The Utah Geological Survey (UGS) honored Ice Age fossil finders and contributors on May 6, 2004 at 2:00 p.m. during a special presentation at the Utah Core Research Center, 240 North Redwood Road, Salt Lake City. Two of the fossil finders to be honored are local teenagers.

Ice Age Teaching Kit.

While on a boyscout outing, Tobin Worner, a sophomore at Riverton High School, found a Mammoth vertebra on the shores of Bear Lake in 2003. Wendy Whitehead, a junior at Tooele High School, discovered a Musk Ox horn near her home in 2001. Casts of both fossils were made and are included in the new UGS Ice Age Teaching Kit. The original fossils will be housed at the Utah Museum of Natural History.

Both landforms and fossils are windows on Earth history and help provide us with a better understanding of environmental change. As citizens become more aware of this heritage, they know to alert the scientific community if they find a fossil. Such was the case for Worner and Whitehead, providing a more complete record of the Ice Age past.

The new Ice Age Teaching Kits are available to Utah’s teachers on a 2-week to 1-month loan with a $25 refundable deposit and must be picked up and returned to the UGS office is Salt Lake City.

12:18:26 PM    

(Salt Lake City, UT) – Forty-nine Utah youth received recognition at an awards ceremony and lunch today at The Gateway Union Pacific Depot, in Salt Lake City. The students were awarded for their winning entries in the seventh annual Truth from Youth Anti-tobacco Advertising Contest, presented by the Utah Department of Health (UDOH). Nearly 8,000 Utah students entered this year’s contest, and more than 43,700 students have participated in the contest since 1998.

"The tobacco industry continually targets youth by creating ads that appeal to youth and placing them in magazines with high youth readership," said Lena Dibble, media liaison, UDOH Tobacco Prevention and Control Program (TPCP). "The contest is a powerful education tool to help reduce youth smoking rates. The contest also gives youth an opportunity to speak out against an industry that is constantly targeting them and trying to manipulate them into starting a lifelong addiction."

Utah youth ages 5 to 18 entered the contest by creating anti-tobacco ads in the categories of radio, TV, or billboard. Entries are grouped into elementary, junior high, and senior high school categories, with prizes for first, second, and third place.

There are three Best of Contest winners, one in each category. The winner for billboard is "If It's So Good, Why Spit It Back Out?" by Molly Munns of Bear River Middle School, Logan. The radio winner is "Can You Afford to Smoke?" by Carlie Stevens of Bonneville High School. The TV winner is "Unfulfilled Dreams" by Mitch Boyer of Woods Cross High School. In addition to receiving a cash prize, the Best of Contest winners will have the opportunity to help produce their ads, which will be placed this summer.

Following the awards ceremony, the UDOH held a free, carnival-themed celebration on the Plaza at The Gateway. All 7,781 students who entered the contest were invited. The event featured jugglers, carnival food, face-painters, Sumo-Tyme games, local radio stations, and street performances by the Ghettosliders.

The Truth From Youth Anti-Tobacco Advertising Contest is funded by tobacco settlement funds. Since the inception of Utah’s anti-tobacco campaign, the statewide smoking rate for high school students has declined by 26 percent. Because of efforts including continued prevention in the schools and communities, teen enrollment in quitting classes has increased by 25 percent.

11:49:34 AM    

(Salt Lake City, Utah) – Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is sponsoring free training for Utah businesses and military and government agencies on how to successfully implement and audit an Environmental Management System (EMS).

An EMS focuses on improving an organization’s environmental performance through increased compliance with environmental regulations, reduced environmental liabilities and greater eco-efficiency.

“This program is the most significant pollution prevention program available because it encourages proactive protection of the environment in the most cost-effective way,” said Sonja Wallace, DEQ pollution prevention coordinator. “Thousands of organizations around the world will be implementing EMSs over the next decade.”

An introductory workshop is being offered on Tuesday, May 25 at DEQ, Room 101, 168 N. 1950 West, Salt Lake City, from 9 to 11:30 a.m., with a repeat session from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Included in the workshop is a brief presentation on the new Clean Utah! program. It is a voluntary program designed to recognize and reward facilities that are willing to take steps, beyond those required by rule or statute, to prevent or reduce pollution.

The three-day course on “Implementing a Performance-Based Environmental Management System” is June 21-23, followed by the two-course course on “Auditing a Performance-Based Environmental Management System” on June 24-25. Both courses are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at DEQ, Room 101, 168 N. 1950 West, Salt Lake City.

DEQ is teaming with ERM Certification and Verification Services to provide these high-intensity, high-quality training sessions.

Space is limited and reservations are required.

For more information and to reserve your space, please contact Sonja Wallace at (801) 536-4477 or swallace@utah.gov.
11:44:52 AM    

A few new Utah government online publications:

• Fishing (the Spring edition of Wildlife magazine)
• Out Takes (from the Utah Film Commission)
• History Currents (Spring 2004)
• Utah Data Guide (Spring 2004)
• Interim Highlights (May 2004)
• BCI Newsletter (May 2004)
• Rainbow of Rocks
• Optimizing Technology to Reduce Mercury and Gas Emissions from Electric Power Plants
• Survey Notes (April 2004)

11:43:49 AM