

This week in land, officials broke ground on the first phase of “The Point,” which promises to be one of Utah’s largest-ever development projects.

We were very busy last week. After releasing our 2024 Report to the Governor and Legislature on Utah’s Land, Water and Air, a few of us took a quick trip to the Colorado River Water Users Association meetings in Las Vegas.

This week we released the 2024 Report to the Governor and Legislature on Utah’s Land, Water, and Air, our flagship publication that—briefly but extensively—outlines key issues and research concerning the state’s shared resources.

In this season of gratitude, we’re counting our many blessings here at the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water and Air. First, we’re grateful for our wonderful community of partners who not only love Utah but are willing to lend their time, tal...

This month, I was able to meet with saline lake experts from around the world at the International Conference on Salt Lake Research in Antalya, Turkey. It was an incredible learning experience.

A few weeks ago, I was able to join Utah state officials on a trip to California to learn about the imperiled terminal lakes in the Golden State. Specifically, we toured Owens Lake and Mono Lake.

Obviously, the big story of the week is the election. Republicans had a very good night with Donald Trump heading back to the White House. Speculation has already begun for what that might mean for Utah public lands and other environmental issues.

We have some good news to share this week as an early Halloween treat. Governor Spencer Cox has appointed Emy Faulkner Lesofski as his energy advisor and director of the Office of Energy Development.

Last week, Utah saw significant rain and snow events across the state—a welcome respite from our unusually warm and dry fall. Drought has now returned to 24 percent of the state, with the remainder of the state in abnormally dry conditions.

This week, Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz highlighted a number of his legislative priorities for the 2025 session and announced a planned pause on any new significant water bills.

At the One Utah Summit in Cedar City this week, Governor Cox announced his ambitious goal to double Utah’s energy production in the next 10 years, leaning strongly on new paths into nuclear and geothermal power in the state.

This week, a pair of bills proposed by Reps. John Curtis (R-UT) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) received across-the-aisle support for accelerated geothermal energy permitting (GEO Act) and lease application fee management.

We saw new water law in action in two important ways this week: First, the 2022 establishment of the Utah Watershed Enhancement Trust (plus additional water leasing legislation) will result in 10,000 more acre-feet of water flowing into Great Salt Lake th...

Now that we are officially reaching the end of summer, I am frequently asked how the Great Salt Lake has fared so far this year. The answer is a mixed bag. We are better than we have been in the prior few years but still well below historical averages.

Welcome to September! It has been another exiting week at the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air. We are pleased to announce we have entered a partnership with Rio Tinto Kennecott. The company has pledged $450,000 over three years to ...

Last week, I kicked off my first semester as a Master of Natural Resources student by participating in a Colorado River Science fieldwork class led by Dr. Terry Dial from Utah State’s Moab campus.

In an unprecedented move, Utah leaders announced Tuesday that the state is suing the federal government to take ownership of 18.5 million acres of land currently under the jurisdiction of U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

One of the more satisfying things I get to do as Executive Director of the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water and Air is bring people together that may not have otherwise met.

I had the opportunity last week to drive the state from top to bottom to attend the groundbreaking of the new USU Monument Valley education building. Although the eight-hour drive is a long one, I’m always struck at how it doesn’t get old for me

This is a special week for the U.S. Forest Service. Smokey the Bear turns 80! He has been teaching about campfire and forest safety since 1944. Three generations of visitors to American’s wilderness areas have been taught how to behave around fire by this...

I hope you all had a wonderful, albeit unusually smokey and hot 24th of July. This holiday has always been meaningful for me. 15 of my 16 Great Grandparents walked with the Mormon Pioneers to the land which would eventually be called Utah.

While I love the summer, I have to admit that all this hot and dry weather is kind of getting me down. It turns out that I am not alone. Heat has physical and psychological effects.

To start with the obvious, IT IS HOT OUT THERE! Heat warnings extend across Utah and throughout the west. These warnings will seemingly stay in effect at least through the end of the week. The city of Las Vegas, Nevada hit a record that I’m pretty sure no...

Speaking of fireworks, the U.S. Supreme Court ended their term this past week with a bang, through multiple rulings that will have large implications for Utah.

