Latest news with #JuneSucker
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources reports increased populations in formerly endangered June sucker fish
SALT LAKE CITY () — A formerly endangered Utah native fish, the June sucker has been downlisted to threatened status, according to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR). The June sucker is a fish species native to Utah, inhabiting Utah Lake and using tributaries in the Provo River and Hobble creek among others to spawn. It is an omnivore that can live for 40 years and grows several feet in size. In an interview with Native Aquatics Project Leader at DWR Keith Lawrence said, 'A few decades ago, it was believed that the population [of June suckers] was down to only a few hundred individuals, maybe as many as a thousand.' Now, however, through conservation efforts, the June Sucker population has recovered, to numbers 'estimated today to be in the tens of thousands, probably somewhere between 30 and 50,000 fish,' according to Lawrence. 'It's important to understand that Utah Lake has undergone many changes over the decades since Western settlers arrived. And many of them have not necessarily been good for the June sucker, at least, and other native fishes that lived there previously. The June sucker is one of the few that remain.' Keith Lawrence, Native Aquatics Project Leader at DWS Lawrence explained that the June sucker is not a predator, but as an omnivore it feeds on invertebrates and zooplankton, so it plays a role in the ecosystem as a mid-level omnivore. Cat who survived 400-foot Bryce Canyon fall adopted by rescuing pilot The recovery program for the June sucker has been a large undertaking that began shortly after the species was listed as endangered, Lawrence said. Alongside partners, DWR has taken a myriad of measures to protect the species, including non-native management, water conservation especially in the Provo River, public information and outreach, habitat improvement, and a 'very aggressive' stocking program. As part of the stocking program, conservationists took some of the remaining individuals and propagated them, mostly at the Logan Hatchery in northern Utah, Lawrence said. They are raised in these hatcheries and then they are stocked into the lake. Lawrence told that there have been 'hundreds of thousands' of June suckers stocked into the lake over the years. Lawrence stated that while the recovery has been very successful, there are still threats to the June sucker population, including 'all the non-native potential predators and competitors that we have in the system.' Additionally, water flow continues to be a major threat. The Supreme Court reinstates federal approval in Uinta Basin Railway project 'At one time, the Provo River ran completely dry, you know, during the summer,' Lawrence said. 'Memory of the summers that that did happen, and so obviously that's not good for the fish, and so the program has spent tens of millions of dollars to try to purchase money and provide those flows when the fish need them.' Lawrence stated that they are monitoring the spawning run into the Provo Delta and Oville Creek, using PIT tag antennas, which passively detect tags put into some of the fish. June suckers are most vulnerable after spawning. 'They're very vulnerable, as you might imagine, when they're small,' Lawrence said, and he described getting them from the larval stage to 'age one' fish as a 'bottleneck.' The research to figure out how to get over that bottleneck is key, he said. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources reports increased populations in formerly endangered June sucker fish Car crosses median, causing multiple vehicle crash in Kaysville/Farmington One of two water wells in Hildale City back online after repairs Pride flag raising ceremony kicks of 2025 Utah Pride festivities Intermountain Health first in nation to expand stem cell collection for CAR-T Cell Therapy bringing innovative cancer procedure to Southern Utah Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Funding for water and wildlife conservation in Utah now on Trump's list of budget cuts
The Provo River Delta is pictured on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) The Trump administration is recommending Congress cut hundreds of millions out of the government's budget that helps fund the Central Utah Project, a massive system of water infrastructure and habitat restoration projects. It's just one line item in the administration's 46-page discretionary budget request, which slashes funding for a number of programs and agencies while boosting federal dollars for defense and border security. According to the White House, the Department of the Interior's budget provides about $1.2 billion to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Central Utah Project. Of that, the White House is proposing a $609 million cut. Described as the 'most comprehensive federal water resource development project' in the state, the Central Utah Project is a web of reservoirs, pipelines and river systems that transports Colorado River water from eastern Utah to the Wasatch Front, where it's tasked for municipal and industrial use, irrigation, hydroelectric power, fish and wildlife, conservation and recreation. But reservoirs and pipelines disrupt wildlife and vegetation, and sometimes come at the expense of hunting, fishing and other types of recreation — so a portion of the funding for the project has been used to offset those impacts. Now, the Trump administration wants the project to solely focus on water infrastructure. According to the budget proposal, the money allocated to the project funds programs that 'have nothing to do with building and maintaining water infrastructure, such as habitat restoration.' 