Utah
3 Utah projects to receive $6.4M from feds for aquatic species, habitat improvements
The Virgin River flows by means of Zion Nationwide Park on Oct. 14, 2020. A challenge to enhance the river for fish within the park obtained greater than $3.5 million from the federal authorities this week, greater than double what has already been raised for it. (Ravell Name, Deseret Information)
Estimated learn time: 4-5 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — A trio of tasks geared toward bettering fish habitats in and round Utah are slated to obtain a little bit over $6.4 million from a spherical of funds aimed to guard aquatic species and habitats throughout the nation.
The Division of the Inside introduced it could ship about $38 million to 40 fish passage tasks in 23 states and Puerto Rico as part of the Nationwide Fish Passage Program. This system, created in 1999, helps pay for aquatic ecosystem restoration tasks that may restore free-flowing waters, which “enable for enhanced fish migration and defending communities from flooding.”
The record of tasks contains the Virgin River Fish Passage Initiative in Zion Nationwide Park ($3.52 million), the Gigliotti Diversion Dam Removing on the Value River ($1.5 million) and Higher Bear River Fish Passage for Native Bear River Cutthroat ($1.39 million).
“Throughout the nation, thousands and thousands of limitations block fish migration and put communities at increased threat of flooding. President (Joe) Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation gives a once-in-a-generation alternative to put money into our nation’s rivers, streams and communities and assist restore habitat connectivity for aquatic species across the nation,” mentioned Division of Inside Secretary Deb Haaland in an announcement.
The Virgin River Fish Passage Initiative wasn’t simply obtained the second-most cash out of all 40 plans within the nation. It is a collaboration between varied native, county, state and federal entities, in addition to environmental teams. The principle goal is to “recuperate, improve, defend and preserve native species whereas making certain water improvement can proceed,” based on Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative.
In accordance with the state, there are a couple of fish species that when fared nicely within the river now thought-about endangered or delicate, such because the Virgin River chub and the flannelmouth sucker. The purpose of this system is to:
- Present and defend instream flows
- Defend and improve aquatic and riparian and 100-year floodplain habitat
- Preserve genetically applicable broodstocks
- Decide ecological components limiting the abundance of native fish species
- Monitor habitat circumstances and populations of native fish and avian species
- Enhance training and communication on useful resource points
Greater than $2.6 million had already been raised for the challenge previous to Thursday’s announcement, most coming from $1.5 million put aside by the Washington County Water Conservancy District.
The Gigliotti Diversion Dam Removing is the ultimate a part of a six-phase river hall restoration technique referred to as the Helper River Revitalization Undertaking. It calls on the elimination of “the out of date infrastructure” so the location by Gigliotti Pond in Helper will be returned “to a extra pure configuration” that permits fish to maneuver upstream, based on Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative.
This could be performed by designing and establishing a fish passage rather than an irrigation diversion with a 12-foot vertical drop that at present exists, the challenge description provides.
The final challenge involving Utah is break up between the Beehive State and Wyoming. It narrows in on the stretch of the Bear River by the border of Uinta and Wealthy counties between the 2 states. It is an space the place there may be plenty of irrigation and agriculture, Nick Walrath, a challenge supervisor for the group Trout Limitless defined in a 2020 video printed by the Western Native Trout Initiative.
“There’s not one factor that precipitated hurt to the river. It is sort of demise by 1,000 cuts, particularly on this space,” he mentioned on the time. “It was simply sort of written off as there are too many issues on this stretch for these Bonneville cutthroat trout.”
A research that started a decade in the past discovered the species nonetheless moved about 40 miles between Evanston, Wyoming, into Utah regardless of the woes of the river. Out of date dams have been beforehand eliminated to assist the stream of the river, which has helped the migrating fish. The funds offered by the federal authorities will go towards enhancing what’s already been accomplished.
The Numana Dam Fish Passage Undertaking in Nevada nabbed probably the most cash from almost $38 million dished out Thursday, securing greater than $8.2 million.
Martha Williams, the director of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, mentioned she hopes all 40 tasks are capable of enhance the nation’s ecosystems. In an announcement, she mentioned the Nationwide Fish Passage Program not solely gives “advantages for fish and aquatic species” however it may well lower public security hazards, enhance infrastructure high quality, and create jobs, which assist native economies.
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Utah
Lakebed dust is a worry in Utah. In California, it’s already a problem
Sitting on the couch next to his mom inside their mobile home in Mecca, California, 5-year-old Ruben Mandujano lets out a gurgled cough while playing on a tablet. The phlegm stuck in his throat is noticeable. But the constant cough is something he’s used to.
His mother, Rosa Mandujano said he came down with some kind of illness about “eight out of the 12 months of the year” when he was younger. Now, after various surgeries, an asthma diagnosis, medications and a nebulizer, Mandujano estimates her son is sick “five months out of the 12.”
The family has grown accustomed to the frequent infections. Both of their children suffer from asthma. A cupboard in their kitchen is dedicated to dozens of over-the-counter and prescription drugs.
