Ask an Expert Update on Avian Influenza in Utah

by David Frame, Utah State University Extension Poultry Specialist

Career Fair: The SUU Career Center partners with our Intergovernmental Internship Cooperative Department to invite public lands employers to attend this event. The public lands employers who typically attend this event are hiring for positions serving a wide variety of SUU majors including agriculture, outdoor education, recreation, engineering, and more.—McKinley Hatch, Southern Utah University events and marketing coordinator engineering, and more.”

Career Fair

Cont'd from A1 about every industry.

The Career Center is actively preparing students to be effective and desirable employees. With an emphasis on skills like critical thinking, oral/written communication, professionalism, work ethic, competency in digital technology, and many others, students are provided with the resources they need to be valuable employees and contribute to whatever

Nearly 2.2 million birds in Utah were lost to the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) between April 2022 and January 2023.

UTAH - Nearly 2.2 million birds in Utah were lost to the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) between April 2022 and January 2023. This total includes eight non-commercial poultry flocks, 18 commercial egg layer and turkey flocks, and one commercial gamebird facility. Non-commercial detections in backyard chicken flocks and petting zoos have occurred in Cache, Utah, Salt Lake, and Weber counties.

Live wild bird surveillance has shown the virus in various dabbling duck species, including the mallard, gadwall, cinnamon teal, green-winged teal, Northern shoveler, and American widgeon. Wild bird morbidity surveillance has detected the virus in owls, hawks, gulls, pelicans, eared grebe, black-crowned night heron, and the turkey vulture.

The most prevalent species with HPAI has been the Canada goose. This is significant because waterfowl are the natural carriers of avian influenza viruses and typically do not die as a result of the virus; however, the current strain of HPAI is lethal enough to kill even waterfowl. Although we have been fortunate to have HPAI detections drop this winter, some areas of the country have not been so lucky. As we approach the spring months, it is uncertain whether we will experience another wave of outbreaks during spring migration. Work still needs to be done to determine exactly how the initial introduction of HPAI occurs. What we do know is that once introduced, the virus is transmitted from flock to flock through contaminated equipment and people. Consider these tips to prevent virus transmission. business or organization they are a part of in a meaningful way.

• Practice strict adherence to washing hands, using dedicated clothing and footwear, and avoiding neighbors’ flocks. Do not take care of your poultry immediately after hunting; shower and change into clean clothes first.

• Keep all domestic poultry and gamebirds enclosed and away from wild birds. Avoid using water from open sources, such as ponds, canals, and ditches, for poultry drinking and to wash equipment where your birds have access. These sources could contain the HPAI virus, especially if they are accessible to waterfowl. If the virus is found in live bird samples, it indicates that our resident waterfowl must be considered potential carriers and shedders.

Poultry flocks infected with HPAI will experience sudden high mortality and usually no signs of sickness before death. If you suspect your home flock may have HPAI, contact the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food or the state veterinarian’s office at statevet@ utah.gov immediately.

Although sporadic cases have been reported, avian influenza viruses pose minimal danger of causing clinical disease in humans.

“The SUU Career Center partners with our Intergovernmental Internship Cooperative Department to invite public lands employers to attend this event,” said McKinley Hatch, events & marketing coordinator. “The public lands employers who typically attend this event are hiring for positions serving a wide variety of SUU majors including agriculture, outdoor education, recreation,

This event is open to all employers, not just those in public lands industries. SUU’s Career and Professional Development Center strives to provide students with opportunities to enhance their careers, increase their networking abilities, and give them the financial resources they need to succeed in college.

The event is free to SUU students and alumni.

—Southern Utah University

Garfield Memorial: Our mom and baby caregivers have been working hard to earn this breastfeeding friendly rating. This signifies our caregivers are both competent and comfortable providing evidence-based education and resources to help families be successful in breastfeeding their infants.—Tanielle Ramsay, RN at Garfield Memorial Hospital Garfield Memorial Cont'd from A1

“Our mom and baby caregivers have been working hard to earn this breastfeeding friendly rating. This signifies our caregivers are both competent and comfortable providing evidence-based education and resources to help families be successful in breastfeeding their infants,” said Tanielle Ramsay, RN, the nurse who led the efforts to earn the designation.

