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After weeks of reports saying that the Jazz were likely not going to make any big moves at the trade deadline, Utah’s front office dropped a nuke on the NBA landscape that nobody — Jazz fan or not — saw coming.

On Tuesday morning, the Memphis Grizzlies agreed to send former defensive player of the year Jaren Jackson Jr. to Utah along with Jock Landale, Vince Williams Jr. and John Konchar. In return, Memphis received rookie Walter Clayton Jr., Taylor Hendricks, George Niang, Kyle Anderson and three future first-round picks.

This trade left Jazz fans with a lot of excitement, confusion, frustration and seemingly every possible feeling in between.

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Let’s take an in-depth look at what this trade means for the Jazz this season, and for the years to come.

JJJ analysis

Jackson is listed at 6-foot-10 and 242 pounds, making him a really big power forward — which is the position that he should play.

Statistically speaking, he is not having his best season, but to his defense, it’s hard to put up great performances when your franchise cornerstone never plays and there is no plan in place for the future. He’s averaging three less points than he did in his all-star season last year (19.2 ppg) in similar minutes, and he didn’t even sniff the all-star ballot.

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But we’ve seen Jackson be great in the NBA before. He’s made the all-star team twice in his eight-year career, which is impressive since he was only the second-best player on his own team. He’s never made an all-NBA team, but he has made the first-team all-defense twice and the second-team just last season. In 2023, he led the league in blocks and took home his first and only defensive player of the year award.

Jackson has two very glaring weaknesses:

• He can’t rebound.

• He fouls a lot.

For a guy his size, his rebounding numbers are pretty atrocious, only averaging 5.6 in his career. This season, he is averaging a career-worst 0.9 offensive boards a game. He is one of the worst rebounding big men the league has to offer.

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And for as good of a rim protector as he is, he fouls a lot. This season, he is fourth in the league in fouls per game with 3.8. This has been a problem his whole career, and the numbers are pretty consistently bad. There’s no sign of it going down anytime soon.

But even with his flaws, Jackson is one of the premier shot blockers in the league, and his offensive skill set is as good as any Jazz big man in recent memory.

How does JJJ fit in with the Utah Jazz?

The vision seems to be pretty clear for the Utah Jazz: It’s all about size.

The Jazz could run a lineup of 7-foot-1 Lauri Markkanen at the small forward, 6-foot-10 Jackson at the four and 7-foot-2 Walker Kessler at center. That would be one of the biggest front courts in the NBA, and all three of those guys are top 100 players in the league.

The pairing of Jackson and Kessler actually really makes sense. Kessler’s stellar rebounding abilities could nullify Jackson’s lack thereof. Plus, I don’t think many people are going to want to try to finish at the rim with Kessler and Jackson awaiting them. Together, the two will average about 4 blocks a game.

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One issue with this grouping is that none of the three players mentioned are known for their playmaking and ball movement abilities. Between Markkanen, Jackson and Kessler, the three only have a career average of 4.2 assists per game. That’s not nothing, and I think people are valid to have a concern about the team’s ability to create.

This is where the glorious hypotheticals come in.

Let’s say the Jazz get lucky in the lottery in May and wind up with the No. 1 selection. As of today, I think the obvious choice would be Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, who could really help on the playmaking side of things for the Jazz.

Utah could see a lineup of Keyonte George, Peterson, Markkanen, Jackson and Kessler, plus Ace Bailey coming off the bench. That’s a really talented starting five and one that has a clear direction and chance to make the playoffs.

But make no mistake, the Jazz could still make moves before the start of next year. They’re going to have to pay to keep Kessler around, they already are paying Markkanen over $40 million, Jackson will make $50 million a year for four years starting next season and George will be looking at a deserved sizable extension next year too. It’ll be an expensive starting unit.

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I don’t love Jackson at the five, which is why I think pairing him with Kessler is so vital, but will such a unique lineup work? I wouldn’t be surprised if more trades happen over the next eight months.

What about the other pieces in the trade?

The Jazz aren’t losing sleep over giving up Kyle Anderson and Georges Niang. The big “loss” was cutting ties with former No. 9 pick Taylor Hendricks and last year’s No. 18 selection Walter Clayton Jr.

Hendricks has not impressed in his first season coming off of a gruesome leg injury and was struggling to get minutes for a team that could desperately use anyone to step up. He logged zero minutes in four of the Jazz’s last six games. Clayton didn’t show much for the Jazz to be sad that he is no longer on the team, but I am still curious to see how he pans out in the league.

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The three picks given up are as follows:

• The most favorable 2027 pick between the Jazz, Timberwolves and Cavaliers.

• The Lakers 2027 first-round pick, top-four protected.

• The Suns’ 2031 first-round pick, unprotected.

Giving up the Suns’ 2031 pick is rough. All signs point to that pick being pretty valuable, but to do big trades you have to give up big assets.

Two of the three other players that the Jazz got in the deal really intrigue me: Vince Williams Jr. and Jock Landale.

Williams is going to really help with the playmaking concerns if he is also on the team next year. In only 20 minutes a game he averages 8.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. He doesn’t shoot as well as one would hope, shooting only 32.0% from deep, but it’s not deplorable by any means. He also immediately becomes one of the Jazz’s best on-ball defenders, a skill that Utah desperately needs.

