Utah
A new trail honors the Utah man whose vision protected Farmington Bay
FARMINGTON — Marlene Hasenyager feels her husband’s presence whenever she stares out toward the flat, marshy openness that is Farmington Bay.
Aside from distant planes here or there, it’s generally peaceful and quiet. It’s a place where you can stand and watch scores of shorebirds, songbirds, nesting birds and raptors mill around the wetlands near Great Salt Lake’s southeast shoreline.
“It’s kind of my happy place,” she says.
Robert “Bob” Hasenyager, who died in 2013 at the age of 61, was a long-time employee of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and the creator of a foundation that sought to protect natural places like what is now the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.
He was her husband and a father, as well as a volunteer and a Farmington city councilman at one point.
He was also a lover of nature.
“The young men that he worked with in our neighborhood dubbed him ‘Nature Boy’ because he wanted everyone to love all things wild,” Marlene Hasenyager said, as several swallows flew in murmuration behind her. “He wanted future generations to know that nature needs to be protected and appreciated.”
Bob Hasenyager’s legacy is now preserved through a new trail surrounding the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Wildlife Education Center, 1157 S. Waterfowl Way in Farmington, a facility that he advocated for before his death. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources celebrated the completion of the Robert N. Hasenyager Great Salt Lake Nature Trail on Friday.
Most of the 1.6-mile loop was completed last year, but the division recently installed new signage to finish the project. It’s topped with a viewing deck that allows birdwatchers from across the world a chance to enjoy the wildlife that Bob Hasenyager cared so deeply about.
“It’s a really great place to go, where you can experience the wetlands up close and personal, and see all the different species,” said Ashley Kijowski, manager of the Eccles Wildlife Education Center.
Preserving Farmington Bay
Bob Hasenyager’s vision for Farmington Bay likely began nearly 50 years ago. He’d go duck hunting with his father every fall, and it’s probably why he fell in love with the bay, Marlene Hasenyager surmises. It became a space where he hoped children could go to explore nature, not far from the Wasatch Front communities.
This led to him founding the Utah Wildlife In Need, which would include the Great Salt Lake Nature Center at Farmington Bay — a precursor to the Eccles Wildlife Education Center. It initially featured two portable classrooms and a small boardwalk, all of which were constructed by him with the help of high school students and state wildlife employees.
He later reached agreements with Davis and Weber school districts to bring students to the center on field trips, allowing them to learn all about the bay’s delicate ecosystem. It also grew over time, although Hasenyager died before the current Eccles Wildlife Education Center was completed in 2018 on the location of the original classrooms.
Despite the growth that has taken place outside the waterfowl management area’s boundaries in recent years, including the construction of new homes and the West Davis Corridor, Bob Hasenyager’s dream has been realized. The education center and management area maintain the slice of nature that he spent decades championing.
“None of this nature preserve would be here if it weren’t for the tenacious work and leadership of my very favorite person,” Marlene Hasenyager said. “He died knowing he had left a place his neighbors, Farmington, school groups, birdwatchers and all people could come to hear the sound of birds, to smell the smells of the Great Salt Lake, and to enjoy this little piece of nature right in the heart of an urban area.”
A renewed importance
The 18,000-acre management area is set apart to protect waterfowl, preserving a space for duck and goose hunters. It also holds great importance for all sorts of other bird species, drawing in a portion of the millions of migratory birds that utilize the Great Salt Lake each year.
While many come to hunt, thousands of people also come just to view the species found by the bay. The Robert N. Hasenyager Great Salt Lake Nature Trail aims to provide a place where they can do just that. Pelicans, ibis, egrets and great blue herons were some of the species that flew around the area as the state wildlife employees celebrated the trail on Friday.
“This truly is a jewel for the Division of Wildlife and the state of Utah, and it gets visited heavily,” said Riley Peck, director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
The trail has increased visitation importance because it and the center are exempt from a new state law that requires visitors to own a state fishing or hunting license to enter other parts of the management area, along with similar management areas along the Wasatch Front. The Utah Wildlife Board finalized the rule last week.
It means that anyone without a license still has a place to view wildlife.
“Anyone can come here and walk our trails,” Kijowski said. “I do think that’s important because we can educate people who are coming from out of state, maybe people who come out here with a lot of family. They can still learn about how important the ecosystem is and still see all of those species because you’re immersed in the wetlands.”
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
It’s on nights like these that I’m reminded of the ravine that divides the NBA from all other levels of basketball. This Summer League tilt was sloppy on both sides, and not many fringe players earned an NBA contract tonight, by the looks of it.
