SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah woman, on a quest to revive declining Monarch butterfly populations, has become a kind-of “Johnny Appleseed” of the Milkweed plant.

Several years ago, Rachel Taylor was in her Salt Lake City garden and realized something was missing — the Monarch butterflies that filled her childhood in her then-rural Lehi neighborhood.

“We had apple orchards and you know, we played outside and life was really full of bugs and creatures,” Taylor said.

“It (seeing Monarchs) was just…common. You didn’t think twice about it to even notice them,” she said.

The Xerces Society said it’s latest count of Western Monarchs was 233,394, just 5% of what it was in the 1980s. (The vast majority of Monarchs are east of the Rocky Mountains, but that population has dramatically declined, as well. It’s estimated that from 1996 to 2020, the number of Eastern Monarchs dropped from 383 million to just under 45 million.)

Taylor said the problem has been pesticides, development and global warming — things that directly impact the insect as well as the plant — milkweed — that it depends on.

Monarchs lay their eggs on the plant. The caterpillars that hatch eat the milkweed and with it, the toxin inside that becomes the insect’s defense against predators.

That milkweed, though, has been crowded out by development.

“There’s no milkweed growing in ditches around here anymore because there’s no ditches,” Taylor said.

Growing milkweed on her own

So she started growing milkweed in her garden.

“Literally, within 30 days I had a Monarch laying eggs on the plants. That summer I had I counted 70 eggs in my side yard,” she said. “People started asking me for milkweed plants and so I started growing them in the dining room.”

Now, she distributes milkweed seeds and seedlings, encourages people to plant their own Monarch “waystations,” moderates a Facebook group of Monarch watchers and tags butterflies so they can be tracked on their annual migration to Mexico or southern California and back.

“I care so much about the creatures of this Earth and I can’t stop myself from helping and it’s really just coming from the heart,” she said.

You can request free milkweed seeds from Taylor’s website and also read and see more at the Friends of Monarchs Utah Facebook group.

You can contact the butterfly farm mentioned in the TV story by clicking here.

• Whitney Redd filmed a wave of water crashing through her basement window
• It came amid a historic storm on Tuesday night 

By Melissa Koenig For Dailymail.Com

Published: 23:35 BST, 18 August 2024 | Updated: 23:41 BST, 18 August 2024

A Utah family was caught completely off-guard when a huge wall of water crashed through their basement window during a once in 100-year flood event – just two months after they renovated the home.

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Astonishing footage shared online by Whitney Redd shows her sons racing to move a keyboard and other supplies out of a basement office as water stared to leak in from a window on Tuesday night.

She could be hear crying, ‘Oh no,’ as the water started to soak the floor of their Orem home before her husband realizes that their efforts are useless.

‘It’s gonna break,’ he warns, yelling at his family to ‘get back, get back.’

Almost instantly after he warning, a wall of water crashed through the window – sending an office chair flying and forcing Redd to scream in fear.

Astonishing footage shared online shows a wall of water crashing through a family’s basement window on Tuesday night

Whitney Redd said the flood occurred in the basement that her family is using as her in-law’s apartment

She said the flood occurred in the basement of her nearly $850,000 three-bedroom Orem home, which the family uses as an apartment for her in-laws. 

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Redd recounted to KSL-TV how her family ran to check on the in-laws as an evening storm moved quickly through the city of nearly 100,000 people, dumping a massive amount of rain and golf ball-sized hail.

‘So we ran over and noticed, you know, some leaking,’ Redd said of the family’s discovery in the basement.

Her husband then started ‘trying to get into the window, trying to get the hail out, trying to get the rain out, just trying to get things out,’ she said, when he realized it was fruitless. 

‘[My husband is] like “It’s coming down too quick. There’s no way we’re getting all this out. Get out of the room, get out of the room,”‘ she told Fox 13.

At that point, the family moved back – and the water poured in.