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Landale is having a career year, — albeit on a bad team — averaging 11.3 points per game on 38.3% 3-point shooting. Anybody that can shoot that well from deep will always be welcome on an NBA roster.

Conclusion

I see what the Jazz are doing. It is the first time since the Mitchell-Gobert era that Utah seems to now have a clear direction, which is refreshing.

Even with the concerns about fit or style of play, I think Will Hardy has shown that he is a good enough coach to make things work. I expect the Jazz to be a playoff team next season.

But even with this newfound faith that has been instilled in the Jazz, they still need to get a top-three pick in this year’s draft. The whole purpose of this rebuild has been to build a championship-level team, and the Jazz are not one without Peterson, AJ Dybantsa or Cam Boozer.

After over 40 years, the Sundance Film Festival has had its last hurrah in Park City, Utah, this week. The yearly film festival is arguably the country’s premier event for independent filmmakers, drawing nearly 100 feature films every year that often snag major distribution deals (the SF-set film “The Invite” reportedly just sold for over $10 million). In 2025, the festival attracted 85,472 attendees, an increase of 17% year over year. But come 2027, those attendees – and the $196.1 million they spent – will be heading elsewhere.

To the dismay of many Park City residents, the festival decided last year that it would be packing its bags for Boulder, Colorado. That came after a competitive bidding process, of which a joint bid from Salt Lake City and Park City was a finalist (the other finalist was Cincinnati). The move will mean an end to an endearing tradition that’s become synonymous with the small Utah ski town and a boon for many local businesses.

However, according to the mayor, Park City isn’t as concerned as one might think.

“I wouldn’t say [it’s] crushing. We made our best effort to keep it, but we’ve also had Sundance around in town long enough that we know Sundance’s challenges really well,” Mayor Ryan Dickey told SFGATE.

The incentives to leave

Dickey, himself a longtime attendee of the festival, says the city is not worried about a budget shortfall, or considering cutting any services. Even if Sundance chose to stay in Utah, the state’s proposal was to move the festival’s epicenter to Salt Lake City, using Park City as a satellite site for special events (currently Salt Lake City hosts some screenings, but seldom has premieres). The state proposed a free bus service running every 30 minutes, 18 hours a day to help bridge the gap between the two cities.

“Even in trying to keep Sundance, it wasn’t, ‘Hey, stay here and do the same thing over and over again.’ We proposed a really different festival. Our bid was to keep it in partnership with Salt Lake,” he said.

Utah reportedly offered Sundance over $12 million annually in cash and in-kind contributions to incentivize the festival to stay in the state, plus $10 million in private donations. However, Park City Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jennifer Wesselhoff told NPR affiliate KDCW that many components of the bid required application through a grant process, compared to Colorado’s guaranteed offerings.

Colorado’s bid included $34 million in incentives over the next 10 years, plus another $34 million in state tax credits. The package included $150,000 in renewable energy credits, $355,000 for free buses and 5,000 e-bike passes, $75,000 for city support, $200,000 for public safety staffing, up to $250,000 in city tax revenue and $500,000 worth of free parking.

It’s a hearty package, but Cris Jones, Boulder’s director of strategic partnerships, feels that the money is only part of the appeal.

“Sundance in many ways – at least in what they’ve communicated to us – has outgrown the Park City footprint a long time ago,” Jones told SFGATE.

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For locals, the traffic is one of the biggest pain points brought on by the festival. Dickey said that 88% of the town’s workforce lives outside city limits. Talk to any local on the bus clad in ski gear, and they’ll tell you that the parade of black SUVs carrying stars isn’t a particularly welcome sight.

“It’s interesting, it’s always been a sort of love/hate with our residents. With Sundance, it is gridlock traffic for more or less four or five days in a small mountain town,” Dickey said.

Lodging is often one of the biggest gripes for attendees. Despite Boulder having a population over 10 times the size of Park City (108,000 compared to 8,900), Park City actually has a larger amount of hotel rooms than Boulder (4,000 compared to 2,900). The major difference is the surrounding areas – within 40 miles, Boulder has 74,000 rooms compared to 20,000 in Salt Lake City. Jones also said the city is exploring ways to allow more local homeowners to offer short-term rentals. According to data from AirDNA, Park City saw 33,594 nights’ worth of booking in 2025, with an average rate of $677 per property. With such a high cost, it’s not uncommon for attendees to pack multiple people into a bedroom (this reporter has stayed both on a living room floor and in bunk beds).

“If you think about who is attending film festivals, young filmmakers, they just couldn’t afford to come stay in Park City,” Dickey said.

Still a ski town

For many, Park City is synonymous with the festival, but its year-round identity has more to do with skiing. The ski industry contributed $2.5 billion to Utah’s economy during the 2024-2025 season, including $1.32 billion from Summit County, where Park City is located. And the region continues investing in attracting more skiers, with major resort companies Vail Resorts and Alterra Mountain Company (which own Park City Mountain and nearby Deer Valley Resort respectively) undergoing major renovation projects: Deer Valley is unveiling 80 new runs and Park City is adding a new lift.

However, the city is currently going through a snow drought. As of Dec. 21, only 4% of Park City Mountain’s terrain was open to skiers. It’s a stark contrast to 2024, which in February had its snowiest month ever. Dickey expressed that he believes that a successful ski season can fill the gap left by the festival’s departure.

