Author: Jesse

The sound of drums echoed throughout the ballroom as the members of the drum circle sang a song. The music continued as the American flag, the Utah state flag and flags representing each of Utah’s federally recognized Native American tribes were carried in for the start of Utah’s annual Native American Summit on Friday.

The summit was held at Utah Valley University, which has hosted it for the last 18 years. The event brings together Utah’s eight federally recognized tribes, a variety of state agencies and other stakeholders.

Utah’s eight tribes are the Navajo Nation, the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, the Skull Valley Band of Goshute, the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and the Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation.

The event was hosted by the Utah Division of Indian Affairs, which works on “bettering the relationship between tribal governments and the state government,” according to division director Dustin Jansen.

Throughout the day the event included speakers and breakout sessions, as well as a special youth track just for teenagers and young adults. One of the event’s speakers was Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson.

“We have a lot of challenges in the state,” Henderson said. “You have a lot of challenges in your communities, and I want you to know, on behalf of the state of Utah, that we value you. We love you as Utahns. We value you and we love you as members of your sovereign tribes.”

Utah’s Native American Summit helps bring people together

James Toledo, the deputy director of the Utah Division of Indian Affairs, shared why holding this summit annually matters.

“It matters to to convene, you know, Native people. We are community oriented, and coming together to share ideas, I think, is great. And it’s a way to problem solve,” he said.

The summit is open to the public and all Utahns: both Native and non-Native people are invited to come and participate.

“It also serves the purpose of educating our non-Native communities to say, Hey, this is who we are. We welcome allies,” Toledo said.

“This isn’t just a Native community event, it’s an event for everyone to come that might possibly just want to learn more, or may have access to resources or work in an area that could benefit tribal governments or just tribal communities, whether they be on reservations or in the urban areas,” Jansen said.

He continued: “The hope is, that everyone that comes here just learns a little bit more about each other, about the opportunities and resources available, so that things can run a lot smoother.”

The first day of the summit, Thursday, was not open to the public and was full of meetings between state agencies and tribal leaders. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox was also in attendance on Thursday.

Bridging between the state government and Utah’s Native American tribes

One thing that was repeatedly mentioned at the summit was building the relationship between the state government and the different tribal governments around the state.

As part of her duties as lieutenant governor, Henderson has been assigned to oversee Indian Affairs in the state.

“A lot of people don’t realize that Native American tribes are their own sovereign governments, and they need to be respected as such,” Henderson said.

“But it’s complicated because they’re also part of our state,” she continued. “They’re Utahns, you know, they they have a lot of different hats they wear, so to speak, and we have to respect their sovereignty while also recognizing that we have an obligation to them as Utahns.”

Jansen said that there have been big challenges when bringing together tribal governments with state agencies, but once they get together, they are able to find common goals and solutions to problems. He added that both Cox and Henderson have been focused on addressing tribal issues since taking office in 2020.

The goal is “that policy can be developed in a way that’s advantageous for for both parties. It helps benefit the state, but then at the same time it benefits the tribal nations‚” Jansen said. That is done by listening to each other’s ideas and concerns.

A focus on youth leadership

For the past couple years, the summit has had a youth track for teenagers and young adults, but this year, the track was renamed to the “Indigenous Youth Leadership Program.”

“That was intentional, because we’re wanting to focus on education of the next generation,” Toledo said.

“It’s just providing them with some tools and resources that will help them achieve their personal goals. And then we’ve also interwoven cultural elements emphasizing how culture can help these young people be resilient as they as they enter their early adulthood,” he added.

Henderson was also a part of the youth program and presented the Youth Changemaker awards, which recognized three young people for the work they are doing in their communities.

“The events that involve young people, I think, are some of the most impactful on me, just because we place so much burden and hope on the shoulders of our young people, and it’s really fun to see them stretch and learn and grow and blossom. And I learn a lot from them,” Henderson said.

Jansen added that one of the goals of the youth leadership program is to help young people be a part of cultural preservation and language preservation, as well as work to help solve some of the issues in their communities.

“We’re trying to to share that we each have a part in this, and you can be young and still have a part in this, and have not just a part, but be part of the solution,” he said.