1) The state is joining Wyoming to sue the federal government over the BLM’s Public Lands Rule, which puts conservation on equal footing with commercial uses.

Recently, Utah has experienced a preview of what could be a very busy wildfire summer. More than 275 wildfires have already been reported this year. Over 80% of these have been human caused.

When summer comes in Utah, I always have three things on my mind: How hot will it be? How much water will we have available at the end of summer? And how bad will the wildfires become? We got a little clarity on these issues this week.

I know not everyone is thrilled by this week’s much warmer summer temperatures, but I couldn’t be happier. It’s great time to remember, though, heat safety tips (hydrate, hydrate), summer ozone awareness (limit gas-powered lawn equipment), and landscape w...

Fishing is one of my preferred outdoor activities. I am therefore always interested in questions of river access and property rights. I was fascinated this week by The Salt Lake Tribune’s reporting on disputes in the lower Provo River, one of our prized B...

This week, the Utah Inland Port Authority board approved the West Weber Project Area industrial development while UIPA contends that its involvement in the industrial-zoned areas will provide greater protections than would otherwise exist through supporti...

The big news of the week was the incredibly rare northern lights show last weekend. This year’s active solar cycle has given us several rare auroral events visible in Utah, but nothing like this one. Those that stayed vigilant past midnight on Friday nigh...

We’re at the Friends of Great Salt Lake Issues Forum this week, which attendees call the “Super Bowl” of Great Salt Lake discussions. A lot has happened in Utah since the last session of this conference in 2022.

Today, we are thrilled to announce the launch of the Colorado River Collaborative, a new statewide media group to help train, inform, and support news organizations in telling solutions-focused, local-perspective news stories on the Colorado River.

The big news this week is one that most Utahns will miss. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is by far the largest land manager in the State—managing 22.8 million acres of land ranging from mountains, deserts, and red rock canyons, to salt flats.

A wet March bolstered an already healthy snowpack for much of the state. This means most Utahns can expect a higher than average runoff this Spring—great news for human water storage and the environment.

The most pressing story this week is the warning issued yesterday by state officials regarding damage on the Panguitch Lake Dam. Officials noted yesterday that ice on the lake, combined with high water levels has damaged the dam and risk breach.

We enjoyed hearing from state leaders and researchers at our combined Northern Utah Water Users/USU Spring Runoff Conference last week.

The Northern Utah Water Users/Spring Runoff Conference in Logan highlighted the wonderful work being done by policy makers, researchers, government organizations, agriculture producers, and water users in Utah to share this scarce and vital resource.

Join us in Logan next week, March 26-27, at the combined Spring Runoff/Northern Utah Water Users Conference, where researchers, water users, and policymakers will share insights and updates on Utah water management.

For weeks to come, we’ll be digging into Utah Legislative session retrospectives. To start: How did the session affect Great Salt Lake? Several summaries of Great Salt Lake bills--passed and failed--are making the rounds.

Welcome to March! Recent storms have pushed the Great Salt Lake watershed snow water equivalency to 129% of median and 100% of median peak—which generally does not happen until the first part of April.

We have almost made it through another legislative session. With two days to go, legislators are in a dead sprint to get bills across the finish line and complete the appropriations process.

It’s Water Week at the capitol! Legislators are wearing blue and considering nearly 30 bills affecting water in Utah. Both the majority and minority parties have expressed their support to in addressing sustainable water policies.

Happy February! We’re less than two months out from April 3, which, in Utah, is our median peak for snow water equivalent. I have this page bookmarked to keep track of how we are doing.

Surprisingly, land, water, and air news doesn’t stop during the Utah legislative session. A number of big stories this week happened in the energy area: President Biden halts a huge liquified natural gas terminal in Louisiana and releases a massive solar ...

After a long pause, storminess returned to Utah last week, helping our snowpack in Northern Utah to substantially rebound. Many areas of the Great Salt Lake basin now have higher than average snowpack.

I hope everyone had a great Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The kids in my area love the patriotic holidays when they can plant the neighborhood flags in three-foot snowbanks, rather than hammer them into frozen, bare ground. (Here in Cache Valley, we’ve add...