“We’re not sure it’s going to have any economic impact at all,” Dickey said. “Sundance has a big economic impact, but we actually have this history from COVID of two different years where we had no Sundance Film Festival. And what we had was two extra weekends that were just monster ski weekends, and we expect to have that again.”

If you consider ski season to be seven months long, 10 days of ski revenue for the county equates to about $87 million – a giant sum, but well short of Sundance’s $196 million impact.

Even so, local bar and restaurant O’Shucks White House also concurred with Dickey’s sentiments, despite the major influx of Sundance business. On the first weekend of the festival, the bar was standing room only at lunchtime. The festival accounts for the 10 busiest days of the year, according to manager Manny Luna, resulting in nearly four times as much business. He said many of his peers also see increases of 200-300%, and vendors struggle to keep up with supply.

“It’s hectic, it’s crazy, you’re running like a chicken with your head cut off, because there’s no way you could predict how much sales you have,” Luna said.

Even so, he didn’t seem all too concerned about the void the festival will leave. He expects more locals to come through the doors this time next year, since many leave town during the fest, and the additional skiers will help soften the revenue gap.

“The only thing that’s scary is to not have snow. Because if we don’t have snow, we’re not going to have people coming, that’s the scary part,” Luna said.

The cultural void

Beyond the economic impact, the cultural void left by the festival will be felt throughout the city. The Egyptian Theatre on Main Street, whose history dates back to the early 1900s, was the original home of the film festival. It operates as a venue for live music, theater and comedy through most of the year, but its sparkling marquee has become one of the images most associated with Sundance. The theater boasts the only remaining work in town by street artist Banksy, a little rat from 2010, when “Exit Through the Gift Shop” premiered at the fest. And it has seen its fair share of celebrities over the years.

“In terms of star power, our theater is a magnet for that,” owner Randy Barton said. “One day there was a panel about the power of story. It featured Robert Redford to my right, Bill Gates is standing 5 feet away, and here comes Bill and Hillary Clinton. So it was a pretty good little moment in the small town lobby of a theater.”

But he insists that jobs won’t be going away as a result of the festival leaving, and that there will be some bright sides for locals and skiers.

“I know room rates won’t be as high, and it’ll be easier to get into restaurants for locals and others visiting,” Barton says. “It was a 10-day period out of a 365-day calendar – it’s not like this is our deal and we rely on it to keep us afloat.”

For longtime attendees of the festival, a couple of extra ski weekends is no substitute for the wealth of world-class cinema. Sean Baker of Salt Lake City has attended the festival for 30 years, volunteering for about 20, and has seen around 850 films by his account. This year, his favorite so far has been “See You When I See You” from director Jay Duplass (“The Puffy Chair,” “Jeff, Who Lives at Home”), and one of the most memorable experiences was the 2001 screening of Christopher Nolan’s “Memento.”

“[I was just] thinking, ‘Oh, he’s going to go somewhere.’ It’s so much fun to watch all these budding directors start somewhere so small, and then go on to be these powerful juggernauts in the film industry,” he said.

Baker was in disbelief when he heard the news of the departure, since Sundance has renewed the contract many times over the years despite bids from other cities. Even so, he plans to follow the festival to Boulder next year, but it won’t be the same to not have the festival in his backyard.

“It’s just so many memories, it’s just crazy. To see it leave, it’s kind of heartbreaking,” he said.

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This article originally published at Utah is losing $196M in Sundance revenue. The state isn’t scared..

Election officials across the Western United States, including Utah, are leaving office at a record pace, often citing personal reasons to resign from their positions before their terms have expired.

About 50% of chief local election officials in Western states left their jobs between November 2020 and November 2025, often in the middle of their tenure, according to a new analysis by Issue One, a nonprofit political advocacy organization. That number was especially high in Utah, which ranked fourth of the 11 Western states included in the study.

Utah has generally reported a higher rate of turnover compared to other states as 69% of the state’s 29 counties have experienced turnover in at least one election for a chief election official since 2020, the study shows. Of those who left, 90% stepped down voluntarily compared to just 10% who lost reelection or who were fired.

Nearly half (47%) left before their terms were over. One of the election officials who resigned, former Utah County Deputy Clerk Josh Daniels, told Issue One he stepped down “largely because of the political dynamic.” Internal politics within the country, he said, had made the job “difficult because (elected political officials) were giving credence to false and misleading election conspiracies and turning the administration of elections into a political issue.”

Arizona had the highest turnover rate with 100% of its counties reporting at least one chief election official leaving since 2020, according to the report. That was followed closely by New Mexico with 91% and Nevada coming in third with 65%.

The report raises concerns as it compiled data from 11 states in the Western region — Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming — and is home to about 23% of the country’s population. Overall, more than 250 people have left their jobs over the last five years, amounting to 50% of the 430 chief local election official positions.

Fifty-three of those officials left after the 2024 election alone.

Officials as Issue One listed a number of policy recommendations to better protect election officials from political threats and better retain those in the highest positions overseeing local races. The group also suggested “doing more to financially assist cash-strapped jurisdictions” to ensure counties have the resources needed to carry out elections as well as dedicating resources to retain current officials.

