Home Care In Cannonville, UT

On April 5, Gov. Spencer Cox declared April Dark Sky Month in Utah. Though you wouldn’t know it from the light-polluted urban centers, Utah is actually one of the best places in the world to observe the night sky, no telescope required. The state’s declaration committed to preserving dark sky places—plus the health benefits and tourist dollars they bring.

Utah has 23 locations accredited by the International Dark Sky Association. The sheer number of dark sky parks in Utah—the highest concentration in the world—makes Utah an unofficial stargazing capital. Recognition from the IDA isn’t a simple task. Officials go through a lengthy application process to earn the distinction, which, according to the association, goes to “land possessing an exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights and a nocturnal environment that is specifically protected for its scientific, natural, educational, cultural heritage and/or public enjoyment.”

If you are part of the public who wants to take part in that enjoyment, there are plenty of options for dark sky stargazing throughout the state.

In March, two new Utah parks joined the prestigious International Dark Sky club, making them the newest Utah spots to earn the title. Goosenecks State Park (Mexican Hat) offers spectacular views of the San Juan River 1,000 feet below, and Fremont Indian State Park (Sevier) holds centuries-old artifacts, petroglyphs and pictographs from the Fremont tribe who inhabited the land. They join three other parks awarded by the IDA earlier this year. Jordanelle State Park (Heber City) and Rockport State Park (Peoa) are scenic reservoirs near Park City—paddleboard during the day and stargaze after the sun goes down. Further south, Kodachrome Basin State Park (Cannonville) offers sweeping views surrounded by Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Luckily for us, the mountains surrounding the Salt Lake Valley helpfully block urban light pollution, which means several dark sky parks are just short drives from major cities. If you want to take in the Milky Way a little closer to home, try Antelope Island State Park (Syracuse), East Canyon (Morgan), North Fork Park (Eden) or Timpanogos Cave (American Fork).

As if we need another excuse to visit one of Utah’s five national parks, four of them pair jaw-dropping landscapes with nighttime sky views. Take in the desert mesas of Canyonlands (Monticello), sandstone formations of Arches (Moab) and the colorful cliffs of Capitol Reef (Torrey) against a backdrop of endless constellations. Bryce Canyon (Bryce) has been a longstanding stargazing favorite, and the park even holds a yearly Astronomy Festival.

It’s no surprise that southern Utah is a particularly great area for dark sky parks—the more sparsely populated area boasts both breathtaking views and quiet landscapes. In the southeast is Utah’s first IDA-designated park, Dead Horse Point State Park (Moab). Continue stargazing at Goblin Valley State Park (Green River), Hovenweep National Monument (Bluff) and a pair of Lake Powell favorites: Natural Bridges National Monument and Rainbow Bridge National Monument. In the southwest, Cedar Breaks National Monument (Brian Head) offers summer stargazing programs led by park rangers.

The IDA also names International Dark Sky Communities, which are “cities and towns that adopt quality outdoor lighting ordinances and undertake efforts to educate residents about the importance of dark skies.” Two Utah cities hold the title: the former mining town Helper and Torrey, which used city ordinances to reduce light pollution.

Do you really need anyone to tell you what’s cool about a place called Dinosaur National Monument (Jensen)? (On the way stop at Vernal’s Steinaker State Park.)

Get more information on astro tourism at visitutah.com. Our newest print issue is available on newsstands May 1.

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Trump cuts removed protection from key fossil beds

The Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin reported on April 19 that new findings on the behavior of tyrannosaurs are supported by fossil evidence uncovered in Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument over the last few years. Experts determined the tyrannosaurs whose remains were discovered in the monument (from the Teratophoneus genus) were likely social predators, meaning they may have hunted in packs like wolves, upending the traditional notion of the solitary stalking predator.

The fossils were unearthed in what scientists refer to as the “Rainbows and Unicorns Quarry”--so named because it’s been a reliable source of surprising and paradigm-shifting discoveries.

As Dr. Philip Currie, a dinosaur expert, told Fox 13 Salt Lake City, "Localities [like Rainbows and Unicorns Quarry] that produce insights into the possible behavior of extinct animals are especially rare[.]”