'Instead, the Budget focuses Reclamation and the Central Utah Project on their core missions of maintaining assets that provide safe, reliable, and efficient management of water resources throughout the western United States,' the proposal reads. The request doesn't specify any habitat restoration project in particular, and it's likely the request would also impact other bureau projects in the West. In Utah, that funding helped restore wetlands and riparian areas along the Provo and Duchesne rivers, improve recreation access for hunters, anglers and boaters, and have contributed to the resurgence of the June Sucker, a fish native to Utah Lake that was once near extinction. 'It's tough to say at this point how that all trickles down to Utah and to our project, but we're making plans and adjustments,' said Michael Mills, executive director of the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission. 'It's a difficult spot we're in, we don't really have any more details than what is included in that budget proposal.' Mills' commission was formed in the 1990s after Congress passed the Central Utah Project Completion Act. The commission works to offset the environmental impact of large water infrastructure projects — for instance, when the Jordanelle Reservoir was created in 1993, the commission worked to restore a lower section of the Provo River to make up for the section that was flooded, and conserved land in Wasatch County for elk herds that were displaced. Since its inception, the commission has worked with federal, state and local governments, universities, nonprofits and the Ute tribe on a number of ecosystem and wildlife conservation projects. One of the most recent is the Provo River Delta Restoration and the June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program on Utah Lake. The June Sucker was nearly extinct in the 1980s — if it didn't have a lifespan of nearly 40 years, some ecologists say the species would have disappeared. But a few hundred held on, and as the species was listed as endangered, the June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program took shape. Farmers and water users in the basin worked to conserve water to increase Provo River flows, and a collaborative effort to restore the river's delta in Provo began. The delta has undergone a complete transformation — now there's a boat ramp, hiking trails and a thriving ecosystem. On any given day, you can find scores of birds, fish and other wildlife at the delta, including the June Sucker. This year, scientists estimated the fish's population to be 80,000. All of that was made possible by the federal revenue stream now on the chopping block. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'A lot of people think the federal government is all about overreach and regulation. But what we see with the June Sucker program is that federal coordination brought resources, it brought a lot of funding, and it gave a mechanism for different stakeholders to be heard,' said Ben Abbott, associate professor of environmental science and sustainability at Brigham Young University. 'Yes, it was about this endemic fish that only lives on Utah Lake, but it ended up improving water quality and creating better public access and having a lot of unexpected benefits,' he said. The proposed budget cut makes Abbot and others nervous that projects like the June Sucker restoration won't be possible in the future. The Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission is currently working on a restoration project on the Duchesne River in eastern Utah that, if federal funding is pulled, could be impacted. Plus, operation and maintenance for completed projects could suffer. Federal funding pays for snow and garbage removal, bathroom maintenance, fencing, general upkeep and ongoing conservation. 'Obviously, I think the work we do is very important, and I enjoy doing it. But if our elected officials are saying there's other priorities out there, we pivot to try to accommodate those priorities,' Mills said. The president's budget recommendations are just that — recommendations. Congress has the final say when it comes to federal spending, and experts say that many of Trump's proposed cuts won't get a green light. But it provides insight into the Trump administration's priorities. Since taking office, the administration, in partnership with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has cut budgets for federal agencies and laid off federal workers in an attempt to streamline the government and cut waste. The budget proposal reflects that same sentiment, with a proposed $163 billion in cuts to non-defense discretionary spending. That includes more than $15 billion in funds allocated under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act; $1.3 billion for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study climate change; nearly $1 billion for the National Park Service to operate the park system, build new infrastructure, preserve historic sites, and offer preservation and recreation grants; and $721 million slated for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Program. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