“Election officials are the unsung heroes of our democracy, and they need additional support now more than ever. High turnover rates are alarm bells we cannot ignore,” Issue One Policy Director Michael McNulty said in a statement. “Lawmakers and policymakers across the country at every level of government can help alleviate the effects of this alarming trend. And instead of sowing confusion or distrust, political leaders in both parties should stand up for the dedicated officials who ensure free, fair, safe, and secure elections in our country.”

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A report from the NRCS-Utah Snow Survey announced that there is a new record low for statewide snowpack.

The survey reported that as of Jan. 31, Utah’s snow levels started setting records. Utah’s statewide snow water equivalent (SWE) measured at our SNOTEL weather stations was an average of 5.1 inches. This marks a new record low since the start of the SNOTEL era in 1980.

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“Unfortunately, we are setting records now for how poor our snowpack is, and we will continue to do so every day until we start to see some snow,” said Jordan Clayton, supervisor of the NRCS-Utah Snow Survey.

Future water use

Snowpacks measure the water content of the snow. The amount of water in the snowpack is important because it is critical for future water use, such as for municipal needs.

“We get most of the water that we need from our snowpack,” Clayton said. “95 percent of the water that we use for municipalities, for domestic use, for agriculture, for industry… comes from our snowpack.”

31 of Utah’s 140 SNOTEL sites are reporting a record low level of SWE. Of Utah’s major basins, four have record low SWE based on current conditions. The statewide snow water equivalent (SWE) is only about one-third of our usual statewide peak SWE.

More information on the survey can be found online.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.

Scott Chew, a Utah state representative for Uintah County and fourth generation rancher, keeps records of his sheep killed by cougars. While he suspects the average to be about 15 a year, there was one year where he lost around 70.

On his ranch in the eastern part of the state near Jensen, Chew also grows alfalfa and corn silage, which lures in the cougar’s primary food source, mule deer. About 80% of their diet is made up of the popular-to-hunt animals and some of those deer-hungry cougars, Chew said, wind up staying for the sheep.

Sheep are particularly good prey for cougars, who are known to sometimes “surplus kill” the vulnerable stock. They’ll go a bit crazy and kill more than they’ll eat.

That year’s high number was mostly due to just one old tomcat — a male cougar — that frequented Chew’s pastures. In a single night, the tomcat killed 23 sheep “in a pile,” he said.

Such violent stories and the subsequent perceived and real threats that cougars pose caused Utah to take aim at the big cats. What used to be a part of pioneer history that treated the large predators who sustain and support natural ecosystems as pests, has recently reemerged with a similar, but different vocabulary.

After years of policies protecting the cats, Utah opened hunting season on cougars in 2023, removing most restrictions on their taking. This past fall, the state added an initiative to its cougar management plans that is actively culling cougars from six areas in order to study the effects on deer without them.

After two years, the state says it does not have enough data to determine if those management programs are more detrimental than helpful, while wildlife advocates point to a declining population and lower harvest numbers as evidence that they do. Meanwhile, the baseline data — cougar population size — is an inexact science. Just like the anecdote, emotion and interpretation permeate the entire process.

What prompted a change in state law?

Cougars have been a bigger issue for Chew than they were for his father or grandfather.

That’s in part due to Chew’s sheep herd being the last remaining of what used to be seven in the area. But it’s also likely due to the fact that in 1967 cougars became a protected species in Utah, making it among the first states to do so.

Prior to that, the agrarian state had a different approach to cougar management. From 1888 to 1960, it paid a $2.50 to $30 bounty for killed cats and the government had a program called Animal Damage Control that hired professional hunters to protect imported livestock from native predators. From 1913 until they were protected, that program alone killed about 106 cougars a year.

The government still steps in to “take care of” a “situation” like the old tomcat, though. Chew clarified that meant a state tracker came in and shot it.

Chew’s not the only rancher who records how much livestock is killed by the region’s predators, either. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources pays a dividend for each farm animal proved to be killed by wildlife, so specific data is dollar-and-cents relevant.

The state distributes that money out of a “depredation account,” but the fund is not unlimited. Depending on the year, ranchers may only get a percentage of the dead stock’s value, and none of its future earnings.

But for the past two years, sending a trapper to kill a problem cat is not the only way the state has stepped in to manage cougars.

Scott Sandall, a Utah state senator from Tremonton, said that at the time it wasn’t just livestock depredation that worried legislators.

“We had been seeing a number of additional cases of mountain lion to pet interaction, mountain lion to livestock interaction, and quite honestly, mountain lions and neighborhood interaction,” Sandall said. “We know that our population was increasing on mountain lions.”

Whether that kind of pervasive anecdotal evidence is supported by existing population counts for cougars is murky. Cougars range far, are difficult to spot, let alone count, and DWR’s own numbers are based on a technique called “population reconstruction.”

That method takes the ages and gender of the cats that are reported killed and, based on the trends of what’s coming in, formulates estimates of the adult cougar population. One expert called it a “rock solid” system, but “certainly not perfect.”

Still, the state found that Utah’s cougar populations peaked in 2016 with roughly 2,000 cats, with the range estimated to be between 1,800 and 2,400. Since then, DWR found that the numbers are getting smaller. By 2023, it approximated a population between 829 and 1,206. Today, that number is between 900-1,000.

Regardless, the state’s cougar hunting laws had no way to deal with an overabundance of cougars, explained state Rep. Casey Snider, the current House majority leader. Any suggestion of change stalled due to significant pushback.

