Written by Jaimi Butler, Stewardship and Outreach Director I have a confession to make. I've been thinking and writing about Ute Ladies Tresses so much lately that I'm pretty sure my friends are going to stage an intervention. I just can't shut up about them. In my recent article, It Takes a Village, I wrote about how these rare native orchids spend years, sometimes a decade, lurking completely underground in the dark before finally sending up their delicate, spiraling white

When most of us hear the word "orchid" we picture the spectacular flamboyant blooms sold in grocery stores or pinned to prom corsages. But hidden beneath the muddy, cattle-trodden turf of Cache Valley lies a secret that challenges everything we think we know about orchids. Meet the Ute ladies’-tresses (Spiranthes diluvialis), a native wild orchid anchored deep in our wet meadows. Rather than clinging to a tropical rainforest tree canopy, this species lurks underground until t

This past year at the Bear River Land Conservancy was about more than protecting acres and monitoring easements, it was about connecting people to the land and to each other. 2026 was truly a year of "friendraising." We spent time building the community relationships which make conservation possible in the Bear River watershed. From formal policy discussions to wading through wet meadows, here is a look back at the incredible events that brought our village together this year