On her 120-acre homestead high in the Colorado Rockies, writer Pam Houston learns what it means to care for a piece of land and the creatures on it. Elk
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Millions of birds migrate each year and many take a path that leads them through Utah. Because these cross-continental journeys take so much energy, challenges like extreme weather, food shortages, or light pollution, are often fatal for birds.
Just after Labor Day, a storm with hurricane-strength winds and extreme temperature drops hit Utah. Trees were ripped up across the state and many residents were without power for days. The storm came right in the middle of fall migration, which means visiting migratory birds were faced with a cold front they couldn’t escape.
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“Quality of life and wellbeing have always been really important to leaders and decision-makers in Utah. But we often use existing data that we have either from the census or other indicators and don t have as many mechanisms to just reach out and ask folks about how they re doing. And so this is a way to do that,” said Dr. Courtney Flint, who works USU Extension and developed the Utah Wellbeing Project
Cities across the state can choose to participate in the project and ask citizens about how they’re doing through a short survey. Efforts began in 2019 with 16 cities and grew to 30 cities this year. Because of the pandemic, the survey looks a little different this year.