For artist Jill Pelto, painting provides a creative way to communicate with her audience about changing climates, evolving landscapes and communities. On Saturday, she will present her work, “Mountains Made of Data: Sharing Science Stories through Art,” at Sundance Mountain Resort. 

It’s all part of Sundance Resort’s Voices of Nature artist series, which highlights environmental filmmakers, authors and artists. Pelto’s is the third presentation of the series. 

Pelto calls her work “environmental art.”

“Basically, it will incorporate data into my art as a way to visualize and understand that,” Pelto said. “It has one foot in the fine art realm, but it’s also trying to tell a breakdown of these side stories and tell them in a way that includes emotion and openness that art can have.”

Pelto, who is based in Washington, focuses her art on stories around snowpack and water. But she makes art featuring different landscapes as well. She adds science-backed data into her art to prompt understanding of the risks to those landscapes. 

In some pieces, Pelto highlights rivers with data showing the temperatures over time. 

“Kind of telling the story about (why) in dry, warm summer months we need the snow in the mountains, and then, in this area, the glaciers as well, to really supplement the water,” Pelto said. 

Some works show ecosystems that are affected by rising sea levels, and others depict communities that are working to mitigate those climate changes. 

“Obviously, whether that’s recreation or farming, there are all these ripple effects that we’re all really starting to feel,” Pelto said.

As the art director of the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project — an effort that monitors North Cascade glaciers and streams — Pelto also calls herself a “science communicator.” She said she originally made the connection between science and art because they are her two biggest passions in life. 

“Art was always a big part of my life. I think I kind of had that in my bones,” Pelto said. “And then science, I think, really came from the way that I was raised.”

Pelto said she has spent plenty of time outside camping and hiking. Her dad, in particular, has a background in science and exposed her to the world of glaciers. Every summer, the pair researches glaciers in Washington. 

“I think getting to see stuff like that as a kid just really inspired me,” Pelto said.

Sundance Nature Alliance Acting Director Emily Moench said the Voices of Nature series is about telling stories that connect people to nature and the natural world. 

“Which we hope inspires people to care about the Earth, which, in turn, comes full circle when they take action and care for the Earth,” Moench said. 

Moench said she has seen the series prompt action before. Last fall, Sundance Nature Alliance hosted filmmaker Abby Ellis, who showed part of her film depicting the climate crisis facing the Great Salt Lake. 

“We had several people follow up to say they didn’t realize how dire the situation is and that they’re implementing changes in how they use water, and listen to our recommendations about how to conserve water,” Moench said. 

The goal is to encourage people to care about the environment, she said, adding that art often has that effect on viewers. 

Pelto said environmental art certainly has had that impact on her. 

“I think art can help. It can help share that and process that, and not with the goal of overwhelming people. More, the goal of sharing the emotions — that is something that so many of us are experiencing,” Pelto said. 

Pelto’s presentation with the Voices of Nature artist series at Sundance Mountain Resort will be held in the screening room at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets to the event can be found at sundancenaturealliance.org.

The post Environmental artists showcase work at Sundance Resort’s Voices of Nature series appeared first on Park Record.

On the horizon, a small silhouette flew across the backdrop of the Wasatch Mountains. Without even pulling out his binoculars, birder Dan Roberts identified it as a red-tailed hawk. As he walked along a southern stretch of the Provo River, he explained that he could identify the bird by its markings.

“I can also tell by the way he’s flapping his dad gum wings,” Roberts added. “If you have a dog, your dog moves in a certain way. If you saw him 1,000 yards away (you’d say) ‘That’s my dog,’ because of the way he’s moving. … You can see certain things that your nervous system and your brain has tuned into.”

Roberts’ nervous system and brain are certainly tuned into the avian world.

As a wildlife biologist for the state of Utah between 1997 and 2012, Roberts monitored non-game birds. Now, he spends his retirement birding for pleasure. He was one of about 25 who participated in the Audubon Christmas Bird Count at Wasatch Mountain State Park on Saturday. 