This matchup has always been about the number-one pick AJ Dybantsa and the number-two pick Darryn Peterson. Rivals since high school, these two are in an eternal struggle for the designation of being “number-one”. They wanted to be the best in their high school class. They wanted to be the first off the board in the NBA Draft. Rest assured, these two will be battling for Rookie of the Year honors by the season’s end.
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Both stars were fully aware of the magnitude of this game, and both wanted to be the first to strike in the Thomas and Mack Center.
Dybantsa took his first touch all the way to the basket and forced up an off-kilter shot that missed everything.
Peterson took the ball the other way and forced up a top-of-the-key three-pointer that missed badly.
Dybantsa quickly picked up the slack, flipping an under-and-around lay-in and following that up with a good leading bounce pass through traffic to find a cutting teammate.
From there, the 1-2 combo settled in and let the game flow around them.
For the first time in a Utah Jazz uniform, Darryn Peterson walked among mortal men as a commoner. He had a very slow start in his Las Vegas debut, opening the night 0-for-3 from the floor and even whiffing on his first all-or-nothing foul shot. His steps were hurried, and he stood unstable before his first trip to the bench. Not quite so infallible outside of the mountain air in Salt Lake City.
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AJ claimed the first quarter, dicing up the defense with fadeaways, dribble chains, and this vicious, inhumane slam that will dominate your social media feed for the next day or so.
Washington set the tone for some — should we say physical — defense out on the perimeter, and the officials gave the Wizards liberty to reside in Peterson’s chest for the majority of the game. The number-two pick couldn’t get himself into a rhythm as he’d step out of bounds, dribble off his foot, and sputter under the heat of the Wizards’ aggressive double-team scheme.
They were incredibly handsy from end to end, frustrating Jazz ball handlers as the whistles piled up at the other end.
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AJ Dybantsa lives at the foul stripe — that’s his superpower — and he has since his days at BYU, where he led the nation in foul shots taken per game. Perfectly within his idiom, Dybantsa was 6-of-7 from the foul stripe — keeping in mind the experimental do-or-die free throw rule. Considering how much more physical the Wizards played at the defensive end, it’s a mystery how the Wizards managed to reside in the comfort of the bonus for the entire first half.
Neither player was efficient from the floor, but Dybantsa won the first half of this marquee matchup.
Dybantsa finished the first half with 19 points on 4-of-12 shooting.
Peterson lagged behind with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting and a pair of dimes.
The lead shrank to single digits, and what appeared to be a blowout in the first half — Washington led by as much as 20 — rapidly drew tighter in the second half. It had become a two-possession game before the clock hit 0:00 in the third quarter.
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Both stars lived up to the bill in this one, clearly displaying their individual talents despite their efficiency not leaping off the box score.
Peterson’s tendency to cough up possession has to get straightened out. He’ll be a target for his whole career, so learning to handle and exploit on-ball pressure will be critical to maximize his effectiveness and keep his teammates involved.
Cody Williams stole the show a bit for the Jazz, despite a rocky opening to the night. Though he struggled to stop Dybantsa on the defensive end, he notched 16 points on great efficiency (6-11, 2-3 3PT) plus 5 rebounds. He’s not a ball-handler, despite the Jazz’s wishes, but thrived on a newly added stepback mid-range jumper tonight.
Dybantsa had a strong night, finishing with 27 points on 7-for-18 shooting, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals.
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The Wizards ultimately won this game behind the strength of their NBA guys, Tre Johnson and Will Reily, who combined for 41 to pair with Dybantsa’s 27. They also strongly benefited from Jamir Watkins, Darryn Peterson’s assignment fouling a grand total of 9 times (not a typo).
Peterson likewise fouled 9 times in this one, an ugly blemish on what was an unsteady night for the rookie. He finished with 24 points on 6-18 shooting and 2-7 from three-point land (thanks to a bank-shot heave at the final horn). Dybantsa will be crowned the winner of this head-to-head with Peterson thanks to better highlights and the team win, but neither player dominated, despite what X will likely tell you.
Washington defeats Utah with a final score of 92-88.
Calvin Barrett is the Associate Editor for SLC Dunk. Originally from Springville, Utah, he currently lives in Japan and has covered the NBA and college athletics since 2024.
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — The man arrested for murder in the 2006 death of his wife at a Utah national park left behind a suicide note in his Las Vegas jail cell, according to a police report.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police released a public report on the death of David Vander Meer, 49, who was in custody on an out-of-state warrant.
