| Show jfetfam :mmmm 'wm&a - mm- - 1 MONDAY: TIME & TECHNOLOGY WEDNESDAY: FOOD & HbUttf jialt&lkf GARDEN THURSDAY HEALTH & SCIENCE FRIDAY: HOME & FAMILY OUTDOORS & RECREATION TUESDAYDecember COMICS 2 1997 OUTDOORS the white-f- Section C ENTERTAINMENT TV n c ed a TOM WHARTON Ranger Departs Leaving Record Of Innovation Mark Knudsen The Salt Iake Tribune The note from Salt Lake District Ranger Mike Sieg was short and to the point "After almost nine years on the Salt Lake Ranger District I am leaving" it said "I have accepted a promotion to be the assistant director of a newly formed inventory and monitoring institute at Fort Collins Colo" US The transfer of a mid-levForest Service bureaucrat is usually not newsworthy It happens often as professional land managers move up the career ladder But Sieg is a special case largely because his nine years managing US Forest Service lands in Salt Lake Davis and Tooele counties have been noteworthy In an average year some 10 million visits are paid to the lands in the Salt Lake Ranger District Over half of Utah's alpine skiing takes place in the four resorts within Sieg's domain There are 26 campgrounds and picnic areas containing more than 1100 units 300 miles of trails and four wilderness areas Largely because of innovative management Sieg leaves one of d districts in the the national forest system in exceptional shape despite budget reductions and increased pressure urban popufrom a lation A bird once worshiped bypharaohs thrives in Utah marshes Ibis belong to one of the oldest bird families on earth Fossilized ibis bones dating back 60 million years are evidence that these winged travelers flew the skyways long before our own species made its appearance Recorded human fascination with ibis has a 5000-yea- r history The ancient Egyptians venerated ibis Egyptians at the time worshipped certain animals as divine The sacred ibis was a symbol of Thoth the god of wisdom and writing Ibis lived in Egyptian temples and mummified birds were buried with pha-rao- most-visite- Ibis are medium to large birds Long legs that allow ibis to wander through flooded fields and wetlands give rise to ibis being dubbed "waders" a label g Improving the Land: Mostly Sieg fought to improve the land He came up with the idea of charging an entrance fee to Mill Creek Canyon almost six years before a similar experimental program was put into place in federal lands across the United States Sieg kept his promise that money collected would go back into the canyon Some $13 million has been spent to improve the trails and facilities There have been improvements to other canyons as well These include the renovation of the Storm Mountain amphitheater in Big Cottonwood Canyon and the Silver Lake Nature Trail and fishing pier near Brighton Sieg has continued to fight to keep access open to some of the more obscure canyons and trails along the Wasatch Front A new vehicle area was built in Davis County under his watch He spearheaded construction of the Little Cottonwood Canyon Historic Trail at the old Salt Lake Temple Quarry site at the bottom of Little Cottonwood Canyon He found partners to put in a badly needed Park and Ride lot across the road Instead of complaining about Boy Scout troops damaging wilderness Sieg did something about it He formed a nationally recognized partnership to help educate Scout leaders on proper wilderness techniques He established environmental education and interpretive programs including one that paired resort skiers with Forest Service interpreters familiar with nature s winter wonders Serious Fights: The ranger was always a stickler for following regulations a trait that forced him into some serious scraps with ski resort owners some of the valley's most prominent environmental organizations and more than one landowner It is no secret that Sieg and his boss Wasatch National Forest supervisor Bernie Weingardt differed over how Snowbird Solitude Brighton and Alta should expand and how helicopter skiing shared with other species of herons and egrets A long sickle-lik- e bill with a sharp point is ideally suited for probing in the mud for a variety of food from insects to fish and frogs Only one species occurs in Utah: the white-faceibis a large dark chestnut bird that shimmers and glistens with iridescent pinks and greens when light strikes its feathers What happens so often when I point out a white-face- d ibis to a new observer is a knowing smile and cautious words informing me I have misspoken the bird's name for the species so identified simply does ibis is nearlv not have a white face The white-faced d ski-are- Utah license fees among highest in the West BY TOM WHARTON THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Utah hunters and anglers pay among the highest fees in the Western United States to enjoy their sports And if the state wildlife board has its way they could be paying even more in 1999 The wildlife board will ask the 1998 Legislature to increase fishing license fees by $2 upland game tags by $1 and combination licenses by $3 A "cost to hunt and fish" survey completed by Stephen Barton of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game this year puts Utah in the "most expensive category" for nearly every species Some of the facts revealed in the study include: black-heade- d d semi-aquati- At $50 Utah's resident deer hunters pay more than any other resident area hunter in an The cost for residents to hunt moose ($333) bighorn sheep ($533) and wild turkey ($50) is higher than any other of the 11 states Only Nevada and Nebraska resident hunters pay more to pursue elk than