News

There have been a few studies showing that dogs in general — not specifically dogs with commercial walkers — are disruptive to wildlife. “The most severe impact is that they can kill wildlife,” explained Julie Young, an associate professor in Utah State U...

New research from a team led by Young Zhou, from the Quinney College of Natural Resources and the Ecology Center, shows that, in addition to trees, humble grasses also play an essential role in capturing carbon — more important than previously thought.

From watching wildfire to keeping tabs the deep blue sea, QCNR is gaining broad expertise with the addition of four new faculty members this fall semester. Learn a little more about their experience and focus and get ready to welcome them to the team!

The world’s most massive living organism has been regenerating itself over thousands of years in Fishlake National Forest. How it will fair longterm amid a warming climate and threats from disease is less clear, according to Karen Mock.

Just off the I-15 highway near Perry, Utah, QCNR faculty, staff, and students, in partnership with UDOT and consultants, have been hard at work establishing a rest stop pollinator garden — sanctuary habitat for bees, birds and butterflies.

A warming climate means less frequent but more intense rainstorms in some places, so which plants will be able to best adapt? A team of QCNR researchers has answers.

When human movement plummeted during the shutdown, unusual reports of animal activity began to trickle in from around the world — things like cougars roaming the streets of Santiago, Chile, and metro California. In Utah, on the other hand, things played o...

Utah forests have had an especially tough couple of decades, and foresters are grappling to manage the standing dead trees. An emerging tool — biochar — shows potential to benefit both forest and the greater ecosystem, according to USU forestry resources ...

For years, Utah State University ecologist Karen Beard has spent her summers camping and working on the mosquito-ridden tundra of Alaska’s Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, doggedly documenting the persistent pace of climate change. The shifts she rec...

The 2022 Annual Report for the U.S. Geological Survey, Utah Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit.

When graduate Mikenna DeBruin arrived as a freshman at Utah State University, she didn’t know how to properly layer, she sheepishly admits. She traversed ice-slicked sidewalks in shorts, tromping bare-legged through frigid temperatures and snow drifts. He...

USU forestry students have the chance to network and hear from Terry Baker, chief executive of the national Society of American Foresters organization in a keynote address on reforestation.

The Great Salt Lake Collaborative has created an interactive website to help Utahns understand the critical role Great Salt Lake and its wetlands play in the ecosystem that is crucial to 10 million birds.

Bees, butterflies and beetles pollinate plants, enrich soils and provide a critical protein source for species up the food chain. Unfortunately, according to many state statutes, insects are not considered wildlife.

While some students headed to sunny beaches for the recent spring break, a few students from chose a different kind of experience — they traveled to the short-leaf pine forests of the Missouri Ozarks to set things on fire.

Humans don’t hold a monopoly on COVID-19 infections — we’ve passed the virus on to other animals: dogs, cats, lions, mink and deer, to name a few, and researchers don’t yet know much about how SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) moves through anim...

Previous dean of QCNR, Chris Luecke, announced his retirement from the college in December 2022. His research and service have shaped the QCNR community in significant and lasting ways over the course of his career.

Although the tradition of holiday lights brings joy to many, it can also be considered a source of light pollution with adverse effects on wildlife.

Oil drilling is not light on a landscape. Unpaved roads and drilling pads can damage plant communities by habitat loss, creating barriers for seed dispersal, introducing exotic species, increasing dust and disturbing pollinators.

When it comes to preventing livestock depredations, there are many effective, nonlethal options available to ranchers.

Dr. Peter Adler and Michael Stemkovski, a Ph.D. student from the Department of Biology, investigate how a changing climate is transforming vegetation across landscapes in the West.

Smart Foodscapes is looking to make more ecofriendly beef by creating islands of diverse, nutritious plants on the landscape that produce less methane when digested by cattle.

Dr. Eric LaMalfa's Wildland Resource Techniques class teamed up with the Utah DWR to plant bitterbrush, important mule deer winter forage, in the Millville-Providence Wildlife Management Area.

New research shows that wolf coat color may signal resistance to canine distemper virus, enabling the animals to identify partners that can offer a chance at disease-resistant offspring.

Graduate students from QCNR participated in the Delta Waterfowl University Hunting Program that included hunter education classes, shooting practice, and discussions about the role hunting plays in the management of natural resources.

At USU Uintah Basin, students have the opportunity to work in the laboratory of a faculty member for an eight-week, paid summer internship. Students get to choose a mentor within the College of Science or Quinney College of Natural Resources and work in t...

Management of wild horses and burros on public lands is an complex and intensely scrutinized task. A summit organized by the Berryman Institute drew together a remarkably disparate set of stakeholders to create a foundation for addressing the hard realiti...