Grand Staircase-Escalante the site of numerous fossil discoveries

Grand Staircase-Escalante has long been considered an usually rich source of fossils, including of dinosaurs. The Rainbows and Unicorns Quarry is found on the Kaiparowits Formation, a sedimentary rock array that is somewhere between 72 and 83 million years old. By some accounts, it could contain "the best and most continuous record of Late Cretaceous terrestrial life in the world” (part of the reason President Bill Clinton protected it under the Antiquities Act).

Grand Staircase-Escalante is an unusually rich source of fossils—and Trump’s unlawful rollbacks left more than 700 scientifically important sites with reduced protection

Indeed, though only a tiny fraction of the area has been excavated by paleontologists, it has already proven unusually fruitful, yielding the only known specimen of a new Triceratops ancestor in 1998 among other fossils. Experts think there are many more bones waiting to be unearthed in the once-swampy region, as attested by the 2013 discovery of a brand new species closely related to Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Trump rollbacks made space for development, threatened fossils and research

When then-President Trump unlawfully rolled back protections for Grand Staircase-Escalante in 2017, it paved the way for coal, oil, gas and tar sand development in many areas with enormous potential for fossil finds.

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Maps based on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) data reflect that early half (46 percent) of the lands eliminated from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument have high or very high fossil potential, and nearly 250,000 acres of these lands directly conflict with energy development areas:

In many areas, the “Trump boundaries” were drawn almost exactly along the lines of energy development areas eyed by industry. More than 700 scientifically important fossil sites were cut out of those new monument boundaries. The new tyrannosaur findings were not made on land cut from the monument by Trump, but they do illustrate the dangers of his rollbacks, and of attacks on public lands more broadly.

Similarly, and even more dismaying, in 2018, it was announced that a unique and scientifically important cache of Phytosaurs, crocodile-like reptiles, had been found on lands eliminated from Bears Ears National Monument.

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Fossil discoveries show paleontology depends on protecting places like Bears Ears

In late 2017, as some of the unearthed fossils were being analyzed by researchers, Trump made his legally dubious decision to shrink Bears Ears by 85 percent, putting the fossil bed outside of the monument-protected area and threatening the dig's funding.

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Trump’s cuts happened while some of those unearthed fossils were being analyzed by researchers, suddenly putting the fossil bed outside of the monument-protected area and threatening the dig's funding. Highlighting some of the dangers facing such fossil sites absent monument status, researchers uncovered one specimen that bore telltale signs of looting.

Learn more: we answer 6 questions about what’s happening to Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monument.

| Updated: 7:32 a.m.

Born in Garfield County on his grandfather’s birthday 87 years ago, James Robert Ott was named after the patriarch who was among the first to homestead near the Utah settlement of Cannonville, where the family continues to run cattle just north of what would become Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Ott, who goes by Bob, bought an old sheep permit on state trust lands on 519 acres at a place called Yellow Creek abutting his property, just south of his Garfield County town under Bryce Canyon’s pink cliffs. The Otts converted the permit to cattle and have kept their herds there ever since.

But much to the dismay of Garfield County leaders, the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA), a land-management agency that prioritizes raising revenue for public education above all other considerations, last month canceled the Otts' grazing permit.

After 50 years of grazing this land, Ott has 90 days to clear his animals, fencing and other improvements off two parcels, which sold Oct. 24 at auction for the princely sum of $774,000 to a nonrancher.

“We don’t want to buy that property. You can’t develop it. You can’t raise crops on it. It’s too hilly,” Ott said. “School trust lands are a bit of a thorn in our side. It bothers us we have a lease, and the next thing we know, they sell it.”

Ranchers consider their grazing allotments on federal land a property right that cannot be revoked without just cause. But trust lands are a different creature, managed not for multiple use or public enjoyment but rather to maximize revenue for schools.

As southern Utah’s scenic lands become more valuable, SITLA has increasingly looked beyond grazing on its holdings that are rich in beauty. Sometimes they are sold to the highest bidder; other times they are developed or tapped for minerals.

The agency’s aggressive development posture has often angered environmentalists, tribes and neighboring property owners. But its willingness to evict longtime ranchers is now alienating conservative rural leaders who have long championed SITLA as a driver of economic development.

