Wildland Resources
The Beavers Returning to the Desert
One small, plucky animal has an outsized ability to transform its environment, helping to replenish river ecosystems even in the desert. BBC News.
The Beavers Returning to the Desert
In 2019 and 2020, grad student Emma Doden and her colleagues gave 47 nuisance beavers a second chance by translocating them to Utah desert waterways. Their success has the potential to reshape riparian and aquatic ecosystems in this harsh environment.
In Focus Discussion: Wildfire Mitigation
Dr. Jim Lutz is on ABC4 Utah's In Focus to discuss wildfire, its place on the landscape, and how best to manage our wildlands.
Keep Your Friends Close: Biodiversity Benefits Plants through Soil Feedbacks
The research team determined that soil from biodiverse communities helped to reduce plant pathogens, and boosted plant growth.
Landscape Now to Help Prevent Wildfire Destruction Later
Whether you have a home within the wildland-urban interface where cities and towns transition into wilderness, or property that lies within the backcountry itself, Dr. Michael Kuhns has some tips to help protect your property from wildfire.
Coexisting with Wildlife During a Drought
Dr. Terry Messmer has some helpful tips for home/landowners on how to prevent conflict with wildlife during this time of extraordinary drought.
RSVP for "Fire in the West: Appreciating the Inevitable," a presentation and Q & A by Dr. Larissa Yocom
Adjusting our perception of fire as a natural and necessary tool rather than purely as a threat can help us better manage our landscapes and future fires. Tuesday, June 22 @ 11:30am
Safe Crossings: Wildlife Overpasses Connect Habitat and Save Lives
A budget-conscious project in Parley's Canyon, Utah included an overpass that was more narrow than the standard design. Nicki Frey evaluated the structure and documented hundreds of animal crossings within the first few months of research.
UtahView is Selected by the Davis Arts Council to Display the Utah As Art Map Collection at the Snow Horse Art Gallery in the Davis Conference Center
Led by Dr. Doug Ramsey and Ellie Leydsman McGinty, satellite imagery captured by Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2A were expertly enhanced by Ellie to promote the beauty of Utah, and to foster discussion and understanding of geography and Earth science.
How Do Animals Safely Cross a Highway? Take a Look.
Dr. Nicki Frey is featured in The New York Times, along with some fantastic video documentation of wildlife using these crossings, including the I-80 wildlife overpass near Park City, the subject of some of Dr. Frey's research.
Dr. Larissa Yocom is Featured on the Instead Podcast to Talk About Wildfire
Dr. Yocom covers the the history of wildfire, fire as a force of nature, and how forest and range managers can utilize prescribed fire and mechanical treatments.
Indigenous People in Utah Engaged in Cultural Burning of Forests 1100 Years Ago
New research has found that the Fremont people, an indigenous group of farmers, actively managed the forests of the Fish Lake Plateau in central Utah using fire.
WILD Research Professor Emerita Leila Shultz Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award
Discoverer of more than a dozen new plant species and author of many more plant names, Leila Shultz is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award for her years of discovery, education, conservation and support of the magnificent flora of Utah.
WILD is Hiring For a Full-Time 9-month Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Position in Terrestrial Ecosystem Ecology
Research areas of interest to the Department include, but are not limited to carbon cycling, biogeochemistry, ecosystem modeling, disturbance and land cover shifts.
Dr. Doug Ramsey and America View Develop a Fantastic Resource For Those Interested in Remote Sensing
The 3-part video series details how to utilize U.S. Landsat Analysis Ready Data, a product that means researchers spend less time processing and more time analyzing valuable information.
Are Large Predators Becoming More Prevalent In Utah's Residential Areas?
Dr. Mark Chynoweth is featured on KCPW's program This Green Earth to discuss human-wildlife coexistence.
Grad Student Kristin Engebretsen is Recipient of Best Student Presentation Award at UT The Wildlife Society Meeting
She is also the lead author on a brand new paper in the journal Ecology and Evolution on the effects of black bears on the foraging behavior of cougars.
WILD's Simona Picardi Wins Sage Grouse Presentation Award
Congratulations to WILD postdoctoral fellow Simona Picardi who won the Best Professional Presentation Award at the Utah Chapter of the Wildlife Society's annual meeting.
WILD Grad Student Emma Doden Wins Prestigious Robins Award
Emma Doden is this year’s recipient of the Master Student Researcher of the Year award at the 2021 USU Robins Awards for her working translocating and studying beavers.
David Stoner Cougar Presentation
Mark your calendars and preregister for a presentation by WILD's David Stoner on cougar response to urban expansion: Tuesday, April 20 at 6pm.