But with sportsmen mindful of a mule deer population declining since 2018, constituents recording cougars in their neighborhoods with house cameras, continued depredation of sheep and canyon hikers videotaping protective mother mountain lions, Sandall and Snider added a last-minute provision to a hunting bill in the 2023 legislative session that would address the “increasing” cougar population.

“In an effort to try something different … we did vote to try a new management system,” Sandall said. “That is, if you have a hunting license and you want to take a lion, then you go ahead.”

Open season on cougars

Without time for public comment or debate on the House floor, Utah passed HB469 into law in 2023. The broad hunting bill accomplished several things, including increased funding to acquire public sporting grounds, but is best known for how it “addresses the taking of cougars.”

In that provision, added on the 43rd day of a 45-day legislative session, the state made the “taking” — a euphemism for killing and hunting — of the large predators legal all year round. The bill also removed additional permit requirements to hunt cougars, allowing anyone with a generic hunting license to kill them and do so without bag limits. It also legalized the use of traps or snares.

Utah became the second state in the nation after Texas, which classifies cougars as “nongame animals” or varmints, with such limited restrictions on harvesting the big cats.

Among the 16 states where cougars remain, only Utah and Texas allow trapping. Approving trapping is plain overkill to some advocates.

“The recreational trapping of cougars has long been prohibited — and for good reason,“ wrote Sundays Hunt, Utah’s director for Humane World for Animals, in a Salt Lake Tribune op-ed at the time. “Cougar trapping is inherently cruel and will undoubtedly result in the nontarget captures of both wildlife and pets, including working dogs on our public lands.”

Utah still classifies cougars as protected and some hunting limitations do remain. It’s illegal to hunt kittens or mothers of kittens, and there are provisions regarding how often traps have to be checked and how they are identified.

The new management system, as Sandall described it, was not well received by wildlife advocates or, in some cases, hunters and sportsmen who didn’t want the additional competition or smaller populations.

And, as data about Utah’s current cougar populations become available — either through Government Records Access and Management Act requests, or DWR’s own publications and Utah Regional Advisory Council meetings — concerns have grown.

“I don’t feel like this law, it cannot be justified,” said Denise Peterson, founder and director of Utah Mountain Lion Conservation. “They’re calling out a total, all-out, full war on cougars and it certainly does nothing for Utah’s wildlife.”

Sandall, however, is clear that the law was never intended to annihilate the cougar population or lead toward extinction. It was intended to quell the concerns of a variety of Utahns, and he maintains a close watch on the updated numbers from DWR should the law eventually require change.

“This law was trying a different management technique that would at least keep our population where it’s at and quite honestly have some effect on some decrease in the population,” he said.

“For me as a legislator, when people start to say, ‘Oh my gosh, what are we going to do? Our pets aren’t safe. We’ve got a lion next to an elementary school …,’ people start to anticipate that we’re going to have a little bit of a balancing here.”

What is a predator management study?

Last year, DWR reported that Utah’s mule deer population of nearly 300,000 is only 73% of what it would like to see in the state, which is around 405,000.

While there are many factors that influence mule deer populations — drought, variability of winters, disease, roads — another obvious one is predators. Through extensive study and the use of collars on the ungulates, DWR found that the volume of female deer killed by cougars in several parts of the state exceeded a healthy, sustainable percentage of 7%.

In conjunction with the Utah Wild Sheep Foundation, the Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, and the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, DWR launched a three-year study last fall to “to improve the amount and quality of their habitat,” Faith Jolley, a DWR public information officer wrote in an email.

To bolster the mule deer population and study the influence of cougar predation, the state will conduct “targeted cougar removals” in six hunting units across the state, Jolley wrote. Those are Boulder, Oquirrh-Stansbury, Pine Valley, Wasatch East, Zion and Monroe.

More plainly, the state is hiring hunters and trappers to go into those units and conduct “removals” — another euphemism for killing — of cougars.

“We’re trying to see and just understand how does eliminating the cat side of things — or not eliminating them, but trying to reduce the cat side of things — how does that affect the (mule deer) population? How does that affect all aspects of the population?” said Kent Hersey, the DWR big game projects coordinator, at the January Utah Wildlife Board meeting while introducing the study.

“Public hunters can still remove cougars on these hunting units, as well,” Jolley wrote. “These are sometimes difficult areas to hunt, and these additional efforts ensure we have people targeted to do removals on these units.”

At that January meeting, passions ran high and the public comment period was punctuated by emphatic applause after speakers — activists, advocates and hunters — expressed their arguments against the study. The board chairs did their best to quell it, calling it “inappropriate for this meeting.”

John Ziegler, chairman of the Mountain Lion Foundation and Utah Regional Advisory Council board member, highlighted what he called controversies. Namely, he called out how the study will use DWR radio collars to locate deer kill sites and then facilitate the contracted lethal removal of cougars, and also how the funding comes from deer hunting special interest groups.

“Against this backdrop (of HB469), allowing the predator management study to continue with the aim of removing essentially all cougars from six units is deeply controversial from a science perspective,” Ziegler said. “On behalf of the Mountain Lion Foundation and the many Utah citizens who may not even be aware that this predator management study is underway and who would be strongly opposed to it, I respectfully ask that you halt the study immediately.”