The ten steps of the Stepping Up for Utah Babies program are evidence-based maternity care practices that demonstrate optimal support of breastfeeding, as well as improved care experiences and outcomes for non-breastfeeding moms and families.

They include hospital practices such as: encouraging moms to hold their new baby skin-to-skin right after delivery; allowing moms and babies to remain together 24 hours a day in the hospital; training staff to support all new moms’ feeding choices; encouraging breastfeeding on demand; reducing formula supplementation unless medically indicated; and not using pacifiers for breastfeeding infants.

“Our experience has taught us, when moms and newborns engage in early skin-to-skin contact during the “golden” first hour after birth, it greatly increases a mother’s success with breastfeeding. Our staff is truly dedicated to helping new moms and mothers receive the most up-to-date education and support possible for confident, successful feeding whether they choose to bottle feed or breastfeed,” said Susan Harris, the hospital’s nurse manager.

The state health pro- gram website cites research that shows breast milk is the best food for infants and that breastfeeding is associated with decreased risk for infant morbidity and mortality. It’s also been shown that breastfeeding moms have lower incidences of breast and ovarian cancer, Type 2 diabetes and postpartum depression.

The state program is patterned after the international Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative started by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund in the 1990s .

To find out more about Intermountain’s virtual breastfeeding course, go to intermountainhealthcare. org/classes-and-events/ list/breastfeeding. For a complete list of hospitals working toward the fivestar, breastfeeding-friendly rating, visit: https://mihp. utah.gov/stepping-up-forutah-babies.

—Intermountain Health Garfield Memorial Hospital

Community Center:

Community centers are especially important for our rural communities. The Permanent Community Impact Board is proud to offer grants and low-interest loans to help Utah communities have meeting spaces for decades to come.

—Jerry

Taylor, Garfield County

Commissioner and CIB board member Community Center

Cont'd from A1 for our rural communities,” said board member and Garfield County Commissioner Jerry Taylor. “The Permanent Community Impact Board is proud to offer grants and low-interest loans to help Utah communities have meeting spaces for decades to come.”

The Permanent Community Impact Board awards grants and lowinterest loans to cities, towns, and counties from funds directed to the CIB from mining and oil and gas extraction on federal land. Projects funded by the Permanent Community Impact Board benefit rural Utah by creating safer, more livable communities.

The Utah Housing and Community Development Division manages the fund, which is part of the Department of Workforce Services. For more information, visit housing.utah. gov.

—Utah Department of Workforce Services

by Mack Oetting ~ mackoetting @gmail.com

Dean and Peggy Chappell

They are the parents of seven children and have 26 grandchildren.

I am writing this rather late because, like many of you, I was watching the Super Bowl game. In the last few years, the games have been really great and really close. Both teams had excellent quarterbacks, and they kept the game close. Kansas City had the ball last and could have scored a touchdown, but the runner downed the ball on the one-yard line instead. Kansas City ran the clock down to eight seconds and kicked the winning field goal and won the game. Both teams were the best in the game. Their offensive line didn’t allow for a single sack. At the start of the game, it really looked like the Eagles were going to control, and they led, 24 to 14. The second half, it was all Kansas City, and they scored every time they had the ball. They went ahead by 11, only to see Philadelphia tie the score with only two minutes to go. Well, we only have to wait six more months for more action.

As we rode up 89 to the see the wrestlers in Richfield, it became more apparent that our cold weather is keeping our snow around longer.

Above Circleville there is very little snow on the fields, and from Marysville to Richfield there wasn’t any snow at all. The news says that we are at 130% of normal, which was the same amount that we had last year. Salt Lake City has had only 20’ of snow, but their mountains have been double that of normal. Now they are worrying about the weather warming up too fast and causing flooding. We are still in a drought. Our weather the last couple of weeks has been great, which, to me, that means no wind. I know that it is really cold because for the last many years my gas bill for January was in the $400 bracket, and last month, it was in the mid $700s.

