Here's why Utah's wildflower season was a dud
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Erin's kid surveys Albion Basin from a trail during a less-dry year. Photo: Erin Alberty/Axios
Drought and visitor traffic made wildflower season early and short in Utah's mountains.
The big picture: This year's premature snowmelt prompted early buds, and drought stress is causing petals to fall quickly in the Mountain West.
The latest: You can still see blooms in higher, cooler spots like Albion Basin, but the show has already peaked, forest rangers say — weeks earlier than usual.
- Normally the best blooms are in the last week of July and early August.
Meanwhile, visitors are increasingly walking off-trail, leaving "user-created" paths where flowers can't grow.
- Hikers also say they're seeing more people pick wildflowers by the armload, with kids toting bouquets of flax and paintbrush.
State of play: Summer visitation has grown rapidly in the Cottonwood Canyons, leading to more fee areas to support trail maintenance and boost summertime ranger staffing at the busiest areas.
Zoom in: In recent years, drivers to Albion Basin — one of Utah's top wildflower destinations — have been stopped at an Alta fee station that also meters traffic, so motorists have to wait if the parking lot is full.
Yes, but: That hasn't stopped overall visitation from climbing.
- Traffic counts from state transportation officials show visitation at Albion Basin has steadily increased by about 200 cars per day on average in the past decade.
The fine print: Picking a few flowers isn't illegal, but rangers positioned on trails to Cecret Lake and Catherine Pass are trying to discourage visitors from collecting them, said Loyal Clark, spokesperson for the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest.
- "It's a really big part of our ecosystems," Clark told Axios. "There are a lot of effects people don't think about, where we have ... butterflies and other insects. [Wildflowers are] really important to their habitat and their food sources."
- Meanwhile, flowers bring seeds, so picking them can suppress future years' blooms.
Erin's thought bubble: I really thought "Don't pick the wildflowers" was common knowledge.
- I scared the bejeezus out of my then-preschool-aged daughter when I took her to a superbloom in Death Valley National Park, where collecting plants can trigger hundreds of dollars in fines or even jail time.
- My kid, who previously knew nothing about law and order, ended up afraid of not only park rangers, but every patrol officer she saw for about a year.
Pro tip: Just tell your kids they're stealing from butterflies and making it so the flowers can't have baby flowers.
- Probably don't tell them: "If you pick the flowers, the police might come and take us away."