What do the numbers show since the law passed?

Cougars are elusive, secretive and prone to travel great distances. At any point, one could be crossing state lines. DWR once found a cat collared in Utah hundreds of miles away in Kansas.

Chad Wilson, DWR’s mammal coordinator responsible for cougar management, said that it “might even be impossible to count” cougars.

And, speaking about the “population reconstruction” method of assessing a population, Wilson said that DWR doesn’t “really rely a ton on that number as being a solid number, but we are able to gain trends out of it.”

Still, those are among the numbers the state uses to make the best possible decisions about cougar management. They show that the state was not necessarily subject to an increasing cougar population prior to signing HB469.

In 2004, DWR calculated that there were about 1,000 adult cougars in the state. By 2016, that number had doubled to its highest known size. But by 2022, the year before the law passed, the population had declined by about 30% from its peak.

Then there’s the reported harvest numbers from before and after the law was passed to consider. Overall, those numbers are up, but something curious happened last year.

In 2021-2022, Utah hunters harvested 476 cats — about a third of the total population. The first year the law was in effect, 530 were killed. The following year it was 501. Then, in 2024-2025, 371 cougars were reported killed.

Why did the number of cougar kills drop?

The decrease in harvest last year stands out.

Wilson said it could be due to several factors. Last year was a mild winter, for example, and it’s easier to track in the snow. Without it, hunters may have had a harder time than usual finding the cats.

Also, there may be fewer cats in the more popular hunting regions and sportsmen aren’t seeking out new grounds. “Maybe some of those areas that are easier to hunt, there’s not as many cougars there,” he said.

Another explanation, Wilson said, was that the population may be smaller than prior years.

Peterson agrees with Wilson’s third premise — it’s the result of smaller populations. In addition to her advocacy, she specializes in cougar mapping and habitat suitability analysis, while also making documentaries. Since 2017, she’s been actively filming mountain lions in Utah with more than 50 different cameras around the state.

“Since that bill was signed into law, the impact wasn’t immediately obvious, but this past summer in areas where we have cameras, we’ve seen a pretty significant decline in activity,” Peterson said. “Areas that were once consistently active have now become quiet. And the fact that I haven’t seen any kind of lion movement at all in several months has been very concerning to me.”

Her interpretation is anecdotal, she admits, but it is steeped in monitoring the animals in their habitats.

“There are less cats on the landscape to be able to hunt and kill,” Peterson said. “They can only sustain that level of hunting pressure for so long before they’re locally extirpated from areas.”

Chew and Sandall, however, have a different explanation. Both have heard that the reduction in harvest could be the result of a behavioral change from the new law.

Chew’s cougar hunting associates were “torqued,” he said, when the new law was passed, but now they appreciate the flexibility and are not going out as much as they used to. Sandall found the same thing. When it was a limited license, those who drew a tag made a dedicated effort but now they have more freedom.

“Now, one of the thoughts is, because it’s an opportunity that can happen anytime, people are just waiting for the opportunity,” Sandall said. “And if it happens, it does. And if I don’t see a lion, that’s OK too.”

Sustaining a viable cougar population

For the cougar population to sustain itself in a healthy way, wildlife managers determined that no more than 40% of the take can be female.

Since the law passed two years ago, the percentage of females in the reported numbers was approximately 56% to 60%, according to the DWR’s spring and fall RAC meetings.

DWR is aware of the female take percentages data, wrote Jolley, in an email.

“With the year-round hunting changes, we are currently tracking the cougar harvest and monitoring the harvest of females. If we determine that cougar numbers are decreasing to a point to not sustain a viable population, we would inform the Legislature and make recommended changes,” she wrote. “Currently, we do not have any recommended changes for cougar hunting.”

With the take data as of yet unclear, Sandall said the state just needs more time and information to make the next best decision.

“We’re probably into something of a five- to 10-year timeline to look at where the trends are and where they’ve gone to really discover what our takes have been,” Sandall said.

Are people following the law?

Peterson suspects that unreported hunting and trapping is going on. On her cameras, she’s seen juveniles and adults caught in traps, and mothers with missing toes, teeth and paws, which are all indicators of being snared. She’s found unidentifiable traps while filming, too.

The Humane World for Animals, an advocacy group passionate about Utah’s mountain lions and adamant that trapping be repealed, received evidence through a GRAMA request of at least one kitten caught in a trap. It was the only unreported kill that DWR was aware of at that time.

That hunter, whose trap was identifiable, was found to be following the law and checking his traps every 48 hours. In the report, the investigating officer determined the incident — a kitten caught in a cougar snare that was left in its habitat — to be a “freak accident.”

Wilson doesn’t agree with Peterson and believes that most hunters are trying to do what’s right and abiding by the law. “Like any part of life, there’s those that are trying to game the system,” he said, “I think most of our people are trying to be honest.”

Will these management plans work?

David Stoner, a wildlife professor at Utah State University, said that studying and proving whether the management plan works will be expensive, time consuming and difficult to quantify.

Say the state was trying to implement a predator management program to benefit an ungulate, Stoner said, it would have to find a way to both demonstrate that its actions reduced the predators in that region, and then show how that action led to a describable benefit. Something like longer female lifespan and more offspring, he suggested.

