Smithsonian traveling exhibit starts in Coalville

Utah Humanities is touring “Crossroads: Change in Rural America” to eight Utah communities from September 2023 to December 2024, starting in Coalville on Sept. 16.

The Smithsonian’s Crossroads is a traveling exhibition that aims to provoke “fresh thinking and spark conversations about the future and sustainability of rural communities,” according to the organizers.

“Crossroads offers small towns a chance to look at their own paths over the past century – to highlight the changes that affected their fortunes, explore how they have adapted, and think about what’s next.” The grand opening of the statewide tour takes place in Coalville.

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The Utah Exhibition Tour grand opening begins at 10:00 a.m. Sept. 16 at the Ledges Event Center, 202 Park Road in Coalville and will remain until Oct. 28.

Lynn Wood, project director at North Summit Unite, said, “We feel incredibly fortunate to have been given the opportunity of hosting the Crossroads exhibit in our small town. The resources and expertise we have received from partner organizations near and far have helped us grow tremendously as a nonprofit. The end result will be a rich and rewarding experience for our community and exhibit visitors with a long-lasting impact on our future.”

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Fro more information, contact Utah Humanities at (801) 359-9670 or visit the Utah Humanities website. “Crossroads: Change in Rural America” is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution, Utah Humanities and North Summit Unite with the Summit County History Department. 

Park City Transit wins innovation award

Park City Transit has been named winner of the American Public Transportation Association’s Innovation Award for its groundbreaking employee housing program. The initiative was created to address the critical issue of affordable workforce housing. APTA is a nonprofit international association of more than 1,500 transit organizations.  

“Park City Transit continues to deliver for our employees and the community,” said Mayor Nann Worel. “As a leader in the field, our team has paved the way for other entities to explore innovative ways of supporting their employees and enhancing their quality of life.” 

“I appreciate Park City Transit’s past leaders for having the vision and creativity to get ahead of our employee housing crisis,” said Transit Manager Kim Fjeldsted. “As an agency providing fare-free transit in a resort town, affordable housing is essential to recruiting seasonal and full-time employees.” 

The program, which launched in 2013, has 36 employees in affordable housing in the Park City area. This effort was made possible by past and present leaders of Park City Municipal and support from the Federal Transit Administration. 

Park City Transit has served the city for 48 years. 

Leaves not all that changes color in fall

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources will hold a free viewing event of kokanee salmon changing color like the fall leaves Saturday, Sept. 16, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the U.S. Forest Service visitor center at Strawberry Reservoir. The visitor center is along U.S. Highway 40, about 20 miles southeast of Heber City. Though the visitor center will be closed, the restrooms will be open during the event.

Participants will be able to see a few salmon in the Strawberry River next to the visitor center. But, if you walk to the fish trap and egg-taking facility behind the visitor center, you’ll see hundreds of the bright red fish. DWR biologists will be at the facility to show you the salmon and talk with you about the peculiar life cycle of the fish. 

“Kokanee are easily visible in the river at the visitor center,” DWR Central Region Outreach Manager Scott Root said. “Once you arrive at the fish trap, you can ask questions about the salmon and see them up close.”

If the visitor center parking lot fills up, overflow parking is available south of the visitor center. A food truck will also be available at the event. 

While the event is free, participants are asked to register in advance on Eventbrite. For more information, call the DWR’s Springville office at 801-491-5678. A livestream of the kokanee salmon at the fish trap is available on the DWR YouTube channel during September.  

Tip No. 1 with mountain goats: Give them space

In light of several recent reports of dogs being gored and killed by mountain goats on Mount Timpanogos, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources produced a list of safety tips.

Utah is home to roughly 1,500 mountain goats, many found in high-elevation mountain areas with rugged, rocky alpine terrain. The largest herds are in the Uinta Mountains, the Tushar Mountains near Beaver and a few herds scattered throughout the Wasatch Mountain Range, including on Mount Timpanogos and in Little Cottonwood Canyon. 

Male and female mountain goats grow horns, which can make them hard to tell them apart. The nannies have a thinner horn at the base and typically have a bigger gap between their horns, and the billies grow larger horns.

The males typically get more aggressive during breeding season, which typically takes place in November. The nanny goats get more aggressive when they have baby goats. They typically give birth in late May and then the nannies and kids join up and form large nursery herds.

If you encounter a mountain goat while hiking or backpacking, here are some tips:

• Give them plenty of space (roughly 150 feet or more). Mountain goats will often stand their ground or charge if you get too close. 
• If you see a mountain goat coming down the trail you are on, turn around and head back down the trail.
• Keep dogs leashed and under control at all times. It is against Utah law to allow dogs to chase or harass protected hoofed wildlife, like mountain goats.
• If a mountain goat begins approaching you, slowly back away and give it some distance. If it continues approaching, wave your arms and make loud noises to try and scare it away. 
• Talk to the land-managing agency for the area where you’re hiking and look for signs at trailheads to know if a particular trail has had reports of aggressive mountain goats.
• Never feed a mountain goat or allow it to lick your skin.

“Mountain goats can impale you with their horns, so you don’t want to risk coming into contact with one,” Robinson said. “Remember that they are wild animals, so always give them plenty of space.”

Wild horse roundup planned near Utah border

Colorado’s first scheduled wild horse roundup this year was set to begin Friday, when federal land managers planned to start removing the entire West Douglas herd in Rio Blanco County along the Utah border. 

A low-flying helicopter would try to push all 122 horses, which are on public and private land, into temporary corrals before hauling them to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s holding pens in Cañon City.

The last roundup of West Douglas horses, in 2021, resulted in the removal of nearly 450 animals from rugged land the BLM has deemed unsuitable for mustangs. About one-third of those horses — 145 of them — died in Cañon City seven months later in an equine flu outbreak.  

Investigators determined that many of the horses, whose lungs were likely damaged by a wildfire when they were living on the rangeland, were not vaccinated against the flu after they were captured, in violation of federal policy. 

Mustang advocates in Colorado and nationally are protesting the latest roundup.

“The Bureau of Land Management appears to have learned nothing from last year’s horrific disease outbreak at the Cañon City holding facility,” said Joanna Grossman, equine program director for the Animal Welfare Institute.

— Colorado Sun

Hoberman Arch restored

In homage to the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the resurrected Hoberman Arch was recently unveiled at SLC Airport’s exit to welcome travelers to Salt Lake City. The massive arch, which formed the backdrop of the 2002 Medals Plaza stage, sits on a base that recognizes Salt Lake City’s role as an Olympic and Paralympic host city. 

“The Hoberman Arch is one of the lasting legacies from the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and, hopefully, a lens for us to envision hosting future Winter Games,” said Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall. “To have the arch permanently placed in an area that will welcome so many people to Salt Lake City is a fitting tribute for such a memorable piece of our history and a reminder of our Olympic spirit.”

The Hoberman Arch is a 72-foot-wide by 36-foot high mechanical curtain created for the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Medals Plaza in downtown Salt Lake City. The arch was designed by artist, architect and engineer Chuck Hoberman and inspired by Utah’s natural stone arches. The semi-circular aluminum structure resembles the form and movement of a human iris and weighs 31,000 pounds. It is made up of 4,000 individual pieces put together as 96 connected panels with 13,000 steel rivets. The panels vary in size with the largest being 5 feet wide by 9 feet high. 

The Hoberman Arch was restored by a team under the direction of artist Gordon Huether at a cost of $3.79 million. The base message memorializes Salt Lake City hosting the Olympic Games and includes the logos from the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.