USU Eastern Press Release
Price, Utah – Students visiting from the University of Derby experienced the wildlife of USU Eastern and the local area with Professor Dr. Sunshine Brosi.
As part of a joint effort with the University of Colorado, students flew into Denver and visited Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, Jackson Hole, and the Grand Tetons before making their way to Price on Monday, July 15th.
After arriving in Price, Dr. Brosi had a week of local research and volunteer work planned for the students to engage with our community. Students were able to meet with local agencies including the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and Trout Unlimited.
On Thursday, July 18th students worked with local non-profit, Trout Unlimited, in Scofield to help improve the water quality of Mud Creek. Heavy grazing from cattle has led to the creek eroding, limiting the vegetation and habitat for the fish. Students planted 500 willow trees along the banks of the creek to bring back structure.
Students were studying or had recently completed bachelor’s degrees in zoology or biology. Shanza Iqbal said “this trip was the perfect opportunity to dive into field work.” Iqbal got to experience many new things like wearing waiters and getting up close and personal with butterflies.
Jack Bamford commented on the differences in landscape between the two countries saying, “you don’t really get big high mountain and massive lakes in the UK, there’s hills but no canyons and high-altitude forests and all that. It’s really interesting. “
Bamford described the experience overall being a bit surreal, “honestly it felt like being in the movies, I’ve watched a lot of American films.”
They started on Monday with a tour of the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum by Dr. Tim Riley. That evening they took a tour of Nine Mile Canyon where they were able to explore Native American creation stories through petroglyphs. Tuesday students went with BLM to Jurassic National Monument and Little Grand Canyon Overlook. They also to the Price Recreation area and learned to identify native and invasive thistle that can fuel forest fires. Students clipped buds off of the plants to stop them from coming back.
Wednesday the group traveled to the Manti-La Sal National Forest where they met with the U.S. Forest Service to monitor northern goshawks, a bird that helps identify the health of its ecosystem. There, “we talked about the impacts potentially of sheep grazing, an issue that also happens in the United Kingdom,” said Dr. Brosi. She emphasized the importance of teaching students about “ecological issues that know no boundaries.”
Students from the University of Colorado and Utah State University were also able to travel to the United Kingdom to explore their wildlife programs.