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Footage shows Redd’s sons trying to move a keyboard out of the basement office as water started to leak in

The basement was inundated by a foot and a half to two feet of water

Redd would later describe the incident as ‘surreal, just surreal, [with] all that water coming in.

‘We’d recently been to Niagara Falls and it was like that in our home,’ she said. 

The house suffered about a foot and a half to two feet of water but no injuries were reported.

‘Everyone is safe, it’s just a house,’ Redd said. ‘It’s really c****y, but it’s just a house. 

She said her family has since run fans into the basement in an effort to dry it out, and neighbors have helped clear out the apartment – removing the plank flooring and nearly everything else. 

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But unfortunately, the flood came just two months after the Redd family remodeled their basement from a sewage backup.

The Redd family had just renovated the basement apartment of their Orem home two months prior

‘Now they’re back to square one. It’s devastating,’ Redd’s sister wrote in an online fundraiser to help the family with the second round of remodeling expenses. 

It had raised more than $5,000 for the Redd family as of Sunday night, as residents across the city continue to clean up from the freak storm – which dumped 0.75 inches of rain in just 20 minutes on Tuesday.

That is close to the desert city’s monthly average of 0.95 inches, with the city only receiving about 13 inches of rain each year.

The Big 12 has embraced its place as the Power Four conference with the greatest depth, where the difference between No. 1 and No. 16 is small and the potential for highly competitive games each week is high.

The Hotline generally agrees with this narrative. There are no blue-blood programs stocked with blue-chip talents in the Big 12. There are no equivalents of Ohio State or Georgia. No clear and obvious national title contenders.

That said, nuance is required when assessing the 16-team conference race.

There is a marked difference in roster quality between the top and bottom tiers. A handful of teams could win the conference, and a handful could finish last. But the gap is substantial. Not every game will be close. Not every week will be lined with upsets.

The Hotline was able to identify teams as contenders, pretenders and also-rans without much trouble. The complexity came when attempting to distinguish teams within each grouping.

We don’t pick ties. We hate picking ties. But there will be ties.

Oh yes, there will be ties.

1. Utah: The Hotline has been asked repeatedly how the Utes will adjust to life in the Big 12. We think the question should be flipped: How will the Big 12 adjust to the Utes? They are the team to beat thanks to the combination of coaching acumen, first-rate quarterback (Cam Rising) and stout offensive and defensive lines. Assuming injuries revert to the norm after a hellacious barrage last season, Utah is the best bet to represent the conference in the CFP.

2. Oklahoma State: We considered picking the Cowboys to win the Big 12 and would not be surprised if they emerge as the last team standing. Coach Mike Gundy has a veteran quarterback (Alan Bowman) and returning starters across all position groups. But every analysis by the Hotline supercomputer spit out the same conclusion: Utah’s offensive line will dominate the head-to-head meetings, in Stillwater and the conference championship.

3. Kansas State: The Wildcats warrant immense respect after winning 19 games over the past two seasons — don’t be surprised if they end up playing for the conference title. Chris Klieman must retool his offense, with sophomore quarterback Avery Johnson in the lead role, but KSU’s defense should be one of the Big 12’s best. (The secondary is stellar.) And not for nothing: The road schedule is entirely manageable.

4. Arizona: Once first-year coach Brent Brennan secured the core of his roster — only a few players followed Jedd Fisch to Seattle — the Wildcats vaulted onto the top tier of contenders. There’s plenty to like, starting with the elite aerial tandem of quarterback Noah Fifita and receiver Tetairoa McMillan. But could unprecedented expectations (both internal and external) change the dynamics and create unexpected potholes?

5. Kansas: The Jayhawks were picked fourth in the Big 12 preseason media poll, which probably pleased coach Lance Leipold. (Let other teams deal with the pressure and bake in the spotlight.) Assuming quarterback Jalon Daniels’ back holds up, KU has more to like than dislike across the two-deep. But we wonder about the front seven, which faces several of the best offensive lines in the conference.

