Springtime in Cache Valley is marked by many events. It is a seasonal turn full of unrelenting life. The signs and the emotions they revive are marked by the beauty found in every hour of the day, from the day’s first bird songs reviving the world from slumber to their last evening’s lullaby.

A few months ago, I shared a piece on this program called “Why I Teach Outside.” In it, I discussed the academic research and my personal anecdotes that reaffirm the education community’s movement toward experiential learning and learning beyond the four walls of a classroom.

Robins, house finch, and lesser goldfinch singing with gusto! Dippers on the stream blasting their melodious notes from watery perches on Summit Creek. An eastern bluejay bopps out to wish me good morning in a nearby Park, its rarity always a treat, instantly teleporting me back to earlier days in Michigan. Meadowlarks reveal their hearts in song in fields below as I work my way up a canyon ridge. A fox sparrow with ear shattering song competes for “America’s Got Talent”.

In 2011 , extensive flooding in Cache Valley caused widespread damage to both buildings and land along the Logan River . This led to the formation of the Logan River Task Force ; this group of U tah State University scientists and other experts in riparian and river restoration worked with Logan City and Bio-West, Inc . (a local consulting firm) to develop a long-term restoration plan that prevent ed flooding while balanc ing both social and ecological values of the r iver .

It feels odd to be denning in the spring. Our usual season to escape back into the out of doors has shifted radically for society at-large. It is odd because all the world around us is still warming, flying a little further each day, and here we are, humanity, digging in. It is for the best, for our own survival, but it is still not easy to go against the natural grain.

This episode of Wild About Utah originally aired in March 2019. Inverted woodpecker, a phrase I use to describe the feeding habits of the amazing nut hatch family. I first became aware of this lovely little songbird growing up in Michigan, where the white-breasted nut hatch was common fare in the north woods. Their little laughing notes were most welcome as I sat on my deer stand where I would watch them search bark crevices for yummy morsels of grubs, insect eggs or seeds they had wedged in for

This episode of Wild About Utah originally aired in March 2019. Inverted woodpecker, a phrase I use to describe the feeding habits of the amazing nut hatch family. I first became aware of this lovely little songbird growing up in Michigan, where the white-breasted nut hatch was common fare in the north woods. Their little laughing notes were most welcome as I sat on my deer stand where I would watch them search bark crevices for yummy morsels of grubs, insect eggs or seeds they had wedged in for

This episode of Wild About Utah originally aired in March 2019. Inverted woodpecker, a phrase I use to describe the feeding habits of the amazing nut hatch family. I first became aware of this lovely little songbird growing up in Michigan, where the white-breasted nut hatch was common fare in the north woods. Their little laughing notes were most welcome as I sat on my deer stand where I would watch them search bark crevices for yummy morsels of grubs, insect eggs or seeds they had wedged in for

I’ve fancied a certain type of wandering lately—to grab my pack and boots and walk the lines of Utah’s political border —a trail made not of dirt and stone, but of imaginary lines of latitude and longitude . But, as of yet, I haven’t found the time o r resources to do so beyond my own imagination and the 3 or 4 minutes I have with you now. Come j oin me in a stroll around Utah, at least the way I’ve imagined it.

Eating the “humble crow”! Not literally- I hear they are rather tough and stringy. In my last reading titled “Wren Love”, I was confused by a flock of birds acting much like canyon wrens, but exhibiting a most unusual communal behavior. A later visit to the same ice covered cliff, only this time with optics, revealed them to be the gray crown rosy finch. I apologize for my carelessness! As recompense, I must give this beautiful finch its due and to repay you, dear listener!