SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah Department of Transportation advises motorists of the following road restrictions:

3:31:22 PM    

Gov. Olene Walker has issued an Agricultural Drought Disaster Declaration for the state of Utah. The declaration follows six consecutive years of below average rain fall and a projected $133 million negative impact on Utah's agricultural economy this year. The governor is also calling for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to declare a national "Agricultural Disaster" for qualifying counties in the state.

"Utah remains one of the hardest hit states by this prolonged drought, and I am asking for immediate assistance from our federal government," said Walker. "Utah's farmers and ranchers are experiencing some of the driest conditions on record, and help is desperately needed."

In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman, Walker seeks assistance to provide relief for the hundreds of farmers and ranchers who face substantial crop loss due to drought and record Mormon cricket and grasshopper infestation.

The estimated financial loss of crop and forage value to Utah farmers and ranchers totals $133 million. This represents about 30 percent of the historic value of these commodities.

Utah Commissioner of Agriculture and Food, Cary G. Peterson, reports that extreme drought conditions exist in 21 of the state's 29 counties and that irrigation reservoir levels statewide are well below normal; some are experiencing levels that are virtually non-existent. Such conditions have qualified the state for special livestock feed assistance in the form of the Non-fat Dry Milk Program offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The 21 counties that qualify for primary drought disaster designation are: Beaver, Box Elder, Cache, Carbon, Emery, Garfield, Grand, Iron, Juab, Kane, Millard, Piute, Rich, Salt Lake, San Juan, Sanpete, Sevier, Summit, Tooele, Washington, and Wayne. The remaining eight counties also suffer from drought conditions and are worthy of inclusion in a disaster declaration.

3:29:53 PM    

SALT LAKE CITY — Half-priced shotgun shooting and free hot dogs and soft drinks will be available Aug. 28 at the grand opening of the newly renovated shotgun shooting facility at the Lee Kay Center for Hunter Education, 6000 W. 2100 S. in Salt Lake City.

The renovated facility is known as the Great Salt Lake Gun Club. It's open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesdays through Sundays, with extended hours for league shooting. The club includes 16 traps and four skeet overlays, along with a 3,000 square foot clubhouse facility that includes a renovated pro shop and snack bar.

Top Gun, Inc., formed by partners Brent Epperson, Craig Necaise and Rex Outzen, has entered into an agreement with the Division of Wildlife Resources to lease the facility.

For more information, call the Great Salt Lake Gun Club at (801) 972-2258.

3:28:31 PM    

SALT LAKE CITY — His work at bringing various groups together to help all of Utah's wildlife is among the reasons Kevin Conway, director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, was honored recently with the 2004 Phillip W. Schneider Lifetime Achievement Award by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

The award is WAFWA's highest honor.

Miles Moretti, assistant director for the DWR, accepted the award for Conway, who is fighting a courageous battle with liver cancer. Conway has been with the DWR since 1975.

"Through all these years, and in many capacities, he has consistently performed with a professionalism and dedication verging on religious fervor," Moretti said. "Few employees in the history of this organization have ever worked as hard for the resource."

Conway served as a conservation officer and regional wildlife manager before coming into the DWR's Salt Lake City office as an assistant director in 1997.

During his time as assistant director, he began forging partnerships with key government and private organizations, as well as important constituents, in an effort to focus more attention on the critical need to conserve and enhance essential habitat for all of Utah's wildlife.

"His focus was especially on candidate and listed species on the federal Endangered Species list," Moretti said. "He was among the first in Utah to recognize the importance of working cooperatively with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management and other agencies to develop conservation strategies that led to down-listing and de-listing of species."

Maybe even more importantly, he coordinated efforts among the DWR and affected constituencies to keep species off the ESL altogether.

"Through skillful negotiation and diplomacy, he was able to educate and convince many reluctant city and county governing bodies throughout the state to work with the Division of Wildlife Resources and federal resource management agencies, and not against them, when it came to threatened and endangered species issues," Moretti said. "His skill at negotiating and implementing conservation agreements with diverse and often disgruntled stakeholders is unsurpassed."