Sunday night's weather report says that we could get quite a bit of snow in our area and all over southern Utah on Wednesday. It would be nice if they get the snow part right for a change. We sometimes take it for granted what a wonderful place we live in, then, an Earthquake hits Turkey, and 27,000 people are killed in a minute. I know we hate the government telling us what to do, but I think that we should be strapping items in the schools or rebuilding the old Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints temples in St. George and SLC to make them earthquake-resistant for the safety of the Saints. In some of these third world countries, some of the buildings are hundreds of years old.

I hope you had a nice Valentine’s Day. We do have a three day holiday coming up on Monday the 20th. It is President's Day. The day is always on Monday for President's Day, so you can have a short vacation. Did you ever give it any thought that when you are retired you don’t get holidays or vacations that are paid?

I think that I have the right day for the NBA AllStar game; it will be this Sunday, and it will be here in Utah in Salt Lake City. They feel that it will draw 100,000 people for all kinds of reasons. A number of the Stars are hurt, but I am sure there will be a lot of scoring and no defense. The first to 160 points wins, regardless of the time on the clock. I don’t know if it is me, but for many years, I don’t have a clue what is being sung at Halftime. This time, it did have some special effects that were different and entertaining. It is the same with advertising; it costs millions for these ads, and if you blink, you won’t have any idea what they are selling. For a long time my shoulder has been bothering me. I went to my doctor and had x-rays taken, and I have bone rubbing on bone, and I will have to have a shoulder replacement. I was referred to a doctor in St. George. They called, and I have an appointment for May 8. My granddaughter the doctor said that will only be to examine my shoulder, and he will set up another time for the replacement. I told my granddaughter that she was in the wrong business. The medical business is so good in southern Utah that they are building another hospital in St. George. It’s late, and I have a sports column to go. Way to go, Bobcats. You are the best again for the fourth year in a row.

Mack O.

Proposed Bill Could Change How Water is Measured in Utah. Opponents Call it a ‘Gag Order’

ST. GEORGE - For years, Utah—and Washington County in particular— has been accused of being a water waster when compared to other states. While Utah water managers have cried foul over those claims, the way Utah has traditionally counted water apparently hasn’t helped.

Attempting to address this issue, the per capita consumptive use bill, officially designated SB 119 in the 2023 Utah Legislature, authored by Sen. Michael McKell, is now headed to the House for further debate after passing the Senate in a 22-1 vote (six senators were absent).

While supporters say it will help bring Utah’s water use calculations more in line with how other Western states measure water use, the opposition argues the bill is misleading.

During a meeting of the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee held Jan. 24, McKell said the state needed to measure water in a way that accurately reflected the amount being used.

“Oftentimes we are criticized for waste and those measurements are just different in other states and other areas,” he said. “We want to be able to measure apples to apples and oranges to oranges.”

Attorney Fred Finilinson, who represents water districts attached to Prepare 60, was invited by McKell to give the committee a breakdown of how Utah measures its water compared to other states.

There are three ways per capita water use is measured, the attorney said.

One method looks at the total amount of water that’s diverted from its primary source for use. From there, the per capita use is determined by dividing the diverted water totals by the population served. The second method

by Mori Kessler, St. George News

measures the amount of water that is delivered to the end customer. In Utah, the majority of the drinking-quality water delivered to the end user is metered. Taking the amount of water delivered to the end users and dividing by population is another way per capita use is calculated.

“On the Colorado River, they use the consumptive use standard,” Finilinson said.

The consumptive use standard takes the water that is delivered to a home and only counts what that home uses. And unused water delivered to a home is subtracted from the overall amount used when divided by the population served.

For example, the standard takes the amount of water used by a household and measures what amount was actually used following delivery. A home that used 10% will see the remaining 90% return downstream, Finilinson said. The unused 90% is subtracted from the overall amount that is divided by the population.