Yesterday, the Great Salt Lake Strike Team released a new data and insights report in advance of the 2024 Utah General Legislative Session. The report includes new science on the 2023 water year and runoff efficiency.

Looking back on 2023, we’ve seen a number of opportunities and challenges in Utah’s land, water, and air. I’m reminded of our wet winter, greater attention on Great Salt Lake, and the need for continued work as we welcome 2024.

The proposed Uinta Basin Railway was dealt another blow this week, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied a petition to rehear challenges to its decision this summer that stopped the project.

Nearly 70,000 world leaders are gathering in Dubai for COP28, two weeks of United Nations climate talks that begin on Thursday. Here’s a helpful primer about the conference’s goals, challenges and controversies. You may start to see changes to some of Uta...

As we head into the Thanksgiving Holiday this week, I am particularly grateful to get to live in Utah. We have access to some of the most beautiful places on earth right here.

A number of Utah water discussions are taking place this week at the Salt Lake County Watershed Symposium (today and tomorrow in West Valley City) and at the Utah Water Policy Symposium (tomorrow in Orem).

I was pleased to open the news this week and find my friend Commissioner Tammy Pearson from Beaver County, Utah discussing the plight of rural counties in the modern West. Beaver County provides an excellent case study of the challenges found in diversify...

Colorado River Federal officials say plan for water cuts from 3 Western states is enough to protect Colorado River. (Associated Press) Communities Salt Lake City announced plans to 'daylight' City Creek.

From Great Salt Lake to air quality, a new report details how Utah's environment is changing. (FOX 13, ABC 4) Land, water and air report details key concerns, issues related to Utah's natural resources.

Agriculture America's farming population is rapidly aging, potentially putting the nation's food supply at risk. (St. George News) Air Quality New way of tracking pollution hopes to discover why U.S. air pollution progress is slowing.

People living in the West are breathing in 27 times more pollution from wildfire smoke than they were 10 years ago. (KSL News Radio) ‘Roving sentinels’ identified new air pollution sources.

October is here, and with it some stunning photographs of the changing leaves around the northern part of the state. You can enjoy the fall foliage with a number of family-friendly hikes along the Wasatch Front.

A federal appeals court on Monday ruled against the state of Utah’s request for a stay on the Environmental Protection Agency’s “good neighbor” rule, which regulates the flow of air pollution across state lines.

Summer storms have continued to make for a great water year. As of September 14, the state’s precipitation measured in at 139% of normal. Accordingly, reservoirs remain relatively full for this time of year.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that this year, just through August, there have been 23 weather extreme events in America that cost at least $1 billion. That’s a record over 2020’s 22 events, and there’s still four months to ...

With Labor Day behind us, Fall is officially coming. I would encourage you all to get outside and enjoy the perfect weather and beautiful scenes that Utah is sure to provide.

Following a Supreme Court decision earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency has released a new rule, drastically scaling back its protections for wetlands.

Even as California is recovering from unprecedented rain on the bizarre path of Tropical Storm Hilary, news reports that Utah is among the five states least impacted by natural disasters. (Knock on wood.)

This week, we are again reminded of the incredible devastation that can come from dry vegetation, high temperatures, and strong winds. The Maui wildfires are tragic in their level of human, environmental, economic, and cultural cost.

President Biden will make his first presidential trip to Utah tomorrow, as part of a tour of the West, with stops in New Mexico and Arizona as well. Today, he’s announcing plans for the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon...

Happy August! Looks like we may see a little bit of needed summer monsoon weather over the next few days. This week, I’ve been talking to a lot of folks about Utah’s water budget.

I hope you all had a great time celebrating the 24th of July! There are some awesome news stories contained in the roundup this week. I would especially recommend that you check out the KSL story on the proposed monument along the Arizona Strip.

Our cold, wet winter and cool spring are distant memories. It’s so hot out there! The heat is bringing all sorts of new concerns. I was particularly caught this week by news that the heat is impacting our roadways. Very interesting stuff there.

Salt Lake City isn't the only major city to move away from a firework show this year in an effort to minimize negative air quality impacts. (NPR)

We live in a pretty remarkable country. Even with all its faults, the United States of America still stands for so many meaningful things.

