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Show Page 12 The Ogden Valley News Volume XXVIII Issue X April 1, 2021 While Camping or Hiking, Don’t Let Dogs Chase Wildlife During the COVID-19 pandemic, many Utahns have headed outdoors as a way to get exercise and avoid cabin fever. However, if you are planning to take your dog on any hikes or camping trips this spring and summer, make sure your pet doesn’t chase or harass any wildlife. Utah wildlife often struggle to find food during the winter. By early spring, many animals are vulnerable and weak. Dogs that are off leash while in nature may act on their instincts to chase deer and other big game animals they see. However, this is harmful for deer and wild game because by the end of winter, they are usually in survival mode. “If they get chased, it uses up energy they may need to survive,” Covy Jones, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources big game coordinator, said. “These animals are already depleted, and they often can’t afford to waste energy. If you or a pet force them to move away from where they are trying to feed, it could be harmful.” Deer and other big game animals typically move to lower elevations in search of feed during the snowy winter months, which often brings them closer to roads and other populated urban areas where people and pets may be. “National forests are some of the areas where people may encounter wildlife while recreating,” Dixie National Forest Public Affairs Officer Kevin Abel said. “While pets are allowed in all national forests, they must be kept on a leash no longer than 6 feet while in developed recreation areas (like campsites) and on established, interpretive trails. Most of the other areas within national forests do not require dogs to be on a leash, but they must be under the owner’s control at all times.” While there are many other areas through- out the state where dogs aren’t required to stay on a leash, pet owners should not let their dogs chase deer, elk, moose or other wild animals. It can be harmful not only for the wildlife, but also can be dangerous for your pet. “Wildlife is often unpredictable and may injure or kill a dog seen as threatening,” Jones said. Dogs that are off leash can also disturb nesting ground birds and can chase, injure, or kill small mammals, deer, elk or moose. It is also in your best interest to not allow your pet to chase wildlife, because Utah law states that a person may kill or injure a dog that is “attacking, chasing or worrying any species of hoofed protected wildlife.” “Pets allowed to run at large also are at risk from vehicles and predators,” Dave Whittekiend, forest supervisor for the UintaWasatch-Cache National Forest said. “If you care about your pets, it’s in their best interest to keep them secured while you are recreating outdoors.” Here are some tips from Wild Aware Utah about keeping your dogs safe around wildlife: • Keep your dog’s vaccinations up to date. • Be aware that moose can be especially aggressive toward dogs. • Always supervise pets when outdoors, particularly at dawn and dusk. • Avoid going near den sites and thick vegetation. • If you find an animal carcass, leave the area — it could be a kill that a cougar is guarding or will be returning to. • Make noise while hiking. • Do not allow dogs to play with or chase wildlife. It is against Utah law to allow dogs to chase or harass wildlife. Weber Fire District Announces 2021 Open & Agriculture Burn Dates The Weber Fire District 4. Fires must always be accompanied and must wants to remind the citizens of unincorporated Weber County, MarriottSlaterville, West Haven, Ogden Valley, Farr West, Uintah, and Hooper that the Open Burning window for yard clean up starts March 31 and ends May 30, 2021. You may obtain a burn permit by visiting Department of Air Quality’s (DAQ) web site at <www.airquality.utah.gov> Burn Permit Guideline 1. Once a burn permit is obtained, the clearing index must be above 500 in order to burn legally. You can check the air quality index online. 2. Burning material must be of vegetation type, i.e. tree limbs, leaves & grass clippings. 3. Tires, paint, conventional lumber, or any material that is manufactured is NOT allowed to be burned. be extinguished by dark. 5. Agricultural burning does not require a burn permit, nor does it need to observe the clearing index of 500. However, we strongly encourage the agricultural community to observe the 500 ft. clearing index. The only things allowed to be burned under the agriculture burn umbrella are ditch banks, fence Lines, stubble (grain, corn), and open grazing land. 6. The Fire Department does reserve the right to extinguish any fire that becomes a public nuisance or becomes out of control. 7. Failure to comply with state or county open burning regulations could result in a fine For further assistance, please contact Weber Fire District at 801-782-3580 or visit <www. weberfiredistrict.com> Sincerely, Rick Cooper, Captain/Fire Warden SOCIAL DILEMMA cont. from page 3 “climate change is…” the responses will vary widely (the greatest threat, getting better, a hoax), and that is not a function of the truth but rather depends on where in the country you are Googling from and what Google knows about your interests (Rosenstein). You receive different news updates and create your own reality based on a different set of “facts.” This makes it much harder to consume information that conflicts with the worldview you have created (Rashida Richardson, A.I. Now Institute Director of Policy Research). And that is the answer to the question, “What’s wrong with Big Tech today?” It is the problem beneath all other problems. AI cannot know truth. Its technology has the ability to bring out the worst in society, and the worst in society is the existential threat. And if we can’t agree on what is true, we are toast, because we won’t be able to navigate out of any of our problems. Imagine a world where no one believes anything is true. Everyone believes the government is lying to them. Everything is a conspiracy theory. “I don’t trust the other side.” “I hate the other side.” That’s