A well-designed fence can help to prevent conflicts with carnivores, but with so many options for material, placement and logistics, researchers can struggle to identify what strategies have the best chance for success. They turned to ranchers for help.

“I’ve never seen a surge in available forestry jobs like the one we are seeing right now,” said Karen Mock, department head in Wildland Resources in the Quinney College of Natural Resources.

Joshua Newman was honored with the 2022 District 4 Presidential Field Forester Award for his 18 years of excellent service.

A growing number of land managers and ranchers are noting the perks of having a beaver-in-residence, and are inviting the animals to find a home on their property — with the help of the team at the Beaver Ecology and Relocation Center.

Students at USU Uintah Basin have the chance to participate in hands-on paid internship experiences as wildlife technicians in the region. The Prairie Dog Crew interns work to survey for active and inactive prairie dog burrows to estimate populations in a...

For more than two decades trends for above-normal temperatures and below-normal rainfall have ruled the West.

This summer the team included undergraduate students from the Quinney College of Natural Resources (QCNR) who had the chance to get on-the-ground experience through a cooperative paid internship program with the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest.

Linda Nagel took the helm as dean of the S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources this month, launching her new leadership role at Utah State University.

Research tracking the flight habits of American white pelicans could make it safer for aircraft to take to the skies.

Students at USU Uintah Basin have the chance to participate in hands-on paid internship experiences as wildlife technicians studying wildlife ecology in the region.

Through a cooperative internship program, students from the QCNR have the chance to work side-by-side with rangers from the National Park Service at Timpanogos Cave National Monument, shadowing professionals for three months to complete rotating assignmen...

The 2021 Annual Report for the U.S. Geological Survey, Utah Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit.

Emily Bonebrake (WILD) took home the award for the Best Undergraduate Presentation during the most recent college sponsored Rapid Fire Research. Check out the video about the event.

Although savannas already hold substantial belowground carbon, new research found that increasing tree cover through fire suppression captures much less carbon than projected.

Trees have a complex relationship with snow and energy as the season warms up, but new research shows that big trees can protect melting snowpacks in water-stressed environments.

Dr. Jim Lutz (WILD) studies Big Trees — not necessarily the heavyweight species like coast redwood or giant sequoia — but the biggest trees in any given forest.

American white pelicans who pause their migration at Strawberry Reservoir are filling their bellies with native species like Utah sucker for the most part, leaving cutthroat trout to the human anglers. Phaedra Budy, Gary Thiede, Kevin Chapman, and Frank H...

Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep make a tough choice every winter — to remain cold, hungry, and relatively safe from predators at high elevations, or to drop down to more temperate and more risky low-elevation ranges. New research explores the strategies they ...

Foraging animals have better lives when they act as optimists, using a lopsided learning process in which information about bad outcomes is discounted or ignored, according to a new research model.

Bella Wetzler recently complete a research project at Cedar Breaks, as a result of the QCNR Undergraduate Research Grant she won to study how big logs in the old growth Douglas-fir/western hemlock forest change the way new tree seedlings survive and grow....

Forests around the world have the capacity to pull carbon out of the atmosphere to battle global climate change. But how much carbon they actually absorb is a question that still needs answering, and tree ring data can help, according to a new research sy...

Manlove was recently nominated for, and participated in Scialog, an experimental conference designed to generate cross-discipline and scale-spanning brainstorming among academic researchers. Manlove was awarded one of several $50K seed grants for her team...

The killing of more than 500 wolves in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming in recent months—including nearly 20% of the wolves that sometimes range outside of Yellowstone National Park—threatens to undermine a decades-old effort to restore the predators to the la...

Drs. Tucker Furniss and Jim Lutz have found that less crowded trees have a better chance of surviving wildfire and bark beetle infestation.

Sarah Cross Brown is big on ‘Take Two’ experiences. The first time around, for instance, her university path didn’t quite click. Two decades later, Brown found her educational stride at the Quinney College of Natural Resources.

Dr. Juan Villalba is featured on KSL News to discuss the role of high quality nutrition for cows in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Dr. Julie Young has some tips for being in cougar country and what to do should you have the rare experience of a mountain lion encounter.

Research on big trees from a team led by Jim Lutz was featured on NPR's Science Friday, covering everything from the inherent awe humans find in old-growth forests to the ecological factors that keep big trees healthy.

A new institute at USU that focuses on sharing evidence-based research with state decision-makers released its 2021 Report to the Governor on Utah’s Land, Water, and Air.

The newsletter features stories, highlights, and accomplishments from the Department of Wildland Resources and our amazing alumni.

Impact factor shows the importance of a journal based on the number of times it is cited. Edited by Dr. Terry Messmer and Rosanna Vail, it is the only journal tailored to NR managers in areas of human-wildlife conflict.

The award-winning book "Yellowstone Wolves" was written by the people who prepared and performed reintroduction and spent 25 years researching and managing wolves.