“A classic example of that is Las Vegas,” he said. “They only have 300,000 acre-feet of water, but they divert nearly 700,000 to 800,000 acre-feet. They then take a return credit for all the water that comes back through Las Vegas wastewater treatment—and the stormwater when they can count it when it goes back into the system—so that their consumptive use is measured on their 300,000 acre-feet.”

Utah either takes the amount of water diverted or delivered for its water per capita use calculations, which is fine when comparing data collected in Utah using the same methods, Finilinson said.

However, when compared to other Western states, “our numbers will be significantly higher, and we’re not looking at the same measuring statistics.”

According to the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, the average house in Las Vegas uses around 222 gallons of water daily. The average household in St. George (going by the state’s current mode of measurement) is reported to be around 304 gallons per day.

If passed, SB 119 will create an alternative consumptive use measuring standard for Utah to use when comparing per capita numbers with other states.

The bill would also impact water districts in counties of the first and second class in Utah. County classes are determined by population. In Utah, a firstclass county has a population of 1 million or more. A second-class county has a population of 175,000 or more [but less than 1 million]. At nearly 200,000 people, Washington County is listed as second class. And Washington County water managers say they support the bill.

“The (Washington County Water Conservancy District) supports the current draft of SB 119 Per Capita Consumptive Use,” Karry Rathje, a spokeswoman for the water district, wrote in an email to St. George News. “This bill will allow water districts to update its water use accounting methodology to be more consistent with the practices of water providers in other regions.”

While supporters of the bill say it creates a measure of uniformity in how water use is calculated, its opponents say the bill is “hiding water” and called it a “gag order.”

Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council, said the bill would be fine if culinary, or drinking-quality water, was the only factor, but it is not.

The bill does not require the counting of sec- ondary (irrigation-quality) water that is lost in transport, he said, adding that language in the bill also makes it illegal for other agencies to calculate water use.

“This bill hides water and puts a gag order on other agencies,” Frankel told St. George News “The gist of this is that we’re unwilling to save water. It’s disinformation.”

Language in the bill Frankel specifically referred to are found on lines 126 to 130, which state:

“A state agency or a political subdivision of the state may not calculate, publish, or disseminate a:

(i) statewide per capita consumptive use number; or (ii) per capita consumptive use number for a first class or second class county that is different from a number reported by a reporting district pursuant to this section.”

Frankel, who also attended the Jan 24 committee hearing, said McKell would not talk to him about the bill one-on-one when he wanted to address the secondary water and “gag order” language in the bill. Rather, he said McKell pointed him to the attorneys and water districts that helped craft the bill.

“This bill is everything that’s wrong with the Utah Legislature,” Frankel said. “It’s a really, really bad bill.”

St. George News attempted to contact McKell for comment but had not heard back by the time of publication.

This article was originally published by the St. George News on February 10, 2023.

This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.

February 20 - 26

by John Mosley

the sky. Now it’s noticeably fuller (10% vs. 4%) —and it’s 1-2/3° from Jupiter in a great conjunction to the eye and binoculars. This will be a photo opportunity if sunset colors linger.

The three brightest objects in the nighttime sky are within 8½° of each other (Jupiter is 1¼° from the moon), an hour after sunset on February 22.

This week and next there is a lot of action between the moon and planets because the three brightest planets are all in the evening sky and the moon passes each in turn—plus a wonderful planetary conjunction is coming up. These two weeks have more great conjunctions than is reasonable to expect, so this is a superb time to monitor the sky nightly and see changes happen as you watch. Such an opportunity will not soon come again so be sure to be out with your binoculars, or your eyes, taking it all in. A principle I refer to again and again is that events in the sky are not individual unrelated happenings, like items in a list, but are the result of continuous motions of the earth, moon, and planets that you can observe and appreciate if you know what to look for (that’s my job) and go out and look (that’s your job).

So as the week begins, we have the two brightest planets in the west: brilliant Venus and above it nearlyas bright Jupiter. You’ve been watching Jupiter set a few minutes earlier each night and Venus set a few minutes later, and their motions are carrying them on a near-collision course. You’ve been watching Venus approach Jupiter, and on the 20th, they’re 9° apart —a bit too far apart to see them together in binoculars. But their relative motion is quite rapid. Estimate when Venus will pass Jupiter—that’s next week—and enjoy monitoring them on their “near-collision course.