When Conway became director of the DWR in 2002, he immediately launched the most ambitious habitat project ever attempted in Utah. He announced the creation of the Habitat Initiative, a far-reaching plan aimed at restoring and enhancing more than one million acres of essential sagebrush-steppe and riparian habitat throughout the state.

Extended drought and other factors have killed or severely distressed hundreds of thousands of acres of sagebrush-steppe essential to the survival of sage grouse, pygmy rabbit (both candidates for federal listing) and other sensitive wildlife species.

"In spite of what appeared to be an impossible task, Kevin forged a coalition of federal and state agencies, county commissions, conservation and wildlife groups whose sole purpose was to achieve the goal of restoring wildlife habitat on a scale never before attempted in the Intermountain West," Moretti said.

Conway's efforts are paying off in the summer of 2004, as plans are nearing completion for an unprecedented array of range restoration and re-seeding projects throughout Utah this fall.

The WAFWA, which honored Conway with the award, includes wildlife agencies in 17 western states and four Canadian provinces.

3:27:43 PM    

(Salt Lake City, UT) - The Utah Department of Health (UDOH) is issuing an advisory to all drivers: Watch for young children as you back out of the driveway. So far this year, five Utah children have been run over and killed in their own driveways or parking lots - all by high-profile vehicles, such as SUVs, trucks or vans.

The five deaths in 2004 are alarming as the average backover fatality rate for the past seven years has been three. UDOH researchers note that 20 children were killed and 145 seriously injured in Utah yards and driveways from 1997-2003, for an average of 3 deaths and 20 injuries annually. Of the 20 driveway deaths, high-profile vehicles killed 19; a car struck one, clearly showing that a child has very little chance of surviving being run over by an SUV. And, of the 145 injuries, half were run over by cars, the other half by larger vehicles.

"We can track backover deaths because those cases are sent to the medical examiner and studied by the UDOH’s Child Fatality Review Committee," said Cyndi Bemis, Education Coordinator, Injury Prevention Program, UDOH. The number of injuries is likely higher, as homeowners are not required to report incidents that occur on their property.

"A 2-foot-tall toddler is no match for a 7-ft., 6,000-lb. SUV," said Williams. "SUVs are so much taller it’s like driving a school bus. A child would have to be standing across the street to be seen by a driver who’s backing up," she said. "Any closer and they disappear."

Adding to the danger is the fact that young children are impulsive and can’t foresee danger. Children who are capable of crawling and walking are at highest risk of driveway backovers. In fact, half of all victims over the last seven years were between 12 and 24 months old. At that age, children are very mobile and smart enough to figure out how to open doors to get out of the house - a factor safety advocates call "the bye-bye syndrome." Children don’t want their parent to leave so they run outside to wave goodbye and the parent thinks the child is still inside.

"It’s clear that high-profile vehicles and young children are a deadly mix," said Kris Hansen, R.N., Trauma Program Manager, Primary Children’s Medical Center. "The children who don’t die suffer head trauma and crushing injuries that can leave them permanently disabled," she said. "The injuries suffered by these children are horrific."

There are simple steps all drivers can take to prevent backovers:

1. Supervise children. Know where they are before you leave home.
2. Always check completely around any vehicle, even small cars, before backing out.
3. Consider having another family member watch from outside the vehicle as you back up.
4. Purchase special mirrors that give you a better view of the area behind the vehicle.
5. Purchase a backup warning device that can detect objects in your path. There are several available that can be found on the Internet.
6. Ask a dealer if your vehicle can be retrofitted with a backup warning device.
7. Talk with your children about the importance of staying off the driveway.
8. Talk with grandparents, older siblings and caregivers about checking around the vehicle before backing. The few extra seconds it takes to walk around a vehicle can prevent a lifetime of grief and guilt.

"We lead busy lives," said Bemis. "And it is tragic when our little ones get lost in the confusion of everyday life," she said. "But by following these basic rules of prevention, we can go a long way toward reducing the loss of life."

For more information on driveway backovers, contact the UDOH’s Violence and Injury Prevention Program at 801-538-6348.

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