Southern Utah has enough panoramic mountain views, striking red-rock formations, and dark-sky zones for a lifetime of adventure. But sometimes it’s better to settle in to explore one place than try to do everything in one trip. We asked a couple of adventurers who love southern Utah to share their favorite spots for going beyond the parks, and staying for a week or longer.
Beyond Bryce Canyon and Zion
For a week of exploring around Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks, head to St. George, where you can camp within a short drive of hundreds of miles of hiking and mountain-biking trails. “Our national parks are stunning but I have a soft spot for the many state parks in Utah,” says Nailah Blades Wylie, a Salt Lake City–based adventure coach and founder of Color Outside, which runs adventure retreats for women of color. One of Blades Wylie’s favorites is Snow Canyon; the trails there wind through striking red rock, and streams of black lava are frozen in time against the can
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The White House is moving forward judiciously in pursuing President Biden’s goal of conserving 30% of the nation’s land, fresh water and ocean areas by 2030. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland delivered her report on the 30x30 initiative at the end of April. A statement of core principles followed, signed by the four Cabinet members charged with “fulfilling the conservation vision” of the president. While we don’t know specifics, Haaland’s report surely includes significant recommendations for Utah’s red rock country.
If America is truly committed to 30x30, we’ll need to protect vast portions of the Colorado Plateau, the canyon country spanning the Four Corners between the Rockies and the Southwest deserts. In southern Utah, park planners have recognized the worthiness and wildness of these one-of-a-kind canyonlands ever since they proposed a gigantic Escalante National Monument in the 1930s.
Published May 3, 2021 at 6:51 PM MDT Listen • 5:09
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Gov. Spencer Cox issued an executive order Monday to help the state conserve water. This story and more in Monday evening s news brief.
Monday evening, May 3, 2021
State
Gov. Spencer Cox Issues Emergency Order For State Water Conservation
Gov. Spencer Cox issued an executive order Monday to help the state conserve water. Effective immediately, irrigation at state facilities is not allowed between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. The order also requires sprinklers to be shut off during rain storms. Cox is also encouraging local governments to take similar measures. Salt Lake County recently announced it would be cutting its water usage by at least 5%. According to the latest data, more than half of Utah is in an exceptional drought.
Utah sets up checkpoints in effort to contain invasive quagga mussels
All vehicles even those not transporting watercraft will be required to stop.
(Photo courtesy of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources) The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources will be conducting mandatory checkpoints during busy boating weekends this summer to make sure quagga mussels don t spread from Lake Powell to other bodies of water.
| May 4, 2021, 12:25 a.m.
Utah is ramping up its defenses in the battle against invasive quagga mussels this summer. Over the next few months, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources will conduct mandatory administrative checkpoints during busy boating weekends with the aim of making sure that visitors leaving Lake Powell where the mussels have proliferated don’t unwittingly spread quagga to other bodies of water.
A new tool to kill the water killers
By Buckmasters Online
Revolutionary new method joins the fight against invasive mussels.
For almost three decades now, conservationists in states with massive lake and river water resources have lost the battle against two invasive mussels the quagga and the zebra. Since spring arrived and recreational boaters and water users are putting their boats into the water, Utah is bringing an important new weapon to the fight May 1. The new system will lead the way in the massive fight against the water-killing mussels.
The zebra mussel first arrived in the Great Lakes in 1986, released in ocean-going ship ballast water. By 1990 the mussels invaded the Erie Canal and Lake Ontario, and have since spread to the entire Mississippi River basin. They continue to spread.