The Christmas Bird Count occurs annually from Dec. 14 to Monday across the western hemisphere. The citizen science project started by ornithologist Frank M. Chapman has been running since 1900. 

Each count takes place in a defined circle 15 miles in diameter. Last year’s bird counts garnered over 83,000 participants around the globe.

The Heber Valley bird count was one of more than 25 held in Utah this year, taking place everywhere from Antelope Island to Park City. Wasatch Mountain State Park has been participating in the bird count since about 2000.

The goal of the census is to provide long-term data for conservationists. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency used data from the Christmas Bird Count in its 2012 report on climate change indicators in the United States.

The comprehensiveness of the bird counts doesn’t quite compare to the studies Roberts performed in his career. He and his co-workers would walk exactly on defined lines using GPS. And each participant was tested rigorously to recognize bird songs before being allowed to count birds.

While the birders who participate in the Christmas Bird Count are generally on the more experienced side, there’s no barrier to entry.

Roberts said the data for the Christmas Bird Count is far less precise but still valuable. 

“If laws need to be enacted, what’s going to make that happen? You have to have data,” Roberts said. “We could find all kinds of faults with the data, but if you have lots of data, even if it’s not the best-quality data, it still has a lot of power in it over a long period of time. And not just a long period of time, but a lot of places.”

The bird count data also includes factors like hours counting, distance covered and weather and water variables, such as cloud cover and snow depth. 

In the case someone sees a bird atypical for the area and time of year, the birder is expected to take a photo and fill out a rare bird form. 

For example, Roberts could have sworn he’d heard the twittering of a sage thrasher, though the bird should be in Mexico at this time of year. But because he couldn’t get a visual on the bird, he couldn’t verify it. 

“It’s better to omit the truth than to make up a lie,” Roberts said.

There was, however, a group that identified a long-tailed duck with its signature cowlick on its tail feathers. Just what the arctic bird was doing in Utah could have come down to any number of factors.

“The bird can’t tell you why,” Roberts said. “He’s got a different gene. A photon hit his brain at the wrong way. You know, with quantum mechanics, all this stuff, who knows? In fact, we can’t even prove we have free will.”

As Roberts continued talking about predetermination, Cary Hobbs chuckled at his friend’s lecture. He’d followed Roberts down the Provo River, dutifully penciling down data as the pair identified migrating flocks of Canada geese, round chickadees singing their “chicka-dee-dee-dee,” and a bald eagle sitting on a telephone pole.

The Watson to Roberts’ Holmes, Hobbs provided levity to the experience, pointing out a couple of ravens dancing in the sky on a “date” and asking, “What do you think that one is?” as a helicopter passed by.

Hobbs’ birding claim to fame was identifying a great gray owl in 2017. It was the first the state had seen since 1989. 

“I put a picture of him on Facebook. This was on a Sunday afternoon, and on Monday morning … the place was full of cars out there, people that had taken off work to go find and see a great gray owl,” he recalled.

The Midway resident has been participating in the Wasatch Mountain State Park bird count for 20 years. He said this was his first year participating that he’d seen green grass and not a flake of snow on the ground. That led to a lot of other firsts: only two flocks of geese, zero ducks and not a single robin.

“Normally, I’d come up with maybe 300, 450 birds. Today was 162,” he said. “Normally this time of year, it’s cold. For example, the eagles don’t really come down until it gets really cold enough to drive them down. Usually, I have a lot more eagles than we saw today.”

Roberts said the lack of birds has been something he’s observed this winter, too.

“Everybody says, ‘I haven’t been seeing the juncos around my house,’” he said. “The snow brings all the juncos to around your bushes and around your house. … They can still eat all these wild seeds. And when it gets covered up with snow, they come to your bird feeder.”

Kathy Donnell, a park ranger who has run the bird count since 2012, confirmed that the bird count was low across the groups that spread out over Wasatch Mountain State Park’s 23,000 acres. Last year’s bird count at Wasatch Mountain State Park counted 54 species and 4,416 birds. This year’s numbers will be finalized and sent to Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology by the end of February.

