Fieldwork and photography of ground squirrels begins in Logan Canyon

Fieldwork and photography of ground squirrels begins in Logan Canyon

By Claire Hubbard

A team of Utah State University professors will begin a study of Uinta ground squirrels’ adaptive responses to climate change in mid-April. The field site is located at the forestry field station in Logan Canyon.

The principal investigator of the study is Dr. Lise Aubry, a research assistant professor in the department of wildland resources at USU. Aubry’s two co-principal investigators will be Dr. Scott Bernhardt and Dr. Susannah French. Bernhardt and French are both professors of Biology at USU.

The team will be using a $20,000 National Geographic grant to help fund the study. Every year, the National Geographic Society awards limited and competitive funding for scientific field research.

According to Aubry, over a 50-year period, there have been changes to Logan Canyon in terms of increased opportunities for recreation, an overall warming of the area, but also less intense grazing.

“As small and insignificant as the changes might seem to some, this could have important consequences for hibernators, like the Uinta ground squirrel, which have been shown to be among the species that are most sensitive to even small changes to their environment,” Aubry said.

The field study will gather data from anesthetized ground squirrels. Each squirrel will be weighed, measured and tagged during the fieldwork. Biometric measurements will establish age and biological conditions.

“Visual observations of sex and reproductive status, such as female pregnancy and lactation, will also be noted,” Aubry said.

Fecal and blood samples from each squirrel along with brushing ectoparasites, such as ticks and fleas, will be collected. Analyzed samples will inform the scientists on the immune conditions, as well as genetic architecture of the population.

“This work will give us the mechanistic and interdisciplinary approach that involves demography, physiology, pathogens and genetics of the Uinta ground squirrels,” Aubry said. “We will be able to make some predictions regarding projected changes in climate, which affect hibernators in the future, and inform the public.”

The entire process from trapping to releasing is designed to minimize stress on the squirrels. All animal manipulations have been pre-approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees, according to Aubry.

In addition to the fieldwork, Carsten Meier, an assistant professor of photography at USU, will shoot photos to document the entire life cycle of Uinta ground squirrels.

Photographic panels will depict the life tasks of the animals during spring, summer and fall. 

“It will be interesting displaying three things happening in one panel,” Meier said.

Meier will focus on the habitats of the wilderness species and build a more consciously and corrected image to reflect current knowledge of the Uinta ground squirrel.

“My photography will build an interdisciplinary approach to make an investment for scientific endeavors that is comprehensible to the public,” Meier said.

Utah State University students present Survival Night

Utah State University students present Survival Night

By Claire Hubbard

Six students from Utah State University’s Parks and Recreation Management program will be hosting Stokes Survival Night on Friday. The event will be sponsored by Stokes Nature Center at Nibley Property.

The students have been planning this outing since the beginning of the school year. This will be their big end of the year event in which they are given the opportunity to utilize what they have learned.

 

“Everyone involved will benefit from it,” said Haley Turner, the recreation management student directing the event. “We get the chance to teach our skills to the participants and the participants will get experience in implementing survival skills.”

 

Patrick Bentley, a certified search and rescue professional, will be assisting the students in teaching basic survival techniques.

 

“It’s important to be prepared in a survival situation,” Bentley said. “Even if people plan on going on a mile or two hike, they could be faced in a situation where they would need basic survival skills. People always hear about what they should do but they don’t actually know how to apply them.”

 

Participants will gain skills in fire building, shelter building, water purification, and hunting and gathering.

 

“People can sleep in the shelters they make,” said David Lincoln, another recreation management student aiding the event. “This is a fun and unique event. It isn’t like anything that has happened before.”

 

There will be prizes and giveaways for certain survival challenges and situations.

 

“The prizes are actually awesome,” Lincoln said. “People could win $50 to Sportsman’s Warehouse, a pass to The Rock Haus, a camping stove, a bike tune, a tent or Chacos sandals.”

 

The cost to participate in Survival Night is $10. All proceeds benefit Stokes Nature Center.

 

“People are definitely going to get their money’s worth,” Turner said. “This is a one time experience and they are guaranteed to gain something from it.”

 

 

 

 

Strong sense of community grows with annual Garden City Easter egg hunt

Strong sense of community grows with annual Garden City Easter egg hunt

By Claire Hubbard

Garden City will be sponsoring the 12^th annual Easter egg hunt at Garden City Park on Friday. Through the years, the event has grown, along with the sense of community this event has given to the locals.  

