Outdoors

Two bucks on Elk Ridge between Steamboat Point and Big Notch.

Watch for deer on roadways during peak migration seasons, darker commuting months

Utahns will gain an extra hour of sleep on Nov. 1 when daylight saving time ends, but the time change also means that many people will have evening commutes during lower-visibility hours in the months ahead, which can increase vehicle/wildlife collisions. During the fall and winter months, there...

Map of the Moab 240. Racers were held up at the Bridger Jack checkpoint due to flooding along the path. Image from DestinationTrailRun org

Runners stranded in San Juan County results in race cancelation

Weather over the weekend impacted an ultra endurance event in San Juan and Grand Counties. The Moab 240 endurance race had runners cover 240 miles over several days starting in Moab on Friday morning, traveling south to the Abajo mountains then north to the La Sals before finishing back in Moab....

Utah DNR employees set up to sample water at the Cisco Boat Ramp in Grand County. Photos courtesy of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

Live zebra mussels found in Utah portions of Colorado River

Roughly a month after confirming zebra mussel DNA on the Utah side of the Colorado River, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources biologists collected a live adult zebra mussel below the Westwater Recreation Area on Tuesday, Sept. 22. Test results confirmed the finding on Oct. 7, and the DWR...

A helicopter delivers materials to crews closing mine openings in San Juan County. Photos courtesy Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining

Abandoned Mine Cleanup Project in Northern San Juan Receives National Award

A Utah project to clean up abandoned mines in Northern San Juan County was given a national award. Named the Kane Creek Project, officials covered an 85-square mile study area in northern San Juan and southern Grand counties. The project identified 206 abandoned uranium mines with closures in the...

Fall fishing forecast for Sept-Nov

Blanding Reservoir No. 4: Rainbow trout are abundant and should provide good-to-excellent fishing, especially as the water cools off. Popular baits, lures and flies should all catch fish. Tiger trout get aggressive in the fall as they prepare for winter, and you can catch them with various flies (...

Dinosaur in flight a few million years in the making. Photo courtesy NHMU and BLM

Dinosaur flies after 156 million years

After 12 years of searching, Fran Barnes stood on a ledge, 250 feet above the canyon floor, staring at a 150-million-year-old petrified puzzle he had no way to move off the cliff. (See August 5 San Juan Record) It took another 38 years for the answer to drop out of the sky. In October 2025, the...

Babylon by the numbers

Fire Mosaic interior of the Babylon Fire photo credit: Keley Martin, Soil Scientist

Babylon Fire repairs continue

by David Boyle News Director Repair and restoration efforts continue to make progress on the Babylon Fire. The fire that burned 107,000 acres in the blue mountains remains at 95-percent contained with crews continuing to work in the fire area. On Monday July 27 command of the Babylon Fire was...

Map of the Babylon fire with the black representing containment. The fire sparked up in June and took weeks of intense battles to get a hold of, crews are in closing stages of management of the fire. Courtesy photo

Babylon Fire at 95-percent containment after burning 107,000 acres

by David Boyle News Director Following weeks of aggressive fire behavior and a massive regional response, officials announced on Monday, July 20, that the Babylon Fire has reached 95% containment. The blaze, which consumed 107,189 acres, is now transitioning into a phase of meticulous suppression,...

helicopter carries a load of water toward Abajo Peak submitted by Talmage Nielson,

Babylon Fire crews get 50% containment

by Bill Boyle SJR Editor An army of more than 1,500 firefighters, from nearly every corner of the nation, have converged on San Juan County to fight the massive Babylon Fire. Over a two-week period, the lightning-caused fire that started near the Babylon Pasture on Elk Ridge grew to become the...