“It can be really tough to measure these things accurately because of the large spatial extents, the difficulty of marking and monitoring animals in rugged country. Utah is a mountainous state. It’s just not easy to get around,” Stoner said. “You’ve just got this smorgasbord of other factors that are bearing down on a population.”

Regardless, at a base level, killing cougars to help the deer or keep communities safe follows an understandable logic.

“There’s something very intuitive about seeing an animal that kills another animal and leading to the conclusion, ‘Well, there must be fewer of one species because this other one is feeding on it,’” said Stoner. “It’s hard for the public not to draw the conclusion that if predators weren’t there, we would have more deer, for instance.”

Which is part of the reason Peterson thinks Utah allowed such loose restrictions on cougar hunting in the first place.

“It’s easy to scapegoat a lion because they have sharp pointy teeth and they have this myth that surrounds them that they’re these bloodthirsty predators … So, it’s easy to say, ‘Let’s just kill these cats.’ When in reality, their impact on mule deer and elk is minimal,” Peterson said. “They co-evolved with them for thousands upon thousands of years. If they were going to eat them all, they would have done it by now.”

At this time and with the current laws, DWR does not have the ability to put in place any caps or automatic closures on cougar hunting should the evidence suggest changes. The ability to make any substantial change to HB469 remains with state lawmakers.

Both of the law’s sponsors said they are open to reconsidering if the data suggests it. For now, though, the experts at DWR do not have any recommendations for the Legislature.

NFL mock draft highlights Utah’s growing strength in the trenches originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Utah Utes tend to keep things low key. They always have. But as the NFL Draft approaches this April in Pittsburgh, Utah finds itself in a rare position with two projected first round picks on the offensive line.

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It starts with Spencer Fano, who has felt like an NFL lineman for a while now. Even NFL.com draft analyst Eric Edholm acknowledges the context around his rise, writing, “I don’t think Fano would be a top five pick in most years, and there’s a long way to go until the Cardinals have to make a call here.” But the follow up matters more. Edholm adds that Fano “would help fortify an offensive line that struggled to pass block last season.”

That description fits Fano well. He is not flashy or loud. He shows up, plays multiple spots, and fixes problems. Coaches trust him. Scouts do too. That is why his name continues to appear near the top of early mock drafts.

The shift in the conversation comes with Caleb Lomu.

More: From Jacksonville to the Super Bowl: the brotherhood of Terrell Jennings and DeMario “Pop” Douglas

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Edholm is just as direct in his evaluation. “He’s not a physically dominant blocker,” he wrote, “but Lomu has the strong technique and good balance to be a starting left or right tackle.” Lomu has already started 22 games and has not allowed a sack this season. Utah leaned on him in the run game because it consistently worked. That is not projection. That is production.

Together, Fano and Lomu formed the backbone of an offensive line that quietly controlled games. Long drives. Clean pockets. Rushing lanes that stayed open.

More: Sydney Sweeney tweet goes viral as NFL players Ray Davis, Puka Nacua shoot their shot

If both names are called on opening night, it will feel like the payoff for a program that has made a habit of turning linemen into pros.

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ITALY (ABC4) — Just eight years out from Utah’s very own Olympic games, Utah 2034 is set to have a strong presence in Milano Cortina this year, beginning with joining the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Torch Relay.

The torch relay is a long-standing tradition that encompasses the journey of the Olympic Flame ahead of each Olympics. This year, it is making its way around Italy, bringing the excitement of Milano Cortina 2026 to every region in the country. The flame was lit on Nov. 26, 2025, in Olympia and arrived in Rome on Dec. 4. Since then, the flame has embarked on a journey to reach every corner of Italy, carrying the country’s cultural beauty, heritage, and the power of Olympic values.

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There will be 10,001 torch bearers who will carry the flame before it concludes its 7,500-mile route, five of them Utahns. Five Utah captains from the Podium34 initiative will run individual legs of the torch relay each day from Feb. 1 to Feb. 5, sharing inspirational messages and causes important to the Utah 2034 organizing committee.

Utah Olympic organizing committee celebrates 3000 days out to 2034 winter games

“Our Podium34 program is rooted in amplifying causes important to our founding family foundations and to our Utah 2034 organizing committee,” said Utah 2034 CEO and Vice Chair Brad Wilson in a press release. “The Milano Cortina Torch Relay provides us with a valuable platform to raise awareness of these important messages that go beyond the Games.”

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The dates and times for each leg of the relay that are representative of Utah 2034 were announced in a press release on Sunday.

Feb. 1- Stage 56

Feb 1: Spencer P. Eccles will kick off the Utah torchbearer train as a means of honoring his family’s legacy to the Olympic and Paralympic spirit. The Eccles family is dedicated to ensuring that the Utah 2034 Olympics will bring about lasting memories and strong community.

“It’s such an honor to represent Utah as a torchbearer for the 2026 games and is something I’ll always treasure.  It reminds me of running with my dad in 2002 as he carried the Olympic torch in his hometown of Ogden, Utah— an unforgettable moment and a legacy I’m proud to carry forward! The torch means more to me than the light it projects,” said Eccles. “It illuminates hope: Hope for a brighter tomorrow; hope in people; and hope in the incredible things we can do as we work together.”