Just in time for summer, the phrase “watermelon snow” entered the state’s public discourse this week as USU’s Scott Hotaling’s research on the phenomenon caught national attention.

Even though it may not feel like it, summer is finally here. And with the changing season, Salt Lake City also celebrated the return of the Outdoor Retailer convention.

This week, we’re seeing the growing complexity of energy issues throughout the region.

In an interesting turn of events this week, the city of Phoenix, Arizona announced that it is curbing development in some of its fastest-growing areas due to concerns over water shortages.

Spring in Utah is unquestionably lovely and almost always feels like a reward for having survived the long winters here. While this is especially true this year, we have experienced something unusual—bad springtime air quality from dust and smoke events....

The Bureau of Land Management recently proposed a Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, which would allow the agency to create and sell conservation leases on BLM-managed land.

Utah reached two important water milestones this week as the Great Salt Lake passed 4293 feet (up over 4 feet in elevation since the November 2022 low) and the remaining portions of severe drought dropped off the national drought monitor map.

When the pendulum in Utah swings from too little water to too much water, new challenges are bound to emerge. Reservoirs that were close to empty now must hold record runoff

In something of a personal triumph, the last patch of snow melted in my yard in Logan late Sunday evening. Spring seems like it is going to stick around this time. Warmer weather is bringing large runoffs statewide and flooding in parts of the state.

In further proof that northern Utah feels more like Alaska this spring, Utahns got a rare viewing of aurora borealis on Sunday night.

Utah’s flood watch has increased in the past few weeks, though cool temperatures this week should give us a reprieve. Listen to this podcast for a great analysis of the 1983 floods and how well Utah is prepared for this year. Even with this threat, we sti...

Spring weather has finally arrived in the state and with it welcome news of a healthy runoff. Interestingly, even before real runoff occurs, precipitation this year has already raised the elevation of the Great Salt Lake by over 3 feet from its historic l...

Our Utah weather seems more like an April Fools’ joke than actual spring. For now, it’s still good news, as we accomplish yet another significant water milestone: for the first time in three years, none of Utah is in extreme drought.

Over the weekend, this year became the wettest in Utah’s history (since we began measuring snow water equivalency), topping over 26 inches—with more on the way. This is causing some challenges, from flooding fears, to ranching woes, to a delayed opening f...

It may be spring, but we still have plenty of winter weather ahead of us this month. Check out this graph shared at Spring Runoff that shows how Utah’s snow water equivalent is outpacing our wettest historical winters. Click past years to see how 2023 is ...

Water holds the top newsmaker spot this week, as we continue to see significant winter precipitation. With the recent round of storms, every reporting area in Utah is above 125 percent of normal snow water equivalency.

The 2023 Utah Legislative Session has come to an end. All told, it was one of the most productive legislative sessions in memory. In addition to over $400 million allocated for water conservation, the legislature sent over 70 bills dealing with natural

We have almost made it. The 2023 Utah State Legislative Session is in its final week. Of note, several major pieces of legislation dealing with Great Salt Lake and major water legislation from Senator Sandall to help facilitate water markets remain in p

With two weeks left in the 2023 Utah Legislative Session, the final push is on for initiatives and funding proposals. Natural resource issues still are capturing tremendous interest and support.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to sit down with an investigative journalist from Norway to discuss the Great Salt Lake, the Colorado River, western agriculture, regional air quality, and a variety of other natural resource issues.

The major story of the week (besides the groundhog seeing its shadow—and predicting a welcome six more weeks of winter) is the negotiation on the Colorado River.

Happy Water Week! In case you haven’t heard, the Legislative Session is in full swing and leadership is focusing this week on all things water. At a press conference yesterday, legislators gathered to highlight this session’s focus on water legislation.

Governor Cox’s State of the State Address observed, “Even good jobs and good homes won’t mean much if we are not good stewards of this beautiful place we get to call home…”

The big news this week is water. After years of drought and subpar snowpack, the state received welcome news that all but one of the state’s reporting areas are above 150% of normal. Several areas are above 200% of normal for this time of year.

As we start the new year, we're excited to launch a weekly newsletter that will compile land, water, and air news from around Utah. You've received this first edition of the newsletter because of your position and your previous interest in these topics th...