SCIENCE MATTERS Environmental researchers provide lawmakers with tools to prepare for the future as population growth continues by Stevie Ipsen for the Utah Cattlemen’s Association According to Gov. Spencer Cox, who himself comes from a farming family in rural Central Utah, land, water and air issues should not be partisan issues. At a time when it is a simple for all citizens – those from agriculture and those not from agriculture – to recall from recent memory places in the west that have been virtually annihilated by wildfire or drought, Cox says everyone is affected when it comes to the wellbeing of our environment. The governor addressed the governor a meeting of Utah State University researchers at Salt Lake City’s Gallivan Center in December 2021.”These are not Republican issues or Democrat issues, these are human issues and they are certainly western issues,” Cox told the group. After hotter and harsher fires have burned through the west, including the Beehive State in recent fire seasons, politicians are taking notice – and finally taking action. The governor said Republicans and Democrats alike are putting their heads together to craft policy to address these issues and that it’s important for leaders to utilize science and documented evidence in guiding future policy. For farmers and ranchers in Utah and across the western states and public lands, the evidence has long been mounting and common sense has shown that mismanagement (and under usage) of grazing land has been key to fires burning longer and hotter with each passing year. Cox’s comments were made at an event celebrating the unveiling of the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute of Land, Water and Air at Utah State University. Wayne Niederhauser, chairman of the USU Board of Trustees and former Utah Senator, said the goals of the institute are to bring together faculty who study issues related to land and water use, as well as air quality. Though still in its infancy, the institute is already at work helping provide the evidence that can be used toward future policy making decisions. The Foundation, run by Janet Quinney Lawson’s family, allocated a $7 million donation toward the naming of the institute in Utah Cattleman Seedstock Edition 22
the fall of 2021. Niederhauser said that donation also provided an endowment for the institute to function. Roughly 82 percent of USU faculty researchers represent the environmental areas of land, water and air, according to the university. Three dozen researchers have participated in Utah researcher partnerships. During the December event, USU President Noelle Cockett, a doctor of veterinary medicine and former dean of the College of Agriculture explained that the research areas of land water and air aren’t just interconnected but those areas cover a wide range of individual topics. She read off a list of other areas of study that almost 140 USU faculty researchers focus on that include land, water and air. Those sub-topics include wildlife resource researchers, rain specialists, turfgrass scientists, biogeochemists and water and environmental engineers. That doesn’t include the many USU Extension experts that cover fields within the three main topics, and it doesn’t include the many students aiding the research effort, as well, she explained The new institute got to work right away, publishing in late 2021 the “2021 Report to the Governor on Utah’s Land, Water and Air,” a 52-page document compiled by 45 authors. The document is the first annual report to the Utah Governor’s Office that addresses the environmental issues that Utah leaders now face and will continue to face in the coming years. The report will be provided to the governor’s office every year, giving the state’s top official an overall view of various issues tied to land, water and air. Cockett said this kind of research will have the ability to provide context to current issues, focus in on critical details and highlight the bigger picture by showing how small occurrences influence overal trends. Cockett explained that this first report is broad in order to cover all the evidence that’s currently known about 25 of the “immediate and emerging issues” within the state’s natural resources and diverse landscapes. This snapshot report was also made easily digestible VOLUME 8
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FEBRUARY 2022