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Runner: Spencer P. Eccles

Time: 6:12 p.m. CET (10:12 a.m. MST)

Relay Leg: Mandello del Lario

Foundation: George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation

Route: After stopping the previous day at the venue towns of Livigno and Bormio, the torch will continue through Valtellina, beginning in Berbenno di Valtellina and heading westward before running down the eastern shore of Lake Como. Spencer P. Eccles will run a leg along the lake between Mandello del Lario and Abbadia Lariana. From there, the relay heads to its finish that day in Lecco, the eastern gateway to Lake Como, where the alpine environment meets the region’s industrial and mountaineering heritage.

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Feb. 2- Stage 57

Dale O’Blia will be the next Utahn to take on the torch. As a Daniels Fund Scholar, O’Blia recieved a full scholarship to Princeton where he is pursuing his passion for wrestling. O’Blia is dedicated of the pursuit of funding youth sports, which has been a top priority for the Daniels Fund in Utah and Colorado. He will carry the flame through the streets of Bergamo for the next piece of the relay.

“Watching Dale O’Blia, a Daniels Scholar, run in the Olympic Torch Relay is a powerful moment – and a reminder of the confidence, connection, and possibility sport can create. We’re proud to help open doors for more young American athletes to access those same opportunities,” said Hanna Skandera, President and CEO of the Daniels Fund.

Runner: Dale O’Blia

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Time: 4:20 p.m. CET (8:20 a.m. MST)

Relay Leg: Bergamo

Foundation: Daniels Fund

Route: After its stop in Lecco, the torch will wind its way from Grignetta, outside of Lecco, to Bergamo. Dale O’Blia will be among the first legs in the city of Bergamo, where the leg will end that evening. Bergamo, a city of 125,000, is 25 miles northeast of Milano, nestled amongst a network of small hills. Its old walled core, the Città Alta, is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Feb. 3-Stage 58

David Huntsman is set to run the next leg of the relay through Paderno d’Adda. He will use the platform to share the Huntsman Family Foundation’s dedication to improving mental health and wellness.

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“As special as it is for me to participate in this unique event, my priority is to use the incredible global platform of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to share our family’s commitment to improving mental health and wellness,” said Huntsman. “The collaboration with the IOC and IPC around athlete mental health will help our efforts to improve and save lives in our state, across the country, and throughout the world.”

Runner: David Huntsman

Time: 10:40 a.m. CET (2:30 a.m. MST)

Relay Leg: Paderno d’Adda

Foundation: Huntsman Family Foundation

Route: From Bergamo, the torch will head back towards Lake Como, passing through many small villages and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Crespi d’Adda. David Huntsman will run a morning leg through the village of Paderno d’Adda, known for its massive iron bridge over the Adda River, and the adjoining cities of Robbiate and Merate. The day will conclude in the city of Como, with its storybook setting at the base of the western arm of Lake Como.

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Feb. 4- Stage 59

The next stage of the relay will be run by Amy Garff of the Ken Garff for Good Foundation. Her run will be dedicated to raising awareness for the importance of education. Garff provided a statement on her commitment to the cause.

“The Garff family is grateful for the opportunity to work alongside Utah 2034 and Utah schools in an effort to provide the best educational experience possible for the students of Utah. Education is the great differentiator; it allows students of all ages to reach greater levels of understanding in our world. The Olympic and Paralympic values of excellence, respect, and friendship, alongside determination, inspiration, courage, and equality, pair perfectly with the goals of education. We hope to encourage these values in ways that will allow the students of Utah to achieve excellence.  We are excited to invite the students and families of Utah to celebrate these games within their state, country, and world.  We hope that by emphasizing our sameness and by respecting our differences, we can all embrace more fully the magnificent tapestry of people and cultures throughout the world.”

Runner: Amy Garff

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Time: 3:10 p.m. CET (7:10 a.m MST)

Relay Leg: Saronno

Foundation: Ken Garff for Good

Route: The torch will depart from the Lake Como region, heading to Gallarate and the Olympic venue at Rho Fiera (long-track speed skating, ice hockey). In the afternoon, Amy Garff will run a leg through the historic village of Saronno, known for its 15th-century Madonna dei Miracoli pilgrimage church, as well as for the famous liqueur, Amaretto di Saronno, and Amaretti apricot biscuits. The stage will end at Monza, home of the renowned F1 race track.

Feb. 5- Stage 60

The final Utahn-led stage of the relay will be run by Gail Miller of the Larry H. and Gil Miller Foundation. Her run will power straight through the streets of Milano, dedicated to advancing volunteerism and community service ahead of the Utah 2034 Olympic Games. The Miller family is working to inspire Utahns to get involved as our state prepares to host the games.

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“I am honored to run the torch at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” said Gail Miller, chair of the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation and co-founder of the Larry H. Miller Company. “Having run the torch ahead of the 2002 Winter Games and again now is a powerful reminder of the torch’s ability to bring people together, spark volunteerism, and inspire communities to take part in something greater than themselves,” Garff said.

Runner: Gail Miller

Time: 4:37 p.m. CET (8:30 a.m. MST)

Relay Leg: Milano

Foundation: Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation

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Route: Leaving Monza, the torch begins its run to Milano in Sesto San Giovanni, visiting the most iconic and significant locations in Milano, before finishing the day at Piazza Duomo. Gail Miller will be running a leg in the southwest of Milano. The next day, the Olympic Flame will light the cauldron to begin the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games.

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