Utah residents w ho must pay $75 for a permit Since there are only a few elk in those states permits are limited By comparison a Montana resident elk hunter pays $18 Fishing licenses in Utah now sell for $18 which is less than licenses in Colorado Nevada and Wyoming But Utahns are required to purchase a $525 habitat tag before they can buy a fishing tag pushing the cost above the other states Utah's resident antelope tag ($75) of the 1 is second-highesurvey Only Nevada residents pay more ($79) A Montana resident antelope tag sells for $18 Division of Wildlife Resources direc- - See UTAH LICENSES Page 5T0TE Colorado ' RESIDENT j Idaho Utah Has Your Bucks In its Sights Montana RESIDENT S2025 ! $1700 Nebraska I $17 75 Nevada j $2100 Horth OallOta i i ' 518 00 S328 S50 00 517 00 $245 00 ?NE WCE WOtf $75 $49 00 534 50 $2000 $27 00 $258 03 519I W $18 00 Wyoming HCTE $4500 M S5 S7000 I $2200 ' $231 50 $185 00 1 $483 00 00 $27 00 $50 00 HQ M $82 00 S82 HONE $100 00 $1890 $483 00 $158 00 $79 00 $25 00 ' S138 00 00 $32 25 S2700 Utah $15 00 S 00 $4100 $50 00 S5?S SI OH 00 S336 00 S1 ttOl $22900 $14 00 $10 75 011 00 S103C?5 $18 00 $168 00 i S750 25 S77 00 25 $475 00 $134 00 South Dakota S1Q025 S200 S150 25 $2000 $12200 ' RESIDENT $43 50 $26600 $2600 I NON RESIDENT $428 30 $160 00 $2700 ' RESIDENT NON RESIDENT 00 S24 $49 00 $40 50 S20 75 RESIDENT S250 25 $32 25 $49 00 RESIDENT RESIDENT S30 25 $5100 $17 50 i fijrtl f iltohJ RESIDENT RESIDENT $4000 $11 00 ! u 00 50 i i Fees for licenses such as elk tags are higher in Utah than in most Western states 25 S51 Oregon Washington Hrrll PrrttvnutaThr Sah Lak Tribune C-- 8 S150 S20 25 miiiB— mil r rrrniri-'lihnYii-i- RESIDENT RESIDENT S4Q2S S1650 4 IiijSj i!jti!AJ W j j S621 $34400 $122O0 HCIE $36600 hVtt H?N£ m $9 NON PESIOENT $'8 00 00 $630 HONE $26 75 $916 00 $49 30 $2700 560800 $20 00 H&t $110 00 $1 033 00 $2600 $900 00 $'66 00 $25 00 t $100 00 WCTIE HOW $300 30 HnW $1000 $65 00 $32 W $75 M $233 98 $333 09 S10MW $533 99 $1908 01 $59 99 $65 99 50 W0'E NCTff $19650 55H 50 $136 50 $51150 $34 50 000 00 $7500 500 00 $10 00 Him ' ' WPVE S4C50 $271 $35 00 5430 00 1 $22 00 ' $18500 i $"5 00 $1 $1 Source Idaho Departmer WEDNESDAY jCOFY-- shallow marsh contained at least a few ibis The world's largest breeding population has been documented in the marshes of northern Utah They nest in emergent marshes often with the Franklin's gulls ibis were not There is some hint that white-facealways so abundant in northern Utah In 1980 Paul W Parmalee a professor of zooarchaeology published a paper analyzing the use of birds by the Archaic and Fremont cultural groups of Utah He identified approximately 5050 bones recovered from 16 sites in northern and western Utah Seventy-fiv- e species were identified Most bones came from ducks and geese Only a single ibis bone was recovered Parmalee speculated: " the recovery of only one specimen a complete right humerus is surprising It is evident that the Indian hunted the marshes for herons bitterns c and other species and it seems unlikely that there would have been a taboo against taking this ibis so the single record may suggest that it was a rare species in the vicinity of the Great Salt Lake during early prehistoric times" When the temperature began dropping the migratory ibis flew to warmer climes where the shallow water is not frozen But spring will bring them back to fly again in flocks of dozens their necks outstretched long legs dangling behind No other bird in my experience is so often and regularly seen their dark bodies flying in formation against the wide expanses of open sky all along the Wasatch Front Game Tags' Price Tags in the crowded backcountry should be managed Yet despite often acrimonious debates over how best to protect open spaces while allowing limited a growth within the canyons Sieg seldom complained "This is a hard place to leave" he said last week "After being here as district ranger for nine years I am sure I will look back on this as the highlight of my career I got up every morning anxious to go back to work" identical to glossy ibis a bird found in the southern and eastern United States The only difference is a tiny ring of white feathers that circles the bill in the breeding season This small distinction led to the bird's common name The marshes of northern Utah are critical ibis breeding habitat Sometimes a pair of outside eyes can put into perspective natural wonders we take for granted I don't recall the name of a California birder I once met but I will never forget his intense reaction to Utah's ibis He was an avid birder who had crisscrossed the continent seeking new birds to add to his life list In the 1980s he transferred to the East Coast where he became a top official in the US Geological Survey Among the man's responsibilities was coordinating geologically friendly places for space ships to land on the moon He came to Utah to lead a convention and stayed an extra day to fulfill a longtime desire to visit the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge near Brigham City He told me to relax and just enjoy the day He wasn't looking for Utah birds to add to his list — he had seen them all in other states But he was awestruck with the ibis Never he told me had he seen such numbers The birds flew overhead continually in long formations as they commuted between large communal nesting sites in bulrush marshes and foraging areas We passed flooded agricultural fields where flocks of birds probed Every BY ELLA SORENSEN SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE IN DAYBREAK: THE BEAUJOLAIS IS HERE! ' $23' 50 $5000 Fsh and Game |
