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.
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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.
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“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.
Marlene Hasenyager, farthest on right, and others read a sign educating visitors of the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Wildlife Education Center in Farmington about the Robert N. Hasenyager Great Salt Lake Nature Trail on Friday. (Photo: Carter Williams, KSL.com)
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.
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“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.
A great blue heron takes flight near a boardwalk along the Robert N. Hasenyager Great Salt Lake Nature Trail loop at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area on Friday. (Photo: Carter Williams, KSL.com)
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.
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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.
The killings took place in a region exempt from federal gray wolf protections.
(Dawn Villella |AP) A gray wolf is pictured in 2004 in Minnesota. Utah officials recently killed three wolves after they were seen near livestock in Cache County.
In a rural stretch of southwestern Cache County, state officials killed three wolves earlier this month after the animals were spotted near livestock, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources confirmed Tuesday.
The wolves were shot Jan. 9 by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, said DWR spokesperson Faith Jolley, a move allowed because the animals were found in a small corner of northeastern Utah exempt from federal gray wolf protections.
The region, which lies mostly east of Interstate 15 and extends roughly as far south as Ogden, is considered part of the greater Yellowstone region, where the predator is in recovery. It is the only part of Utah where the state is allowed to manage wolves.
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(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Across the rest of the state, the animal is considered an endangered species. It’s illegal to hunt, harass, trap, shoot or harm them without permission from the federal government.
Jolley said state law directs DWR to prevent wolves from breeding in the delisted area. While the animals were not considered a pack, she said they were believed to be traveling together.
“Lethal removals ensure they don’t establish breeding populations in Utah,” Jolley wrote in a text message.
Caroline Hargraves, a spokesperson for the state agriculture department, said the wolves were found near Avon, a small census-designated community in Cache County of about 500 residents, surrounded mostly by farmland.
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Utah leaders have long been hostile to wolves for preying on livestock and thwarting hunters. The state has doled out millions in taxpayer dollars in an effort to get gray wolves removed from the federal endangered species list.
Most confirmed wolf sightings in Utah have involved lone wolves, Jolley said, though small groups have been documented on a few occasions since the first confirmed sighting in 2002.
During the past year, she said, a handful of lone wolves have migrated into Utah from Wyoming and Colorado.
Wolves from Wyoming and Idaho have made their way into Utah at least 21 times since 2004, according to DWR. In September, the agency said it was aware of at least one lone male wolf present in the state.
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Family members of four Utah children who disappeared with their mother in November are speaking out after the children were located in Croatia.
Now, the family is working through international legal channels to bring the children back home.
The children were last seen on surveillance video at Salt Lake City International Airport boarding a flight with their mother, 35-year-old Elleshia Seymour. Authorities say Seymour took the children without the permission of their fathers after posting what family members describe as “doomsday” claims on social media.
MORE | Missing Children
Seymour was arrested in Dubrovnik on January 15 after the family says news articles alerted people she was talking to in Croatia about the accused kidnapping. She now faces four felony counts of custodial interference. Since her arrest, the four children have been placed in a government-run children’s center in Croatia.
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Jill Seymour, the children’s aunt, has been in Croatia for nine days with her brother Kendall Seymour, who is three of the children’s fathers. They are trying to secure their release.
“We’re just kind of in limbo waiting to get them out,” Seymour said. “These are our kids, and we can’t get custody of them.”
She says the family is only allowed to see the children for two hours a day. Despite providing the requested documentation, the family has not yet been given a clear timeline for when the children can return home.
“They are most definitely trapped there, and they feel trapped,” Seymour said. “We don’t have a clear-cut answer. We’ve provided all the documents we’ve been asked to provide.”
The family has hired Croatian attorneys and is working with the U.S. Embassy to navigate the legal process. Utah-based attorney Skye Lazaro, who has experience with international custody cases, says Croatia’s participation in the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction could ultimately help the family.
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“In this case, it’s a good thing and a benefit that they are part of this Hague Convention,” Lazaro said.
However, Lazaro explained that the process can be slow due to translation requirements and court procedures in the foreign country.
“It requires retaining an attorney in that country who can translate the documents into Croatian and provide all the necessary information to a court,” Lazaro said. “That stuff just takes time.”
If local legal efforts stall, the family can formally petition under the Hague Convention, which may speed up the process, though it could still take several weeks.
“To have to continually say goodbye every day is very hard,” Seymour said. “It’s an emotional rollercoaster.”
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As the legal battle continues, the family is also facing mounting expenses, including short-term housing in Croatia and international legal fees. A GoFundMe has been set up to help cover costs and pay for the children’s flight home.
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Four Utah children who disappeared with their mother in November have been located in Croatia, according to various updates shared by family members.
The children were seen on surveillance video at Salt Lake City International Airport boarding a plane for Europe with their mother Elleshia Seymour in late November, 2025.
An ‘Endangered Missing Advisory’ for the four children was issued on December 10 by the Utah Department of Public Safety.
“The kids are trapped in Croatia in a state-run orphanage,” wrote the family in an update on a GoFundMe page on January 25, 2026. “We are in the country, trying to get the kids out of the custody of the local government.”
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According to another family member, who shared an update in the early morning hours of Jan. 26, 2026, Elleshia Seymor was arrested on Jan. 15 in Dubrovnik, a coastal city on the southern tip of Croatia.
“We are only allowed to see the kids for two hours a day, which we do to keep up their spirits,” wrote the family member. “I cannot understand why they haven’t released the kids to us, as no one else is requesting custody, but we will keep working to get the kids released. If all else fails, we will apply through the International Court at the Hague. Once that application is sent in, they have six weeks max to decide on the matter. So we are still working daily, but prepping for the long haul.”
Elleshia Seymour was charged on December 16, 2025, with four counts of third-degree felony custodial interference by removing a child from the state. A warrant for Seymour was issued on December 17, 2025.
2News spoke with Kendall Seymour just days later, as he continued to search for his children and his ex-wife.
“She forged my signature on passports and took them early Sunday morning,” he said on December 20. “Once someone leaves the country, it becomes months instead of weeks.”
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According to a family member, Kenny arrived in Croatia on January 18, 2026, along with other family members, and they’ve been trying to get the children released.
2News reached out to West Jordan Police for additional information and is awaiting a response.
