A year ago, my alarm blared in the pitch-darkness of the bunkhouse at Packsack Canoe Trips on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

5 AM comes fast.

I turned off the alarm, swung my legs out of my sleeping bag, and planted my bare feet on the cold plywood floor. I turned on the light. My adult son, Nate, squinted at me from the adjacent bunk. Flashing a groggy grin, he muttered, “That was a short night.”

The day before we drove from Minneapolis to Ely, Minnesota. After a late start and a dinner stop, we drove the last couple hours in the dark, down State Highway 1—the Voyageur Highway—a narrow two-lane strip of asphalt, with no shoulder, and crowded in on either side by endless forests.

Our forecast was for highs in the 40’s, a stiff wind, and scattered rain showers. If I didn’t live 1400 miles away, I would have been happy to wait to paddle for another day, but this was the window of time we had. And, as the Eagles sang so profoundly, “We may lose and we may win, but we may never be here again.”

Most canoe trips into the Boundary Waters are days to weeks long, but you can get a good sampling in a long day on the water.

By 7 AM we were at the Fall Lake boat ramp where our rented Kevlar canoe was waiting for us, as promised. All our good paddling gear was back in Utah, so we placed our day packs in garbage bags to keep them dry, and pushed off into a headwind, which also meant no mosquitos.

Traditionally the homelands of the Anishinaabe people—also known as the Ojibwe or Chippewa, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness includes more than 1,000 interconnected lakes, extends for 150 miles along the US/Canadian border, and adjoins Canada’s Quetico Provincial Park. Combined with Voyageur National Park, the three areas create nearly 2.5 million acres of internationally protected land, lakes, forests, and waterways that connect to Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean. In April, a twenty-year mining ban in the vicinity was overturned that poses a risk to the pristine waters.

The Boundary Waters is the most visited Wilderness Area in the United States, but not on a day like this. Nate and I zipped our jackets up, put our heads down, and paddled towards an island ahead that provided some refuge from the wind and a chance to rest. We continued picking our route this way, finding the sheltered coves and shorelines when possible and powering into the wind when we had to.

We portaged Newton Falls in a drizzle, then worked our way across Newton Lake, and portaged Pipestone Falls to Pipestone Bay on Basswood Lake. We paddled to an obscure portage route that led us to Azion Lake—a small lake 150 vertical feet above Basswood Lake. We ate lunch on the shore in light rain. The wind died down and we paddled a lap around this double-lobed lake on glassy water with several loons.

For our return voyage we had a light tailwind or no wind. The portages were long enough that we were grateful we paid extra for the Kevlar canoe rental. All in all, we paddled twelve miles, made six portages (three each way), paddled on four lakes, and I plucked three ticks off my pants. Nate seemed unbothered that they liked me more than him.

Though we were a bit soggy, both of us were smiling as we finished out, just a father and son paddling in sync, moving across the dark glassy water, tinted by a gray sky overhead.

I am Eric Newell and I am wild about wild lands in Utah and beyond.

Credits:
Images: Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright J. Chase and K.W. Baldwin and Anderson, Howe, and Wakeman.
Text: Eric Newell, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University
Additional Reading: Eric Newell

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah Pieces by Eric Newell

Boundary Waters Canoe Trips & Log Cabins In Ely, Minnesota, PackSack Canoe Trips and Log Cabins by Nicholas Ott, https://www.packsackcanoetrips.com/

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, 2026 Explore Minnesota Tourism, MN.gov,
https://www.exploreminnesota.com/destinations/boundary-waters

Explore Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness,
https://www.friends-bwca.org/explore/

Quetico Provincial Park, Camp Quetico, Atikokan, Ontario, https://queticoprovincialpark.com/

Voyageurs National Park-Minnesota, US National Park System, US Department of the Interior, https://www.nps.gov/voya/index.htm

Save the Boundary Waters , SavetheBoundaryWaters.org, Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness (NMW), https://www.savetheboundarywaters.org/

Lawrence, Beatrice, Why mining in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters matters to Wisconsin, Wisconsin Public Radio, April 30, 2026, https://www.wpr.org/news/why-mining-minnesotas-boundary-waters-matters-wisconsin

Kraker, Dan, Trump ends ban on mining near the Boundary Waters, Minnesota Public Radio News, April 27, 2026, https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/04/27/trump-ends-ban-on-mining-near-the-boundary-waters

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In the last few hundred years, we have seen great advancements in lighting technology:

• from the oil lamps of the 1700’s
• to the “light-emitting diodes” or LEDs of today.

These advancements have changed our lives, and for the better! However, as human populations have grown, so has our use of light, and sometimes without much thought about how far light can travel, or the energy that is being used. Moreover, many of the LEDs used today are much brighter and bluer in color than the amber-colored incandescent lights of old.

