Brian Maffly
Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake City, UT, United States
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Recent articles by Brian:
What did Utah win in the expansive lands bill? A new Jurassic park and a bigger, and hopefully better, Goblin Valley.
In a remote dusty corner of Utah’s San Rafael Swell is a spot where dinosaurs came to die 150 million years ago, their bones piling up in what may have been a seasonal pond. Or perhaps floodwaters deposited hundreds of carcasses there in what is now the world’s densest assemblage of dino bones. → Read More
Utah coal country’s push for a West Coast deep-water port resurfaces as Senate panel advances funding plan
One way or another, $53 million of Utahns’ money soon may get sunk into a deep-water export terminal on the West Coast in an effort to shore up the state’s fading coal industry. → Read More
Contest offer: Pay $10 for a chance to go elk hunting in Utah with Trump Jr.
In a bid to raise money to promote hunting rights and the removal of protection for predator species, a new group co-founded by Utahn Don Peay is selling $10 tickets for a chance to spend five days with Donald Trump Jr. on a guided elk hunt in Utah. → Read More
Utahns flock to Great Salt Lake to see birds aplenty at Gullstravaganza
Utah bird enthusiasts gathered at Farmington Bay on Saturday morning to watch thousands California gulls prancing in and over the shallow salty waters of the Great Salt Lake. → Read More
Judge rules that Grayeyes does indeed live in Utah, affirms Navajo Dem’s spot on San Juan County Commission
Nearly 40 years ago, newly sworn-in San Juan County Commissioner Willie Grayeyes and his late wife bought a mobile home in Page, Ariz., where the Navajo couple’s four children could live while they pursued the education that was unavailable at the time on reservation lands in Utah. → Read More
Road dispute shuts access to Native American treasures in Hovenweep, Canyons of the Ancients
A dispute with a new property owner has prompted federal land managers to cut off road access to archaeological sites in Hovenweep and Canyons of the Ancients national monuments just across the Utah line in Colorado. → Read More
Arches, Canyonlands to reopen, thanks to state snowplowing the roads and nonprofits staffing the parks
Once again, Utah taxpayers and nonprofits are bailing out the national parks. → Read More
Along Utah’s Jordan River, birders of a feather count together at yuletide
Bluffdale • With a dozen other dedicated birders, Charles Hurd ambled slowly, deliberately Tuesday along the Jordan River. → Read More
Shutdown means no money to plow roads as snowfall closes Arches, Canyonlands
With fresh snow covering the roads and no personnel available to plow them, Arches and Canyonlands national parks shut their gates Monday as the federal government’s partial shutdown ground into its second week. → Read More
Feds hold biggest Utah oil and gas auction in years, setting off heightened concerns from environmentalists
The Trump administration’s “energy dominance” agenda reasserted itself in Utah on Tuesday with yet another near-record oil and gas lease auction that offered 154,000 acres to the highest bidder, drawing jeers from environmentalists who contend the Bureau of Land Management is sacrificing the state’s natural heritage. → Read More
Utah wants to put a price tag on its public lands, but is the effort worth it?
What would Utah’s 35 million acres of federally managed public lands be worth if they were privately owned? → Read More
Environmentalists, feds and Utahns agree: Don’t send Green River water to Colorado
If there is one issue that could unite environmentalists, rural Utah counties, power companies and federal agencies, it would be a proposal to funnel 55,000 acre-feet of water from the Beehive State across the Continental Divide to feed a neighboring state’s urban growth. → Read More
Utah says no to EnergySolutions accepting depleted uranium from military, but will it change course in the future?
Radioactive munitions won’t be buried in Utah’s West Desert anytime soon after a decision issued Thursday by state regulators, who rejected EnergySolutions’ emergency request to accept several thousand tons of armor-piercing projectile points made of heavier-than-lead depleted uranium. → Read More
A year after southern Utah’s Brian Head Fire, the aspens are bouncing back in a surprising way that could strengthen the forest
Brian Head • This past summer, a year after 72,000 acres of high-elevation woodlands burned around southwestern Utah’s Markagunt Plateau, residents of the nearby resort town of Brian Head noticed something strange: Tiny white cottony puffs drifted through the air and piled up on the ground like a downy blanket. → Read More
Hikers moaned when Zion Narrows was closed. Here are five other popular Utah destinations where private property questions could threaten access.
Zion National Park stunned visitors recently when it stopped issuing permits for one of its bucket-list hikes, the 16-mile slot-canyon journey through the Zion Narrows, after the family that owns land the route crosses posted signs indicating access was subject to “trespassing fees.” → Read More
Get a wild horse and $1k. It’s the latest offer to reduce the number of penned animals that some think should be slaughtered.
Federal land managers are so desperate to reduce the staggering number of wild horses held in permanent captivity they will pay $1,000 for every horse you adopt, as long as you promise to provide a good home. → Read More
Utah just experienced its driest year since scientists have kept records
Since official weather records have been kept, Utah has never experienced a year with as little precipitation as it did in 2018 and only one previous year registered higher average temperatures. → Read More
Criticism high, bidding low for Utah’s biggest oil, gas lease sale since the Bush years. Sensitive areas near Canyonlands auctioned.
Critics have been saying it for months. Under President Donald Trump, Utah’s scenic public lands are being sold off to the highest bidder. → Read More
Fires close part of southern Utah’s Bryce Canyon
Sparked by lightning several days ago, two wind-whipped wildfires burning near the southeastern edge of Bryce Canyon National Park expanded quickly Saturday, forcing some trail closures. → Read More
The fragile artifacts of John Wesley Powell’s famed expedition to Utah will be on display, but just for one day
Earlier this year, University of Utah geology professor Marjorie Chan was giving a speech at Illinois State University when she told her host, Dave Malone, about her interest in Western Americana and her desire to visit area antique shops. → Read More