Garfield County Commissioner Leland Pollock sees sales and development that displace ranchers as an existential threat to rural Utah’s culture and heritage.

“Just 3.5 percent of [Garfield] County is private land. You have to have federal and state lands to graze on. We absolutely have to have it,” Pollock said. “We consider SITLA public lands. These lands were zoned [for agriculture] when we started having trouble with [federal] agencies putting restrictions on grazing.”

More than 90 percent of Utah’s 3 million acres of trust lands are grazed — just as the state’s public lands outside of national parks are available for grazing. As a revenue source, however, grazing barely registers, and trust lands managers say they must look elsewhere to meet their fiduciary obligations.

“While grazing is important, we simply cannot let it take precedence over all economic opportunities that present themselves,” SITLA Deputy Director Kim Christy wrote in an email. “SITLA takes seriously its relationship with that industry. However, [fiscal year] 2018 cash proceeds from grazing yielded $1.332 million to the trust, while all revenue-generating programs combined generated $70.87 million.”

The Yellow Creek parcels netted SITLA just $128 a year. It would take more than 6,000 years of grazing to match what St. George-based sculptor Lyman Whitaker paid for this land at auction.

Pollock has been a leading voice in Utah’s fight to take ownership of federal land, but he has now become disenchanted with the state’s trust lands administration, led by Kamas rancher and retired lawmaker David Ure.

“SITLA has more lawyers than the federal government,” Pollock said. “If you go up against SITLA, you are going to have some serious muscle come back on you. If something doesn’t happen, we are going to have a mess on our hands.”

While Gov. Gary Herbert has complained about some SITLA oil and gas leases in the past, he sides with Ure in the Garfield controversy.

“SITLA has a very important responsibility and we support that. We think generally this shouldn’t be seen as a zero-sum game,” said the governor’s spokesman Paul Edwards. “When SITLA is seeking to get a decent return on their lands, that should support the local economy in an important way, whether or not that is the traditional use."

Under reforms implemented in 1994 that ended decades of self-dealing and sweetheart deals, SITLA is overseen by an independent board credited with building up the school trust from almost nothing to more than $2 billion.

The governor has a representative on the board, but he is not interested in “micromanaging” the agency and selecting winners and losers, according to Edwards. “There is a market that is giving strong signals as to what economic activity is valued by consumers."

While southern Utah is known for ranching, these arid lands are not well-suited for sustaining cattle lines bred for Northern Europe’s damp climates. It can take hundreds of acres to provide forage for a single animal.

All of SITLA’s Garfield County holdings support 8,720 animal-unit months, or AUMs, each representing the forage consumed by a cow-calf pair in a month, according to Christy. Grazing there nets the agency $48,131 annual, hardly enough to cover a single teacher’s salary and benefits.

Furthering the county’s ire, SITLA recently canceled a grazing permit on trust lands near Bullfrog, where developers propose a fancy tent resort for “glamping,” an expression combining the words camping and glamour.

Citing the importance of livestock to Garfield’s way of life and social fabric, county leaders responded by passing a resolution in August to “use any and all legal means at its disposal” to preserve grazing on state trust lands. For good measure, county commissioners also imposed a six-month moratorium on any new glamping operations.

They also proposed an ordinance that would ostensibly obligate property owners to accommodate historic cattle operations.

The draft ordinance would require “any and all privately owned incorporated land” to be used “for livestock grazing purposes only.” The language alarmed many property owners, but Pollock said it is intended to target SITLA rangelands that the agency sells.

“It was written to hold up in court, not to regulate private property,” Pollock said. The idea would be to ensure such land would remain available for grazing, but last month the commission tabled the ordinance in the face of opposition.

The commission’s moves risk fettering Garfield County to an industry that is losing economic relevance and undermine trust lands’ legal obligations, according to SITLA bosses

The proposed resort, named after the nearby community of Ticaboo, sits just a few miles from Lake Powell’s Bullfrog Marina. It represents $200 million in investment, complementing the governor’s economic development initiative to create 25,000 new jobs in rural Utah, Christy said. The project could bring $26 million into the school trust. In contrast, that parcel supports just 24 AUMs, netting about $140 a year from grazing.