Mandujano said her son’s problems get worse when the air quality is awful – another common issue for Coachella and Imperial Valley residents. Mecca, where the Mandujano family lives, is enveloped by agricultural fields and a short distance from the north shore of the declining Salton Sea, a saline lake facing similar turmoil as Utah’s Great Salt Lake.
Dust storms have become the norm being so close to agricultural fields and the Salton Sea, she said. Winds reaching 75 miles per hour whip through predominantly low-income and immigrant communities. The dust gets so bad, Mandujano said, that “you can’t see what’s in front of you.”
With the exposed Salton Sea lakebed and the loose dirt and pesticides from the surrounding fields, Mandujano said it’s rare to find a Coachella Valley resident who doesn’t suffer from allergies or asthma. But the impact of the bad air quality and dust storms is worse for some, like Ruben.
“His asthma and his allergies combine, it’s a ticking bomb for him,” Mandujano said. “He says that everything hurts. His ears hurt, his eyes hurt, his nose hurts. He doesn’t even want to get touched.”
When the phlegm won’t leave his throat, Ruben has to use a nebulizer, which circulates well-known asthma medications like Albuterol or Pulmicort through a mask. Mandujano said she hooks her son up to the nebulizer about 121 times a year.
“He hates it because it makes him throw up because it gathers all of the phlegm,” Mandujano said. “He knows he’s going to start throwing up. So he just says, ‘Mommy, I don’t like this,’ and keeps trying to take it off.”
While Rosa Mandujano fights to keep her family healthy, California state leaders, scientists and community advocates are trying to identify solutions to clean up the air, especially as it pertains to the dust accumulated from the Salton Sea. Like Great Salt Lake, there are toxins in the sediment of the exposed lake bed.
Scattered near the roughly 27,000 acres of exposed Salton Sea playa are lines of hay bales.
Charlie Diamond, a researcher with the Salton Sea Task Force at the University of California Riverside, said it’s a “dust suppression project” aimed to “break up the flow of air right at the ground level.” The goal, Diamond said, is for the hay bales to “suppress the dust production or emission.”
During high wind events, Diamond said toxins and other sediments like gypsum and salt get “blown around in the surrounding communities, [and] causes a lot of problems with respiratory health, especially in young folks.”
Usually, Diamond said, the hay bales are planted with native vegetation, which the shoreline severely lacks. That acts as another dust suppressant. But “these projects are really contingent on some external source of freshwater,” Diamond added, and that’s the crux of the issue – in the arid climate, there isn’t enough fresh water making its way to the Salton Sea to begin with.
With an exorbitant amount of dried lakebed, it’s unlikely hay bales will prevent all the dust from pummeling community members.
“That’s not a solution, it’s a band-aid,” Diamond said.
Local officials are working on other remedies. The Imperial Irrigation District, which oversees the hay bale projects, is also planting and germinating natural vegetation near the shoreline. Environmental specialist Ross Wilson said the district is using groundwater to hydrate the plants.
Wilson said there isn’t a way to “necessarily make less dust,” the hope is the natural vegetation “catches the dust” like the hay bales and results in better air quality.
The agency also uses a Portable In-Situ Wind ERosion Lab, also known as a PI-SWERL, to figure out what exactly is in the dust. The device, which resembles an industrial floor polisher, replicates wind speeds and collects air quality measurements. Wilson added it also tracks which areas produce the most emissions.
“No one has the money to just mitigate the entire sea. So if we can dial down which areas actually are emissive and which areas are the problem, then we can really nail down our resources to those specific areas,” he said.
If more water isn’t funneled into the Salton Sea, the Imperial Irrigation District predicts upward of 70,000 acres of bare lakebed within the next 10 years.
Utah’s Great Salt Lake is up against the same fate as the Salton Sea when it comes to dust.
Great Salt Lake Commissioner Brian Steed noted in the state’s first Great Salt Lake Strategic Plan that the lake’s low water levels are increasing dust emissions. He added the accumulation from the estimated 800 square miles of the exposed lake bed poses a public health risk and is causing snow to melt approximately 17 days sooner than normal.
Steed told KUER’s RadioWest that he believes dust from Great Salt Lake is “going to be the hardest one [problem] to solve.”
“When you have an exposed lake bed that weathers over time, which has happened over years, you see additional dust days and problems with PM 2.5 and PM 10,” he said. “And we know that we’ve had a problem [with air quality] along the Wasatch Front especially.”
The Utah Office of Legislative Auditor General highlighted in the Great Salt Lake Strategic Plan that it would cost a minimum of $1.5 billion to keep the lake’s dust at bay, along with $15 million each year for ongoing maintenance.
Steed recognizes the price tag associated with dust mitigation. In an ideal world, “the lowest cost alternative” is lifting Great Salt Lake’s water levels so the crust “keeps that dust in place.”
Utah is just beginning to grapple with its looming dust problem, but for Rosa Mandujano in California, the dust is enough to make her contemplate if it’s worth staying in her hometown. Her two kids love to be outdoors, but the air quality often triggers adverse reactions, especially for Ruben, forcing them to remain inside.