“Light pollution,” is often referred to as sky glow, glare, or light trespass. It may be unintended, but is typically unwelcome, and can cause harm or discomfort. Reducing light pollution will have positive effects on the well-being and health of all living things, from plants and animals, to humans, including our mental health.

For example, light trespass that slips into a bedroom at night can affect one’s sleep. Not only is this aggravating, it can alter our circadian rhythm, which depends on a natural balance of serotonin, produced during the day under the sun’s blue light, and melatonin, produced at night in the absence of blue light.

As for our mental health, when we connect to something bigger or more profound, our problems tend to seem smaller. And being able to wish upon a star can give hope at any age.

In addition, most people need to feel safe in order to have a sense of well-being. Unfortunately, there is a common misperception that “more light is better” … when in fact, what might be safer, are what DarkSky International refers to as The Five Principles for Responsible Outdoor Lighting: all lights should have a purpose, fall where it is needed, when it is needed, be not any brighter than is needed, and warm-colored.

When outdoor lighting is designed responsibly, not only can we avoid light trespass, we can also rest assured that wildlife will be able to continue with their normal behaviors at night – birds will navigate to their seasonal destinations, newborn turtles will find the ocean’s edge, nocturnal pollinators won’t be distracted from their jobs, and food-finding and mate attraction won’t be interrupted.

When we think of natural resources, few of us think of darkness. If you hear the phrase, “dark skies,” this does not mean “dark ground.” I encourage everyone to think instead, “We can have light, but every day needs a night.”

This is Lisa Stoner, and I’m Wild About Utah’s Starry Skies.

Credits:

Images Milky Way-Courtesy US National Park Service, Emily Ogden, Photographer
Cache Valley sky, aurora & telescope photos – Courtesy & Copyright Riggs Stewart, Photographer
Paintings on Eden barns, Courtesy & Copyright Lisa Stoner, Photographer
Comet, Courtesy Pixabay, TheOtherKev, Contributor https://pixabay.com/users/theotherkev-9436196/
Featured Audio: Credit will be posted soon
Text: Lisa Stoner, Dark Sky Utah
Additional Reading: Lisa Stoner & Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah pieces by Lisa Stoner, https://wildaboututah.org/author/lisa-stoner/

Five Principles for Responsible Outdoor Lighting, DarkSky International, June 1, 2020, Updated June 11, 2024, https://darksky.org/resources/guides-and-how-tos/lighting-principles/

Kyba CCM, Altıntaş YÖ, Walker CE, Newhouse M. Citizen scientists report global rapid reductions in the visibility of stars from 2011 to 2022. Science. 2023 Jan 20;379(6629):265-268. doi: 10.1126/science.abq7781. Epub 2023 Jan 19. PMID: 36656932. https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/science.abq7781

Callaway, K. R., Thompson, Andrea, editor, How darkness might save migratory birds
Light pollution is dangerous for birds flying over towns and cities. Here’s how you can help, Scientific American, April 24, 2026, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-darkness-might-save-migratory-birds/

Harrison, Shawn, Dark Skies month celebrated with giveaway, The Herald Journal, April 6, 2026,
https://www.hjnews.com/news/local/dark-skies-month-celebrated-with-giveaway/article_fb0a9898-36cd-4f34-940c-a87c6694ab85.html

Night Sky Tonight in Logan, Utah, USA, Time & Date, https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/night/@5777544

The post Every day needs a night appeared first on Wild About Utah.

I was astounded. German POW’s in Cache Valley? This led me to ask more questions.

I found out in 1945 there were close to 400 German POWs living in tents in a work camp at the Cache Valley Fairgrounds. Local farmers contracted with the US Government to hire the POWs to work in the fields for 80 cents a day.

Each morning the prisoners would get loaded into trucks and driven to a sugar beet field. The work day didn’t end until 8 pm when the prisoners returned to the Fairgrounds, damp and chilled, from the ride in the open bed trucks.

At the peak of sugar beet farming in and around Cache Valley, there were 5 sugar factories operating. But by 1945 the factories were down to two – one located in Lewiston, and the other in Whitney, near Preston.

Native Americans came from Arizona to work the beets and set up their colorful teepees in downtown Lewiston. High school students were let out of school for 2-3 weeks in the Fall to work during what were called “Harvest Vacations.”

A friend of mine in Preston told me about a young man who went off the college in the Fall of 1945, but came home after a week. His father handed him a sugar beet knife and told him if he wasn’t going to go to college, he was going to work in the fields.

Everyone I met who once worked in the sugar beet fields told me all the work of thinning and harvesting needed to be done while bent over, and the resulting back pain was terrible.

Of all the stories I heard, my favorite was one of a Logan beet farmer who took his 3-year-old daughter with him to check on the work being done by the POWs he had hired. One day, he looked up and saw one of the German POWs holding his little girl in his arms. The farmer took his little girl by the hand, but the POW didn’t let go. A guard came running over. But both men stopped when they saw the tears running down the POW’s face. Somewhere, many miles away, they realized this German POW had a little girl of his own that he may or may not ever see again.