WILD’s Nicki Frey Selected as Wildlife Society Fellow
Dr. Frey was selected for this honor based on her significant contributions to wildlife resources.
WILD Faculty and Grad Students Publish Research on Wild Horses and Burros
Data compiled by these researchers will be a critical resource for both federal and local government agencies for years to come.
QCNR 2021 Awards Recipients
Congratulations to all the recipients of S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources (QCNR) Awards for 2021!
WILD PhD Student wins NSF Award
Congratulations to USU WILD PhD student Soren Struckman on his award of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship!
QCNR 2021 Spring News Roundup
Catch up with what our faculty and staff have been doing at the Quinney College of Natural Resources over the past 6 months.
Mammals of Cedar Breaks National Monument
Mammals of Cedar Breaks National Monument is a very accessible guide based on surveys conducted from 2017 to 2019, led by Dr. Nicole Frey and involving WILD undergraduate students and National Park Service biologists.
Shrub Management Handbook
The Shrub Management Handbook for Utah Rangelands, co-authored by three WILD faculty members, a former WILD graduate student, and a USDA ecologist, was recently released and is available online.
Wild and Wool
Featuring Dr. Kezia Manlove. Wild and Wool addresses domestic sheep grazing on public land was an integral part of settling the western United States. However, as conservation efforts ramp to rebound bighorn populations, the wool industry, scientific comm...
'Wildfires In The West' With Paul Rogers And Larissa Yocom On Wednesday's Access Utah
Listen to the UPR interview with Larissa Yocom and Paul Rogers concerning wildfires in the west.
USU Recognized for Best Undergraduate Research Program in Nation
Utah State University has been announced as the recipient of the 2020 Award for Undergraduate Research Accomplishments (AURA), recognizing USU as a national leader in undergraduate programs for research and creative inquiry. The award will be presented by...
Mapping Landsat's Long History
Recently, Ellie Leydsman McGinty developed an interactive Google Earth Web Map of the Landsat Program’s long history. NASA had the opportunity to talk with her about this project.
Martyn Mathews Caldwell, 1941 - 2021
We lost a special friend, colleague, and scientific intellect this week. Martyn M. Caldwell passed away from complications of Parkinson's and Lewy Body disease on January 24th.
Celebrating the History of Women in the QCNR
This video, created by undergraduate students in our college, takes a look into the history of women in the Quinney College of Natural Resources.
Forest Ecology and Management degree is accredited for another 10 years
Today, Dec. 17th, our Forest Ecology and Management degree was accredited for another 10 years by the Society of American Foresters (SAF)
Monarch Butterflies On 'Wild About Utah'
Monarch butterflies are facing a dire situation across the country, with their numbers plummeting dangerously close to extinction levels. Two major populations occupy North America—the Eastern and Western population—that carry with them the innate behavio...
Climate Change, Criollo and the Colorado Plateau: Is an old Breed the Future for Cattle Ranching?
The Colorado Plateau, located in the western United States, is known for its stunning landscapes and wild-west ambiance. The cowboy lifestyle is still very much a part of the landscape with over 90% of the region being utilized by the cattle industry. Cli...
Biochar: Can it Help Fight Climate Change While Improving Soil Health?
As carbon dioxide levels in the Earth’s atmosphere increase, the battle against climate change worsens. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that traps and radiates heat. Capturing carbon, or carbon sequestration, is a natural or artificial process that all...
Fall Semester WILD Alumni and Friends Newsletter 2020
Greetings and welcome to the first WILD Alumni and Friends newsletter! In this first edition, we look at two of our members: Bill Woody and Jennifer Bakken.
And now for something completely different….
Mark Kreider is a MS student in Ecology, advised by Dr. Larissa Yocom. Many of us know Mark for his research on post-fire forest regeneration ecology, including a recent paper on the identification of aspen seedlings in the field. But it turns out that M...
Light pollution alters predator-prey interactions between cougars and mule deer in western US
A new study by authors including WILD faculty David Stoner, Terry Messmer, and UDWR personnel Kent Hersey and Dan Olson provides strong evidence that exposure to light pollution alters predator-prey dynamics between mule deer and cougars across the interm...
USU Research Looking At The Root Of Plant-soil Interactions
To improve restoration and agricultural practices, USU scientists are studying how soil microbes and moisture affect native and nonnative plants.
Warming Climate is Changing Where Birds Breed
Spring is in full swing. Trees are leafing out, flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing, and birds are singing. But a recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that those birds in your backyard may be changing right al...
As Interest in Local Food Grows, Water Pollution Shouldn't
As a result of recent events, including the earthquake and coronavirus pandemic, more Utahns than ever are interested in growing and producing their own food. While this is a great opportunity to become sustainable, it should not happen at the cost of Uta...