“It is ironic that [Pollock] opposes an opportunity to see lands privatized, as well as being added to the county tax rolls,” Christy said. He stressed SITLA goes out of its way to maintain strong, cooperative relationships with county leadership and residents.

“With thousands of leases in nearly every county of the state, these types of disagreements over development will occur,” he added, “but we have made, and will continue to make, every effort to seek and implement reasonable resolutions to these types of conflicts.”

As for Bob Ott, he said his family members are in no immediate danger of going out of business since they hold federal allotments and private leases elsewhere. But removing the fencing, squeeze chutes, hay and feet lot off the former trust lands will be a burden.

“I sure would like to talk to the fellow who bought it. We would like to work with him and pay a yearly fee until he decides what to do,” Ott said. “We plan on taking care of the next generation, and we would like to take care of this land. We raise beef, and it would mean a lot if we could maintain control.”

[email protected]Follow @brianmaffly

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BOULDER, UTAH — With the blooming spring drawing near comes the water stream down the sandy rocks including one Southern Utah waterfall which descends from the Escalante canyons in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The Lower Calf Creek Falls, a 130-foot-high waterfall, can be accessed by a 6-mile round-trip dirt and sandstone hiking trail, which begins from the Calf Creek Recreational area within the Calf Creek Campground off Highway 12, located approximately 11 miles south of Boulder Town, Utah and 15 miles east of Escalante, Utah.

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BOULDER, UTAH — With spring drawing near waterfalls come streaming over Southern Utah rocks and one of those worth a visit descends about 126 feet down the Escalante canyon in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument: the Lower Calf Creek Falls.

See the falls, click the play arrow center of image above.

The Lower Calf Creek Falls can be accessed by a 6-mile round trip dirt and sandstone hiking trail, which begins from the Calf Creek Recreational Area within the Calf Creek Campground off state Route 12, also known as Highway 12, located approximately 11 miles south of Boulder Town and 15 miles east of Escalante.

Access to the campground is well marked from the highway and is open February through the late fall months with a $5 per day fee or a $15 overnight camping fee implemented by the Bureau of Land Management which manages lands within the national monument. The campground includes 13 sites surrounding the Calf Creek, which runs south through the canyons before flowing into the Escalante River.

The point-to-point trail leads north after a mile of running parallel to Calf Creek through the canyon and Highway 12 above the canyon. At an elevation of 5,400 feet above sea level, the trail is easy for hikers to walk or run through white sand and over sandy rocks.

Glimpses of Anasazi and Fremont Indian civilization, including pictographs, or rock art, and structural remains estimated to be 800- to 1,000 years old, can be seen along the way, as well as plenty of cacti, cedar trees, and bamboo.

Depending on the time of day you hike into the canyon, your eyes can explore the canyon in different ways. Early to midafternoon hikes will showcase the sun crawling down the rocks. Night or midnight hikes will take away the heat of the day – even better when the moon is full and bright, shadowing through the canyon walls and dancing across the creek water alongside the trail.

At the end of the trail, a cascade pours into an 8- to 10-foot pool that swimmers may enjoy, with greenery and trees surrounding it along with sand rock canyon walls. On a hot day, water that can be around 52 degrees may be just the refreshment you need.

The Upper Calf Creek Falls, an 88-foot waterfall, can be accessed 3 miles south of Boulder Town off Highway 12. Further information for hiking can be found here.

Hike at a glance

Notes

Driving Directions from St. George – 3 hours, 35 minutes, 200 miles

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It doesn’t matter if you’ve lived in The Beehive State for a short time or your entire life, there are likely a few hidden gems in Utah that you’ve never visited. These are unique places to visit in Utah that are worth exploring, have something to offer, and will help you create some cherished memories. If you are up for a little adventure and want to see something new, we’ve created this hidden gems in Utah road trip for you to use and enjoy. It’s just one more way to experience all that Utah has to offer.

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This Natural Wonders Road Trip Will Show You Utah Like You’ve Never Seen It Before

Have you been to any of these parks and places? Are there any other hidden gems in Utah that you would add to this road trip? If so, let us and your fellow travelers know in the comments!

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Katie Feldkamp | November 15, 2022

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