Today, all the POWs have long gone, as well as the local sugar beet farms. But if you drive north on Highway 89, just before you get to Preston, you can see the remains of the Whitney sugar beet factory. These huge crumbling buildings stand as a reminder that sugar beets were once king in Cache Valley.

This is Mary Heers and I’m Wild About Utah.

Credits:

Images Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer
Featured Audio:
Text: Mary Heers, https://cca.usu.edu/files/awards/art-and-mary-heers-citation.pdf
Additional Reading: Mary Heers & Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah, Mary Heers’ Postings

Powell, Allan Kent, Splinters of a Nation: German Prisoners of War in Utah (UTAH CENTENNIAL SERIES), University of Utah Press, January 1, 1990, https://www.amazon.com/Splinters-Nation-German-Prisoners-CENTENNIAL/dp/0874803306/ref=sr_1_1

Radford, Alexandria, The Old Sugar Beet Factory, Medium, Oct 7, 2021, https://medium.com/mind-talk/the-old-sugar-beet-factory-2e4b26f906d6

Arrington, Leonard J, Beet Sugar in the West A History of the Utah Idaho Sugar Company 1891-1966 University of Washington, 1966, https://www.amazon.com/-/he/Leonard-J-Arrington/dp/029574037X

Arrington, Leonard J, The Sugar Industry in Utah, Utah History Encyclopedia-website, Utah Education Network – UEN, https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/s/SUGAR_INDUSTRY.shtml

The post Cache Valley Sugar Beets and German POWs appeared first on Wild About Utah.

Now imagine our return flight as earth’s gravity plunges us ever faster toward north America, and Utah before veering toward the blue Pacific for splash down.

It becomes apparent that Utah has a unique beauty like no other, its varied landscapes replete with diverse life forms from Gila monsters to tetradactyl-like California condors, from over 800 bee species, to several thousand species of plants. Utah!! Home!

Considering this is factual fiction contrived by Jack’s brain, for all its splendor, let us pause over what I consider to be a standout to match a Great Salt Lake sunset- the Markagunt plateau. This magnificent piece of our beloved Earth has been sliced and diced into pure grandeur of deep canyons, much of which this mere Earthling has traipsed over- Zion National Park, Cedar Breaks NM, the shores of Navajo Lake, all resplendent with iconic species of life- pica, black hawks, black bear, Peregrine falcons, painted buntings, desert bighorn sheep, canyon tree frogs. Within the boundaries of Zion National Park our state’s highest biodiversity is found to match its magnificent, varied terrain.

Just to the west three bioregions merge where the Colorado Plateau intertwines with the Mojave desert and great basin spawning biological diversity beyond imagining!

Reaching across our marvelous state are stunning marvels- Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and an myriad of state parks that deserve national monument status considering their unique geology and grandeur- Snow Canyon, Goblin Valley, Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Kodachrome Basin, Dead Horse, Goosenecks, Antelope Island, Great Salt Lake- Splashdown! Now back to reality, a lovely spring morning to celebrate Spring replet with canyon wildflowers, gushing spring runoff, and the return of neotropical birds bless us with their hatchlings.

This is Jack Greene for Bridgerland Audubon Society and I’m Wild about our otherworldly Wild Utah.

Credits:

Images: Earth -Courtesy NASA – Artemis II Crew
Courtesy USGS – Cedar Breaks & Zion Cliffs
Courtesy US NPS, Zach Schierl, Photographer,
also Courtesy US NPS, Condors and Southern Utah National Parks
Sunset at the Great Salt Lake Courtesy Pixabay, BJohnson, Contributor https://pixabay.com/photos/sunset-utah-great-salt-lake-6032689/
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections and
Anderson, Howe, and Wakeman.
Text & Voice: Jack Greene, Bridgerland Audubon, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/
Additional Reading Links: Jack Greene & Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading:

Wild About Utah Pieces by Jack Greene, https://wildaboututah.org/author/jack/

National Parks in Southern Utah, National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/national-parks-in-southern-utah.htm
Condors, Zion National Park, US NPS, https://www.nps.gov/zion/learn/nature/condors.htm

Arches National Park, Geology and Ecology of National Parks, USGS, https://www.usgs.gov/geology-and-ecology-of-national-parks/arches-national-park
Bryce Canyon National Park, Geology and Ecology of National Parks, USGS, https://www.usgs.gov/geology-and-ecology-of-national-parks/bryce-canyon-national-park
Canyonlands National Park, Geology and Ecology of National Parks, USGS, https://www.usgs.gov/geology-and-ecology-of-national-parks/canyonlands-national-park
Capitol Reef National Park, Geology and Ecology of National Parks, USGS, https://www.usgs.gov/geology-and-ecology-of-national-parks/capitol-reef-national-park

Cedar Breaks National Monument, USGS, https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/cedar-breaks-pink-cliffs

Utah State Parks, https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/

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