Focusing on issues relevant to all of Utah’s tribes

The summit’s breakout sessions featured presentations from a variety of state agencies and other stakeholders covering a variety of issues. Jansen shared that they tried to find issues and topics that were relevant for all of Utah’s tribal governments.

Different topics covered by these breakout sessions were government to government relationships and communication, economic development, health, and mental health education, as well cultural and language preservation.

There were also presentations from the Utah Division of Arts and Museums about how the new Museum of Utah has worked to include and share indigenous voices from all of Utah’s tribes in the museum.

Utah State athletics is in desperate need of stability. Some might call it loyalty. Particularly its football and men’s basketball programs.

Since 2020, here’s every university president, athletic director and coach (football and men’s basketball) who has come and gone from Logan:

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That list doesn’t include any of the interim presidents, ADs or coaches who’ve held down the fort when people have left either.

Include those in, and over the last five years Utah State has had at least 15 people fill the four most important jobs on campus, as it relates to college athletics.

Making matters even more difficult, during that same period the football program has been under investigation from the U.S. Department of Justice, NIL and the NCAA transfer portal became a thing in full force — both Utah State football and men’s basketball have been hit especially hard by transfer portal defections — and now revenue sharing has arrived, which means more money is needed for USU athletics than ever before.

“Total underestimation on our part. This is a magical place. And the valley, the people and the values.”

Utah State coach Bronco Mendenhall on the Cache Valley

Oh, and Utah State will become a member of the Pac-12 Conference next summer and is currently embroiled in litigation alongside the other departing Mountain West schools in an attempt to lower and/or do away with significant fees associated with leaving the MW.

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To say the Aggies need some stability is probably an understatement and anyone even slightly connected with Aggie sports knows it. So of course, Bronco Mendenhall — Utah State’s new head football coach — is well aware.

“I think more than anything at Utah State we’re craving stability,” Mendenhall said in an interview with KVNU at Mountain West media days last month. “I think we’re craving consistency and direction and leadership that can be connected with and relied on over time.”

That Mendenhall sounded all-in at Utah State was interesting, given the departures of the two women who hired him, Cantwell and Sabau. Plus the fact that he was only at New Mexico for a single season and prior to that he had abruptly retired from coaching altogether after a successful run at Virginia.

But on Tuesday at Utah State’s annual football media day in Logan, Mendenhall doubled down, noting that even without established permanent leadership right now, he feels that Utah State is more committed to athletics than ever. The unsaid part being that he is too.

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He singled out the hire of interim AD Sandy Barbour and his interactions with interim president Alan L. Smith as evidence and sounded as committed to Utah State as ever.

“Her (Barbour’s) interim hire, reflected to me the continuation of the direction we’re already going,” Mendenhall said. “And so I’m really excited. The commitment to the Pac-12, interim AD hire, the trajectory, the momentum to keep all that going. I haven’t seen one sign yet that reflects anything other than we might be more committed now than even when I was hired.

“And so while the president has changed and the athletic director has changed, what I’ve seen, the decisions made in the meantime, have reflected doubling down on the direction rather than stepping away from the direction.”

Mendenhall also praised the community of Logan as a whole, his face genuinely lighting up when he talked about a Cache Valley atmosphere that he had long admired from afar.

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“I think Holly and I, we knew we would like it here after being here before, being raised in the state (of Utah), and playing games here,” he said. “I’ve been called lots of names here, for sure, as a former coach of a different place, but the community itself, we always thought, how come we’re not there? That would be a great place.

“Total underestimation on our part. This is a magical place. And the valley, the people and the values.”

Mendenhall is a realist and he didn’t shy away from the fact that he needs to win in order to remain the football coach at Utah State. Maybe not in Year 1 — Utah State is predicted to win fewer than five games this season, per ESPN’s FPI — but before too long.

“Winning absolutely matters,” he said. “Championships are fun and are expected.”

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He later added that winning is what will keep him in Logan, in addition to the development of his players, on and off the field.

“My job is to help that be enough for wins to happen too, and that’s how I get to stay in Logan,” he said. “And if I don’t, I don’t.”

In modern college football there is little guarantee of anything, really. Not with the sports landscape changing at a pace never before seen. At Utah State that has included a coach being around one year to the next. But with Mendenhall, it really does feel as though Utah State has landed upon a football coach who can be in Logan for a long time, given his track record for building winning programs and his own statements about Utah State and Cache Valley.

