Utah State University Public Lands Initiative

Almost two-thirds of Utah land (66.5%) is federally owned, making public land management a crucial component of the state’s economy and ecology. State appropriations for the Utah State University Public Lands Initiative were approved in 2018 and are managed by the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station. Researchers use the funding, in concert with required matching funds, to work on issues linked to many aspects of public lands management. See summaries below of research and activities currently supported by the USU Public Lands Initiative.

Free-roaming Equids and Ecosystem Sustainability Summit

Delegates agreed to the common goal of “healthy herds on healthy rangelands.” Additionally, they shared a common frustration, the increased polarization of all interest groups that results in political and management gridlock of federally protected equids...

Utah Forest Institute

The Utah Forest Institute hired a full-time technician (Megan Nasto, Ph.D. University of Montana) to lead the expansion of the Utah Forest Institute into field work as well as to complete the fire atlas for Utah.

Big Box Burning

Efforts have focused on preparing to treat hazardous fuels with Big Box kilns this fall and winter. The first of three Big Box kilns is complete and ready, it measures 16’ long, 7.5‘ wide, and 6’ tall. We purchased a 16-foot deck-over aluminum trailer to ...