Meanwhile, the crescent moon passes both. On the 21st, the very thin crescent moon, only two days past new, is 5° below Venus. It’s not as bright as Venus! Look about 45 minutes after sunset.

One day later, on the 22nd, the moon has moved 1/27th of the way around

By the 26th the almost first-quarter moon has moved to a position 13° below Mars, and if you remember that the moon moves very nearly 13° (1/27 of 360) eastward in its monthly circuit of the earth, you can predict a conjunction of the two on the next night, February 27. That happens next week, but let me mention it here so you can put it on your calendar: that Monday night, Mars will lie just over 1°, or just over two moon diameters, to the left of the moon in another very nice conjunction.

So there’s an abundance of conjunctions in February. Let’s hope for clear skies. I said I wouldn’t mention it again, but Comet C/2022 E3 is still visible in any telescope, and it will be until the moon becomes too bright next week. You’ll find it immediately to the west of Orion in southern Taurus. It’ll be the brightest comet of 2023 unless a new one unexpectedly appears.

John Mosley was Program Supervisor of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles for 27 years and is the author of “Stargazing for Beginners” and “Stargazing with Binoculars and Telescopes.” He and his wife live in St. George, where he continues to stargaze from his retirement home while serving on the advisory committee for Stellar Vista Observatory.

Shed Hunting: this can be a polarizing issue, but we are all just passionate about wildlife. If you like deer, do the right thing and protect deer.—Dax Mangus, DWR Big Game Coordinator, Shed Hunting

Cont'd from A1 someone collecting shed antlers—may significantly decrease the survival rates of big game animals... Shed antler gathering is not the only winter activity with the potential to disturb wintering wildlife. We encourage everyone to be aware of wildlife during this vulnerable period and do their best not to disturb them.” said DWR Director Justin Shirley in a press release announcing the closure on Feb. 7.

When asked specifically about what prompted the emergency closure, the DWR Big Game Coordinator, Dax Mangus, said that while “there has not been much increase in deaths from malnutrition yet, we generally see it start happening in fawns first.” He continued to explain that fawns are the most susceptible to harsh winter conditions and are a precursor to the decline in health of more mature deer. While it is normal to see some die-off, it normally doesn’t start until March or April. Seeing it happen in January, as it is now, is alarming and is the cause for the ban on collecting. The DWR captures mule deer and other big game every December following the end of hunting season. Once captured, the animals are weighed, measured, scanned with ultrasound devices and inspected so that biologists can determine the health and body fat levels of the herd. Trackers are also placed on some deer so that their movement and mortality rates can be watched throughout the winter. The decline from this baseline is what informs their management decisions, decisions which ultimately affect the continued health of deer populations across the state.

For people who live in the warmer and drier southern half of the state, Mangus agrees that “it might be frustrating to have a shed antler closure when there is no snow on the ground, but it might be less frustrating than having all those other people from closed areas come to where you are.” The last time an antler collection ban was put in place in Utah was in 2017. That year, the activity was only banned in the northern half of the state and, consequently, visitation to southern ranges skyrocketed and put undue stress on an otherwise healthy population. As such, the DWR made the decision to put blanket closures across Utah this time around.

Mangus also urges people in more remote areas to respect the closure, though it may seem harmless to go out collecting. “Even if each person only goes out once, somebody might still be disturbing the animals every day and it can be cumulative,” he said, adding that “this can be a polarizing issue, but we are all just passionate about wildlife. If you like deer, do the right thing and protect deer.”

The closure also applies to collecting antlers or horns still attached to the skull of an animal. Additional patrols by DWR rangers will be implemented to ensure wildlife are not being disturbed in addition to emergency feeding happening in the northern regions of the state. Biologists will continue monitoring the health of deer populations and may lift the closure early if animal health improves. The original press release and updates on the closure can be found on the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources website.