The Washington County District Attorney’s Office said in an affidavit that Vander Meer, a former youth pastor, was a suspect in the death of his then-wife, 28-year-old Bernadette Vander Meer, 20 years ago.
Bernadette fell to her death at Angels Landing in Zion National Park. Prosecutors said in their affidavit that they received new information implicating David, alleing that he began having a close relationship with a young girl when she was 14 and he was her youth pastor.
A fugitive task force took Vander Meer into custody in Summerlin, according to an arrest report, and he was booked into Clark County Detention Center on June 22.
In the report on his death, LVMPD said a corrections officer was conducting visual checks at about 9:30 p.m. June 24 when he noticed Vander Meer lying face down on the ground and unresponsive.
Several sections are redacted, but police wrote that the officer performed chest compressions until medical personnel arrived. Vander Meer was taken to UMC, where he was pronounced dead just after 2:36 a.m. June 25.
Investigators wrote that because of “the nature of his case,” Vander Meer was placed into protective custody. He was seen sitting upright and awake at 9 p.m., and he had no known medical conditions. He also did not mention being suicidal during a mental health screening.
Inside the cell, police wrote that Vander Meer “left a hand written suicide letter and a hand written will in his cell which has been photographed and impounded.” The following paragraph of the report was redacted, and no further details on Vander Meer’s death were disclosed.
The Clark County Coroner’s Office has not yet released its official rulings on his cause and manner of death.
Bernadette’s parents, Richard and Laura Gudenkauf, told News 3 they long suspected Vander Meer played a role in her death.
“Because of the girlfriend,” said Laura. “I found insurance policies months later that he had, lots of them.”
It has been a long time since the Jazz last played a meaningful game I desperately wanted them to win, and it is unhealthy how excited I am for this matchup. After a solid three games in the SLC Summer League, the Jazz head south to Las Vegas, and as hot as the desert sun is sure to be outside, on the court, the Thursday night primetime game featuring the top two picks in the draft will be much hotter.
How to Watch the Las Vegas Summer League?
Who: Utah Jazz vs Washington Wizards
When: Thursday, July 9, 2026 | 7:00 MT
Where: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV
How to watch: ESPN, Jazz+
Darryn Peterson and AJ Dybantsa
Summer league games do not matter in the record books, but this game is a statement-making opportunity for both AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson. Given the historical nature of this draft class, especially at the top, there is some real juice to this game that is atypical of most Summer League games. AJ has the chance to silence the noise that has swelled after Darryn’s remarkable performances in the SLC Summer League. Meanwhile, Darryn has the chance to ratchet up the noise and take the NBA world by storm with another solid performance against the Wizards. Can you imagine the narratives if Darryn were to come out and dominate AJ as he has through high school and college? In the words of the great Charles Barkley, I have two words for you… Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa, must-see TV.
Ace Bailey looked really impressive in his 2.5 quarters of play in Salt Lake before missing games with back spasms. It is unknown whether or not he will be ready to go for the Vegas opener, but if he is available, he will probably be the one checking AJ Dybantsa on defense. His combination of length and athleticism could not only make things difficult for AJ on the defensive end but also expose his lackadaisical defense on the offensive end. If Ace is able to go, he will be looking to show the Jazz and the NBA that he is ready to take a leap in year two.
Which Jazz Big Man Will Stand Out?
Which big man will step up this game? In Game 1, we saw a lot of Kylor Kelley, who was a little less than impressive. Against Memphis, Jaxon Kohler, the Utah native, showed up and showed out against Cam Boozer. In game three, although the number of NBA-level players was few and far between, Jonas Aidoo stole the show with his rebounding and ability to play his role. Will we see one of those same three guys seize their opportunity, or will another guy like Micah Handlogten or Eric Dixon steal the show? We saw how vital a big that can roll and catch passes is for Darryn Peterson as a lead guard, playmaking-wise. It will be interesting to see who steps up to the plate to relieve pressure when he is blitzed and double-teamed.
SIDE NOTE: Adam Silver is LAME
No one should ASPIRE to be as boring as Adam Silver. After much excitement was made about Keyonte George making his unofficial coaching debut on Thursday night, according to Sarah Todd, the league has nixed that excitement and won’t allow Keyonte to be coaching on the sideline because who knows why…? I guess they were worried about the Jazz circumventing the salary cap to pay Keyonte or something. Anyways, I guess Will Hardy’s coaching TREE will have to wait for more branches to grow. Adam Silver remains evil in my book.
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