The post 126-year-old bird count attracts quirky characters appeared first on Park Record.

After nearly two months’ delay, the Heber City Planning Commission on Tuesday approved a preliminary site plan for The Slope, a mixed-use luxury development featuring retail, housing and a hotel, set alongside the Provo River. Construction on The Slope is expected to begin this spring.

The site plan was initially brought to the Planning Commission for approval on Oct. 14, but was delayed after Dan Simmons, who owns farmland next to The Slope, expressed skepticism around the findings of Angstrom Development Group’s groundwater study. 

In an email to city engineer Russ Funk before the October Planning Commission meeting, Simmons wrote, “As the immediately adjacent landowner, I know that groundwater can be at times only a foot beneath the surface in the areas, and indeed can even sometimes sub up above ground, depending on the water year conditions.”

Groundwater is any water found underneath the Earth’s surface, which can gather in layers called aquifers. A groundwater study not only ensures protection of the water supply, but it is also intended to ensure a development’s foundations are stable and will not cause flooding.

The city requires a minimum of 4 feet of dirt above historic groundwater levels for potential stormwater infiltration.

On Aug. 4, third-party GSH Geotechnical Consultants measured groundwater levels on the 40-acre site by excavating 12 test pits. The study found that groundwater depth ranged from 4.5 to 10.2 feet below the surface that day. 

The consultants also estimated that the maximum historic groundwater depth was 3 to 8.7 feet across the test pits. This was done by studying mottling, rust streaks and spots in the soil that form during fluctuating water conditions. 

The findings around historic groundwater depth led to additional development costs. Angstrom Development Group partner Andy Dorobek said “almost the entire civil engineering” had to be redesigned on the site. Funk added that the development group will have to pay to import “a significant amount of fill” at its expense.

However, Simmons still had concerns, particularly because the groundwater levels were measured only once, on “a date late in the summer of a hot, dry year,” instead being monitored continually to evaluate seasonal fluctuations. 

He also worried about potential groundwater contamination and impacts on the Provo River. The Wasatch County Health Department classified the area where The Slope will be built as highly sensitive to groundwater contamination in its 2020 report on groundwater quality in the county.

Simmons’ concerns were shared by Greg Poole, civil engineer with Hansen, Allen & Luce, who had been hired by Simmons in the past to evaluate groundwater purity on his property, though not the groundwater level. Simmons and Poole’s concerns were based on eyewitness accounts of what they had observed on Simmons’ property.

Funk called Poole a “very reputable hydrologic engineer,” which was why the city chose to look further into the groundwater levels.

“We certainly don’t want to get every layman, neighbor, citizen coming in and thinking they can make an allegation and delay a project,” Funk said during the Oct. 14 meeting. “(But) we certainly can’t just say, ‘No, we’re not gonna listen to that.’ It definitely needs some attention.”

Funk then hired another third party, engineer Patrick R. Emery from Gordon Geotechnical Engineering, Inc., to review GSH Geotechnical Consultants’ groundwater study. 

Emery submitted his review on Dec. 3. He confirmed that soil mottling is “standard practice for determining the maximum historical groundwater depth at a site with the understanding that there are some limitations.” He also wrote that the number of test pit explorations was appropriate given the site’s size. Essentially, Emery found no issue with the methods GSH Geotechnical Consultants had used in its study. 

Since groundwater was the primary remaining concern about the development, the Planning Commission approved the preliminary site plan unanimously during the meeting.

“Heber City’s stormwater design standards are more stringent than most municipalities. … We have done our due diligence … to enforce our code,” Funk said. “There hasn’t been pushback. The developer has come forward and, from my perspective, tried to meet all those requirements without trying to argue against them.”

The post The Slope goes forward in Planning Commission appeared first on Park Record.

Locals participated in the March for Science on Main Street to support fact-based research and celebrate Earth Day Saturday morning, April 22, 2017. The group heard from a few speakers and were invited to more formal presentations from local scientists at the Jim Santy Auditorium in the Park City Library following the event. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

The post PHOTOS: March For Science appeared first on Park Record.