It weighs as much as 43 blue whales and spans 43 hectares – but this giant organism isn't what it seems…
At first glance, it looks like an ordinary grove of quaking aspens. Tens of thousands of white trunks rise into the sky, their coin-shaped leaves shimmering in the breeze before turning a brilliant gold each autumn. But appearances can be deceiving.
Pando is a single quaking aspen in Utah that has cloned itself into roughly 47,000 genetically identical trunks
In a corner of Utah's Fishlake National Forest, 47,000 white-barked aspen trunks share a single root system and a single genome — making Pando the heaviest known living organism on Earth, possibly older than the last ice age, and quietly being eaten out o...
Finding the Story in the Science: Avery Truman's Path to Valedictorian
Avery Truman is the valedictorian of the S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Agriculture & Natural Resources. In addition to completing a double major in environmental studies and geography, Truman has been a staff writer and editor at The Statesman.
USU’s Natural Resources Camp helps students break barriers and sharpen skills
The camp’s workshops include activities from all sorts of environmental fields. From wildfire management to eco-art, there are activities for everyone to enjoy, according to Starr. The workshops are directed by USU faculty as well as professionals from va...
Finding Direction: How the Quinney Scholarship Helped Marie Wood Discover Her Path
When Marie Wood first stepped onto Utah State University’s campus as a high school student, she had no idea that a simple detour would change the course of her life.
Utah’s historic snow drought is one that trees will likely never forget
This winter was Utah’s warmest on record, and statewide snowpack has cratered to new record lows. That’s likely to leave a mark, said Justin DeRose, an associate professor of applied forest ecology at Utah State University. “2026 is shaping up to be a mar...
Checking On Utah: Wellbeing Survey Launches in More Than 55 Utah Communities
Residents across Utah have the opportunity this spring to weigh in on how life is going in their own communities through the Utah Wellbeing Project, now in its seventh year tracking feedback on everything from social connection to safety.
Good Neighbor, Bad Boss: New Model Tests Strategies to Boost Community Cooperation
How do you keep people from being total jerks? When communities have a problem to solve — sharing limited resources (like toilet paper), or dealing with a crisis (like a government shutdown) — they fare better when more people make decisions contributing ...
USU researchers want you to carry bear spray
Assistant Professor Anna Miller and her team at Utah State University found that between 2012 and 2019, the number of bear encounters more than doubled. But despite that, only one in four hikers carry bear spray.
Grizzlies Were Raiding Montana Farms. Then Came Some Formidable Dogs.
Julie Young, an ecology professor at Utah State University, was asked to investigate whether dogs could really keep bears out of farmyards. They decided on three Turkish breeds, all shepherds: the Kangal, the Boz and the Anatolian. The dogs cost about $70...