And maybe, just maybe, if everything goes right, Mendenhall will be the one to usher in a golden age for Aggie football.

The Dragon Bravo Fire — now the largest wildfire in the continental United States in 2025 — has surpassed 111,000 acres, officially reaching “megafire” status, officials confirmed Aug. 1.

Ignited by lightning around July 4, the blaze has destroyed parts of the developed area on the Grand Canyon’s North Rim and continues to burn largely unchecked. As of the latest update on July 31, containment had dropped to just 9% amid red flag warnings driven by extreme heat and strong winds.

Videos circulating on social media Thursday show the fire generating massive pyrocumulus clouds — also known as pyroclouds or “fire clouds” — capable of producing dangerous fire behavior.

Similar conditions during the Deer Springs Fire in eastern Utah last month led to the formation of a rare fire tornado — or “firenado” — which caused significant damage as winds reached up to 122 mph and a fiery vortex tore through San Juan County for 12 minutes. According to the National Weather Service, it was the 10th EF-2 tornado recorded in Utah.

What is a ‘fire cloud’?

Pyrocumulus clouds — also known as pyroclouds or commonly called “fire clouds” — are real clouds, not just smoke plumes, as they might appear at first glance. Despite being filled with smoke and ash, these clouds also contain moisture, classifying them as true meteorological clouds.

Described by NASA during an outbreak in Australia as the “fire-breathing dragon of clouds,” pyrocumulus clouds form when intense heat from a wildfire or volcanic eruption rapidly forces air upward. As the air rises and cools, water vapor condenses into a cumulus-type cloud, with smoke, ash, and vapor particles acting as condensation nuclei, according to an explainer on NASA’s website exploring their evolution.

Under the right atmospheric conditions, a pyrocumulus can evolve into a pyrocumulonimbus — a storm-producing fire cloud capable of generating lightning (which can ignite new fires) and even fire-induced tornadoes.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: What are fire clouds? ‘Fire tornado’ risks amid Southwest wildfires

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Two wildfires burning in the western United States — including one that has become a “megafire” on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon — are so hot that they’re spurring the formation of “fire clouds” that can create their own erratic weather systems.

In Arizona, the wind-whipped wildfire that destroyed the Grand Canyon Lodge is 9% contained and has charred more than 164 square miles to become the largest fire now burning in the continental U.S.

Another large fire in Monroe, Utah, has burned 75 square miles since July 13 and is 11% contained, officials said Thursday. Evacuation orders were issued Wednesday for several towns in the fire’s path, and scorched power poles caused electricity to be shut off in other nearby communities in south-central Utah.

In this photo provided by Lin Chao, ‘fire clouds’ form near the Bright Angel Trailhead at the South Rim in the Grand Canyon, Ariz., Sunday, July 27, 2025. (Lin Chao via AP)

In this photo provided by Lin Chao, ‘fire clouds’ form near the Bright Angel Trailhead at the South Rim in the Grand Canyon, Ariz., Sunday, July 27, 2025. (Lin Chao via AP)

In this photo provided by the Hurricane Valley Fire District, firefighters work to subdue the Monroe Canyon Fire near Monroe, Utah, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (Hurricane Valley Fire District via AP)

In this photo provided by the Hurricane Valley Fire District, a firefighter is silhouetted by the Monroe Canyon Fire near Monroe, Utah, July 16, 2025. (Hurricane Valley Fire District via AP)

In this photo provided by the Hurricane Valley Fire District, firefighters fill self-supporting tanks while working to subdue the Monroe Canyon Fire near Monroe, Utah, Friday, July 25, 2025. (Hurricane Valley Fire District via AP)

In this photo provided by the Hurricane Valley Fire District, a firefighter stands in front of the Monroe Canyon Fire near Monroe, Utah, Friday, July 25, 2025. (Hurricane Valley Fire District via AP)

In this photo provided by Lin Chao, fires blaze at the South Rim in the Grand Canyon, Ariz., Sunday, July 27, 2025. (Lin Chao via AP)

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In this photo provided by Lin Chao, ‘fire clouds’ form near the Bright Angel Trailhead at the South Rim in the Grand Canyon, Ariz., Sunday, July 27, 2025. (Lin Chao via AP)

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