Reducing plastic use, turning off outdoor lights and reporting animal sightings are some of simplest tasks to make an impact.
Also, avoid tossing food scraps out car windows. The DNR said it attracts wildlife to the road, endangering animals and drivers. Wildlife officials remind everyone that feeding the animals is strongly discouraged.
Turning off outdoor lights at night is another way to help. Light pollution can disorient birds and draw them off course when migrating.
The department said reporting reptile, amphibian and bird sightings through apps like iNaturalist and eBird helps provide researchers with data to monitor the animals.
The Herps of Utah group was created to ensure Utah’s submissions through the iNaturalist app can be integrated into a state database.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources native herpetology coordinator Alyssa Hoekstra said, “Reptiles and amphibians in particular are usually only active at certain times of the day and year. Records that are added to the Herps of Utah group can help us gather information over a broad period of time and over a large geographic range. This helps us to capture data points that could have otherwise been missed.”
Utahns can also participate in bird projects and surveys throughout the year, like the North American Breeding Bird Survey, the Christmas Bird Count and Project FeederWatch.