“For this special holiday, we want to have something for the community,” said Susan House, the chairman for the event. “To have everyone come together.”

More families attend this event every year. House expects about 200 kids and their parents to attend. To be sure everyone is involved, the committee will be purchasing 2000 plastic eggs.

“We try to emphasize community civility at the event,” House said. “All participants are told to get ten eggs and then to make sure their neighbor has ten eggs.”

Darin Pugmire, a Garden City council member, appreciates the loyalty that is shown to the children at this event.

“They make it fair and fun for everyone,” Pugmire said. “It’s important the children learn these skills at an early age.”

The eggs are spread out in a field by age group. The age groups are zero-three, four-six, seven-nine and 10-12 year olds.

The committee will be making the course wider this year, instead of longer, so no children get stuck in the back, according to House.

“We want to get the whole community involved,” said Kathy Hislop, a Garden City assistant. “There is a drop box at the event where participants can donate for next year and local businesses donate when able.”

Hillclimbers competing at eighth annual Beaver Mountain event

Hillclimbers competing at eighth annual Beaver Mountain event

By Claire Hubbard

Rocky Mountain Snowmobile Hillclimb Association (RMSHA) will be hosting the eighth annual hillclimb competition this weekend at Beaver Mountain Ski Resort. 

As winter transitions to spring, some diehard snow lovers are looking forward to tearing up a snowy mountain on a snowmobile at high speeds for the last time this season.

“We expect 174 participants along with at least 200 spectators or more,” said Jeff Coiner, a promoter representative for the RMSHA Board.

The races are broken up into three classes, which include pro, semipro and women’s. These classes are then divided into stock, improved stock and mod. Within each division are 600, 700, 800 and 1000 cc size motors.

Every hillclimb starts the same way, according to Coiner. The race committee will set up a course, which consists of a beginning and end timed light and gates put in the snow about 10-15 feet wide. The gates are placed irregularly up the mountain course forcing the racer to weave across the hill while remaining inside between the gates. 

“If a rider manages to make it through the course and over the top of the mountain, they are given a time,” said Erin Beuhelman, the alternate director of the RMSHA board. “If no one goes through the end timed light you have what is called the “highmark”.  Who ever reaches the highest point or mark on the hill is the winner. ”

At the end of the race day, class winners will have a winner-take-all race. Each division will have one more run at the hill to determine King of the Hill champions for the race.

“This is a competitive and fun sport,” Coiner said. “We have some of the best racers in the world.”

Jeff Coiner’s son, Christian Coiner, is a Polaris sponsored racer.

“I race because you are racing against the best riders on the most difficult terrains,” Christian Coiner said. “It’s a good time.”

In addition to the professional race, a local class race is offered. Locals can race on the same hills as the semi-pros, according to Beuhelman.

“It is always entertaining at Beaver Mountain,” Beuhelman said. “There is no doubt about that.”

Stokes Nature Center struggles to attract visitors

Stokes Nature Center struggles to attract visitors

By Claire Hubbard

Events at Stokes Nature Center are continually being cancelled due to a lack of participants.

According to David Lincoln, a recreation management major who will be interning at Stokes Nature Center this summer, the biggest issue is there is a major lack of advertising. Stokes is not getting enough sign ups because people are unaware of current events.

“Stokes can only afford to employee two full-time employees,” Lincoln said. “This leaves nobody there to advertise. The two employees are so busy doing all the other things they don’t have time to advertise.”

Haley Turner, also a recreation management major who works with Stokes, said most people don’t even know Logan has a nature center.

“When I tell people about ongoing events at Stokes, a lot of the time people will say, ‘Wait, what? We have a nature center?’” Turner said.

Some events have been retired altogether due to weak participation. One event that is being cancelled is the routine Monday night Nature Night activity.

“We’ve had a very weak attendance for the past year,” said Ru Mahoney, the executive director at Stokes Nature Center. “It was a tremendous commitment for our staff to plan and prepare for, only to have one or two families come in.”

Erin Anzalone, the new director of education, is going to use her first year on the job to evaluate their programming system.

“I am going to drop what is not worth our time or budget and create new events that will appeal to more people,” Anzalone said.

Lincoln also hopes to change the fate of Stokes Nature Center as he interns this summer. 

“I am going to take over social media advertising,” Lincoln said. “I can completely redo it all for free. Sites like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Twitter are all very popular and I think a lot of people will notice.”