“I’ve talked to my husband and said if we get a good job opportunity and we would have to move out of the state, I mean, let’s go,” Mandujano said. “I know it’s scary because my family’s here. All his family’s here, but I’ve seen friends done it. It’s nothing out of the world. You have to start somewhere.”
KSLTV5’s Alex Cabrero contributed to this report
Copyright 2024 KUER 90.1
Utah
Utah judge to decide if author of children's book on grief will face trial in her husband's death
PARK CITY, Utah — A Utah woman who authorities say fatally poisoned her husband, then published a children’s book about coping with grief, will appear in court Wednesday for a hearing that will determine whether state prosecutors have enough evidence against her to proceed with a trial.
Kouri Richins, 33, faces several felony charges for allegedly killing her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022 at their home in a small mountain town near Park City. Prosecutors say she slipped five times the lethal dose of the synthetic opioid into a Moscow mule cocktail that Eric Richins, 39, drank.
She previously tried to kill him with a spiked sandwich on Valentine’s Day, charging documents allege.
In the months leading up to her arrest in May 2023, the mother of three self-published the children’s book “Are You with Me?” about a father with angel wings watching over his young son after passing away. The book could play a key role for prosecutors in framing the crime as a calculated murder with an elaborate cover-up attempt.
Both the defense and prosecution plan to call on witnesses and introduce evidence to help shape their narratives in the case. Utah state Judge Richard Mrazik is expected to decide after the hearing whether the state has presented sufficient evidence to go forward with a trial.
Witnesses could include other family members, a housekeeper who claims to have sold Kouri Richins the drugs and friends of Eric Richins who have recounted phone conversations from the day prosecutors say he was first poisoned by his wife of nine years.
Defense attorney Skye Lazaro has argued that the evidence against her client is dubious and circumstantial. Lazaro has suggested the housekeeper had motivation to lie as she sought leniency in the face of drug charges, and that Eric Richins’ sisters had a clear bias against her client amid a battle over his estate and a concurrent assault case.
A petition filed by his sister, Katie Richins, alleges Kouri Richins had financial motives for killing her husband as prosecutors say she had opened life insurance policies totaling nearly $2 million without his knowledge and mistakenly believed she would inherit his estate under terms of their prenuptial agreement.
Kouri Richins was found guilty on misdemeanor charges Monday of assaulting her other sister-in-law shortly after her husband’s death. Amy Richins told the judge that Kouri Richins had punched her in the face during an argument over access to her brother’s safe.
In addition to aggravated murder, assault and drug charges, Kouri Richins has been charged with mortgage fraud, forgery and insurance fraud for allegedly forging loan applications and fraudulently claiming insurance benefits after her husband’s death.
Utah
Utah experts share life-saving boat safety tips
SALT LAKE CITY — As temperatures rise, the waves beckon boaters and skiers. But will you know what to do and have the needed items aboard in case of an emergency? Two Utah experts share their knowledge and experience about boat safety.
Ty Hunter, boating program manager, and Steve Bullock, chief of law enforcement for the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation, discussed boat and people safety tips with KSL NewsRadio’s Dave and Dujanovic.
Hunter said boaters could speed as fast as they like on open waters but must slow to a wake-less idle if they are within 150 feet of other boats, a dock, a boat ramp, anglers on shore or a skier down.
“Even retrieving your own skier, approach them slowly and that’ll be able to prevent most, if not all, of our collision incidences,” he said.
Hunter’s advice to boaters: Slow down, you are on vacation.
He said to check the weather forecast before heading out on the water as it can change quickly in Utah, especially at higher elevations.
Boat safety items to carry onboard
Nationally, 80% of people who drowned in boating accidents would have survived had they been wearing a Personal Flotation Device (PFD), according to the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation.
Utah law states there must be at least one properly-sized U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket for each person aboard a vessel. Also, 12-years-old and younger passengers must wear a properly-sized Coast Guard-approved life jacket whenever a boat is in operation.
According to the Presonal blog, in addition to PFDs, boaters should also carry aboard:
- Food and water
- Distress signals
- Tools and spare parts
- Fire extinguishers
- First aid kit
- Radio to receive weather updates
- Flashlight and spare batteries
Boaters should also carry PFDs that are throwable devices or life savers for people in the water. A throwable device is required for all boats over 16 feet in length, Bullock said.
“A lot of times it looks like a square seat cushion. It’s rated by the Coast Guard for certain amount of flotation. It’s easy to throw. A lot of times when you try to throw a life jacket that kind of twirls in the wind. This has a little bit more weight and heft to it so you can get it to somebody,” he said.
If you see someone struggling in the water, throw them a PDF but never jump in to save a person without putting on a life jacket first, Bullock said.
A throwable device is “just a basic piece of safety equipment that we want everybody to have on their boats.”
Don’t drink and drive a boat
Boating under the influence (BUI) is the same as driving under the influence. The same penalties apply, including suspension of driver’s license, possible jail time and fines, says the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation. If arrested, your boat, trailer and tow vehicle may be impounded.
Reward offered for Strawberry Walleye invasion
Dave & Dujanovic can be heard weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon. on KSL NewsRadio. Users can find the show on the KSL NewsRadio website and app, as well as Apple Podcasts and Google Play.
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