Science from the Steps

In 2022, over 535,000 cow-calf pairs grazed 22 million acres of public lands in Utah. Those are the facts. How you feel about them is another matter. Some argue that these numbers are too high, that the arid landscapes of the West cannot tolerate such an...

The third annual Symposium on the Ways of Understanding and Protecting Land and Water Resources in the Grand Staircase-Escalante Region, to be held March 21-23, 2024, will feature an exciting lineup of talks, field trips, workshops, and evening programs that promises...

Pinyon-juniper woodlands are an iconic landscape of the American west. They can be found at arid mid-elevations, especially on rocky soils or jointed bedrock, and are characterized by an open forest dominated by low, bushy, evergreen junipers and pinyon pines (exact...

  For large mammals such as elk, mule deer, and pronghorn, migration is a normal seasonal event. Twice per year, herds move according to the weather and the availability of food, following the spring green-up to their summer range in the mountains, then back to...

  In January 2004, after a journey of six months and 47 million miles, NASA’s Opportunity rover finally touched down safely on the surface of Mars. Minutes later, it sent back an astonishing image from its new surroundings, an equatorial region known as the...

A trio of itchy, bloodsucking, disease-ridden stories of science:  1)Aedes aegyptiis a species of mosquito that inhabits tropical and subtropical regions of the world and is known to transmit yellow fever and Zika virus. In North America it is found primarily in the...

Bees and other native pollinators are found across all major ecozones in Utah, from arid desert to high alpine. They provide a myriad of benefits, such as facilitating reproduction and genetic diversity of plants, including agricultural crops, by pollinating them...

It’s no secret that a lack of precipitation has left the Southwest and its reservoirs high and dry. The natural “megadrought” we are experiencing is the worst in the last 1,200 years. Water levels are dropping, and everyone from residents to wildlife are feeling the...