Help Utahns understand their communities and hold government accountable. Through nonpartisan, AI-assisted research, we examine public records, follow decisions and votes, and connect readers with local news, events and places.
Everything Utah, every day.
The animals and plants of Utah's mountain forests, red-rock desert, sagebrush valleys and Great Salt Lake wetlands.
Get to know Utah through the animals and plants that live here. Browse the 63 profiles by habitat or region, compare a species' seasonal habits, and follow the linked agency and university sources when you want to learn more. Start with the landscape you expect to visit, then narrow the list to wildlife or plants.
This is an introduction, not a complete inventory or a field-identification key. A region label describes the range or location a profile's sources support; it does not promise a sighting. Seasonal notes describe general patterns, and we don't publish exact sites for nests, roosts, colonies or rare plants. Check the land manager's current access information separately before a trip.
A seasonal comparison makes a familiar landscape easier to read. At Arches, rainfall strongly shapes the wildflower display; at Cedar Breaks, high meadows bloom through a short summer. Those are local examples of why one statewide "best week" would mislead. Try the mountain and desert habitats, then the spring and summer pages.
Each profile answers three separate questions: what the organism is, what habitat or range its sources support, and what a visitor can responsibly observe. Conservation labels are shown with their category, scope and date, because a federal listing, a state priority list and a native-or-introduced label answer different questions.
New: guides to 7 habitats, four seasons and watching well, with the profiles that belong together.
Found across Utah, from high mountains to city neighborhoods, and named for its large, mule-like ears.
The largest member of the deer family in Utah, at home where northern mountain forest meets water.
Common across Utah, including in cities, and an opportunist that will eat almost anything.
Insect-eating flying mammals whose lives depend on suitable roosts, water and a safe seasonal cycle.
An orange-and-black migrant whose caterpillars need milkweed and whose adults need flowers through the season.
A broad-leaved native perennial whose clustered flowers support pollinators and whose leaves can host monarch caterpillars.