where all this is heading. The tech industry has created tools that destabilize and erode the fabric of society in every country, all at once, everywhere (Harris). When asked what his greatest immediate concern was, Tim Kendall (Moment CEO, former Pinterest President, Facebook former Director of Monetization) replied, “Civil war.” And those same tools created for legitimate advertisers can be applied by foreign actors or authoritarians for nefarious purposes (McNamee). The platforms make it possible to spread manipulative narratives with phenomenal ease and at low cost. What we are seeing today is a global assault on democracy (Renee Diresta; Stanford Internet Observatory Research Manager, Data for Democracy former Head of Policy). As long as tech corporations go unregulated and operate on the for-profit model, the world will be worse for future generations. A tree is worth more dead than alive. A whale is worth more dead than alive. But, hopefully, what will bring about a change is to see that now we are the tree; we are the whale. Our attention can be mined. We are more profitable to a corporation if we are staring at an ad than if we are living our lives in a rich way (Rosenstein). Please watch the film, and share it with others. The filmmakers’ presentation is very powerful and more eloquent than I have presented here. The filmmakers’ recommendations to be part of the solution include: turning off device notifications, decluttering social media feeds, the stopping of endless scrolling on apps, limited time on social media, no social media until high school, negotiating a social media time budget with your kids, avoiding looking at your phone first thing in the morning and right before bed, never clicking on videos recommended for you (choose your own), engaging in other activities, fact checking before you share, deleting social media or apps that you can do without (consider Qwant as a search engine as it does not store your data), using Chrome extensions that remove recommendations, not rewarding the system by not clicking on clickbait, and, finally, exposing yourself to lots of different points of view. own means of pursuing them by using human psychology against us, based on constant, tiny, feature-change experiments to determine the best way to elicit a response from us (Harris). And it’s not like we’re lab rats for developing a cure for cancer. It’s not like they’re trying to benefit us. They want us to look at more ads so they can make more money (Parakilas). As a quote from Edward Tufte notes, there are only two industries that call their customers ‘users’—the illegal drug industry and the software industry. We evolved to care whether other people in our tribe think well of us or not, because it matters. But are we equipped to handle what 10,000 people think of us (Harris)? We organize our lives around transitory signals from DROUGHT cont. from page 1 severe drought conditions. others—hearts, likes, emojis—and we ascribe Find out more at visit #WaterIsLife or value to that and conflate that with truth. But of the state was in a moderate drought, with <drought.utah.gov> what it really is, is fake, brittle popularity that over 76% of Utah experiencing at least is short term, leaving you even more empty than before (Chamath Palihapitiya, former Facebook VP of Growth). According to Jonathan Haidt, PhD (Psychologist), Gen Zers—people born after Governor Cox has asked Utahns to use water wisely year-round. Slow the flow by: 1996—are the first generation that got on social media in middle school. Beginning in 2011, there has been a steep rise in teen, and • Fixing water leaks even preteen, anxiety, depression, cutting, and • Running only full loads (dishwashers & washing machines) suicide. Gen Zers are more likely to be emo• Turning off the water while brushing teeth, shaving, soaping up, doing dishes or tionally fragile, avoid dating, be less comfortable taking risks, and apply for fewer driver’s rinsing vegetables licenses. This is a real change in a generation. • Reduce showers by at least one minute There is a narrative that we’ll learn to deal • Wait to water until evening, or until truly needed with this. We’ll adapt like we always have. But • Planning now for the irrigation season by installing smart irrigation controllers there is something new here. This technology is advancing exponentially. From the 1960’s to today, computer processing power has gone up a trillionfold, but our brains have remained relatively unchanged (Randima Fernando; cofounder of CHT, NVIDIA former Product Manager, Mindful Schools former Director). Artificial Intelligence (AI) already runs the world. At these companies, there are massive rooms with tons and tons of computers, as far as the eye can see, running programs based on algorithms (Rosenstein). Algorithms are opinions embedded in code, and they are not objective. Algorithms are optimized to some definition of success, and if it is a commercial enterprise, that means making money (Cathy O’Neil, PhD, Data Scientist). So, effectively, you are playing against this AI that knows everything about you, can anticipate your next move, and you know literally nothing about it except that there are cat videos and birthdays on it. That is not a fair fight (McNamee). We concern ourselves with the point at which AI will overwhelm human strength and intelligence. But the much earlier and more pressing concern is when will technology exceed and overwhelm human weaknesses. Therein lies the root of addiction, polarization, radicalization, vilification, and alienation. Big Tech is generating ad revenue by giving us the news we want rather than the news we need. An MIT study showed that fake news on Twitter spreads six times faster than truth (Harris). The bias is towards false information. Truth is boring and makes the companies less money (Parakilas). This tilts the floor of human behavior (Raskin). If you type in Slow the Flow: Water-saving Recommendations Subscriptions available for out-of-area residents at $18 annually. Send payment with mailing address to: The Ogden Valley News PO BOX 130, EDEN UT 84310 |