The USU Range Club members placed in both the plant identification contest and the Undergraduate Range Management Exam (URME) team competition at the Society for Range Management in November. The team faced off against 40 other students from BYU, UVU, SUU...

The team of researchers will use satellite data taken from the International Space Station to study how far ranging populations of wildlife react to a changing environment.

QNCR is well represented in a new report summarizing more than a decade of science from Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW).

Recent WILD graduate in Forest Ecology and Management Elyse Doty sees the forest for the trees when it comes to wildfire.

What are the effects of wolves on aspen regeneration in Yellowstone? Thanks to refined sampling methods, Elaine Brice and Dr. Dan MacNulty show that previous findings have been exaggerated.

700 bison were being rounded up and corralled as part of the annual event at Antelope Island State Park, which this year was supported by volunteers from the student chapter of the Wildlife Society in the S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resour...

Chris Luecke, dean of Utah State University’s S. J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources (QCNR), announced he will step down from his leadership post, effective July 2022.

The purpose of this Fellowship is to recruit a new student into WILD who has (1) a record of exceptional academic excellence, achievement, and promise, and (2) a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in WILD, QCNR, USU, and their profession.

With support from a major new grant from the USDA, Juan Villalba (left), Jennifer MacAdam, Eric Thacker and Kathy Trundle (not pictured) will work on novel ways to produce beef as an environmentally, economically and socially sustainable food.

Thanks to a partnership between Utah State University, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and the USDA Millville Predator Research Facility, orphaned black bear cubs are getting a new lease on life.

Over the next few months, The College Tour featuring USU will appear on multiple streaming platforms like Amazon Prime, AppleTV, GoogleTV and Roku. Quishema Brown, a Wildlife Ecology & Management major, is featured in the episode and wrote the “An Educati...

Dr. Terry Messmer explains how to prevent conflicts with mountain lions and what to do if you encounter one.

Extension Specialists Eric Thacker and David Dahlgren presented to U.S. congressional staffers on rangeland and wildlife science during a recent information-gathering tour of Utah counties.

When cubs are orphaned the summer after first den emergence, the UDWR contracts with USDA and Utah State University to care for the bears until they are old enough for release back into the wild by UDWR.

The Wildlife Society covers WILD alum Leah Delahoussaye's work on the breeding habits of eared grebes in the Great Salt Lake, information that is critical to conservation efforts in the southern portion of the bird's range.

PhD student Sara Germain and Dr. Jim Lutz study the pivotal relationship between large trees and underground fungi.

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.

The research team determined that soil from biodiverse communities helped to reduce plant pathogens, and boosted plant growth.

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.

Dr. Terry Messmer has some helpful tips for home/landowners on how to prevent conflict with wildlife during this time of extraordinary drought.

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

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

Research areas of interest to the Department include, but are not limited to carbon cycling, biogeochemistry, ecosystem modeling, disturbance and land cover shifts.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Mark your calendars and preregister for a presentation by WILD's David Stoner on cougar response to urban expansion: Tuesday, April 20 at 6pm.

Dr. Frey was selected for this honor based on her significant contributions to wildlife resources.

Data compiled by these researchers will be a critical resource for both federal and local government agencies for years to come.

Congratulations to all the recipients of S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources (QCNR) Awards for 2021!

Congratulations to USU WILD PhD student Soren Struckman on his award of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship!

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 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.

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.

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...

Listen to the UPR interview with Larissa Yocom and Paul Rogers concerning wildfires in the west.

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...

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.

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.

This video, created by undergraduate students in our college, takes a look into the history of women in the Quinney College of Natural Resources.

Dec. 17th, our Forest Ecology and Management degree was accredited for another 10 years by the Society of American Foresters (SAF)

Monarch butterflies are facing a dire situation across the country, with their numbers plummeting dangerously close to extinction levels.

The cowboy lifestyle is still part of the Colorado Plateau with over 90% of the region being utilized by the cattle industry. Climate change and environmental degradation are threatening the future of cattle ranching.

As carbon dioxide levels in the Earth's atmosphere increase, the battle against climate change worsens.

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.

Mark Kreider is an MS student in Ecology, advised by Dr. Larissa Yocom. Mark is known for his research on post-fire forest regeneration, including a paper on the identification of aspen seedlings in a field. Mark is also a spectacular classical pianist.

A new study provides strong evidence that exposure to light pollution alters predator-prey dynamics between mule deer and cougars across the intermountain West, a rapidly growing region where nighttime skyglow is an increasing environmental disturbance.

To improve restoration and agricultural practices, USU scientists are studying how soil microbes and moisture affect native and nonnative plants.

Spring is in full swing. But a recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that those birds in your backyard may be changing right along with the climate.

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.