6. Iowa State: After a regression in 2022, coach Matt Campbell re-established his program last season as the Cyclones went 6-3 in league play. Will the trajectory continue, or stall? They are stout throughout many of the key position groups, from quarterback to the lines of scrimmage to the defensive backfield. But the lineup of November opponents is brutal. We expect a fast start and slow finish in Ames.

7. Texas Tech: The Hotline has a slightly more optimistic view of the Red Raiders than other prognosticators, a view based partly on a schedule that does not include Utah, Kansas or Kansas State. That might not seem like much, but one additional victory could be the difference between seventh and 10th place, or eighth and 12th. Also, TTU has one of the top pass-catching groups in the conference.

8. West Virginia: The Mountaineers won five of their final six games last season, return starting quarterback Garrett Greene and possess a stellar offensive line. So why the modest outlook? Their non-conference schedule is challenging and could exact a toll during the early part of league play, when they face Kansas, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Kansas State and Arizona in succession. Relief comes only in November.

9. UCF: The Knight’s first season in the Big 12 started poorly but ended with three wins in the final month. There’s good reason to believe the momentum will carry over for fourth-year coach Gus Malzahn. If quarterback KJ Jefferson plays to his potential after transferring from Arkansas, UCF could sneak into contention.

10. TCU: Sonny Dykes has spent six years as a head coach at the Power Five level, four at Cal and two at TCU. He has one winning season: The improbable, magical run to the national championship game in 2022. So forgive our unwillingness to take a leap of faith with the Horned Frogs, who drew one of the Big 12’s toughest conference schedules. This is a critical year for the Dykes regime.

11. Baylor: Coach Dave Aranda occupies arguably the hottest seat in the conference following two disappointing seasons. It’s difficult to envision a material change in the Bears’ trajectory despite all the returning starters at his disposal. Once momentum is lost and the dark clouds descend, the negativity tends to stick.

12. Cincinnati: The halcyon days of Luke Fickell, Desmond Ridder and Top 25 rankings seem like a decade ago for the Bearcats, who posted one conference victory last year during their inaugural Big 12 season. Will 2024 be any better? Yes, but only on the margins. UC isn’t ready to compete for a top-half finish, much less morph into a true contender.

13. Colorado: The Buffaloes didn’t have the proper personnel on the lines of scrimmage to compete in the Pac-12 last year. Those issues have been addressed by coach Deion Sanders, which should result in a better product each week. But the schedule is extremely difficult. CU plays all the top teams in the Big 12 and faces an arduous lineup of non-conference opponents. Five wins overall, and three in conference play, feels about right.

14. Arizona State: No team in the Big 12 has more uncertainty at quarterback than the Sun Devils. No team enters the season with more questions at the skill positions. And no team plays a tougher conference schedule. Add it up, and Kenny Dillingham faces challenges that make 2024 seem like it’s the first year of a massive rebuild, not the second. If any coach with just three wins to his name ever deserved a raise, it’s Dillingham.

15. Brigham Young: Year Two in the Big 12 will resemble the Cougars’ inaugural season in the conference, when they won just two games and often were beaten resoundingly. Kalani Sitake’s seat is warming rapidly as a result, and the roster doesn’t possess enough playmakers to cool the temperature. Also, the schedule is rigorous: If the Cougars don’t beat Baylor on Sept. 28, they might not collect their first conference victory until November.

16. Houston: The Cougars shrewdly hired Willie Fritz from Tulane to replace Dana Holgorsen but don’t have enough of anything to escape the bottom tier. They could very well lose ground relative to the competition as Fritz undertakes his renovation project. That said, if the Cougars finish last, they will probably have company.

*** Send suggestions, comments and tips (confidentiality guaranteed) to wilnerhotline@bayareanewsgroup.com or call 408-920-5716

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Originally Published: August 18, 2024 at 7:48 a.m.