SOUTHEAST UTAH NATIONAL PARKS AND MONUMENTS
Achievements
Celebrate our milestones and successes as we work to protect, restore, and enhance the natural and cultural resources of our parks for future generations.
Search & Rescue Support
The Importance of Search and Rescue Equipment for Outdoor Safety
The Importance of Search and Rescue Equipment for Outdoor Safety. The addition of “Rescue-1” to the SAR fleet means first responders can respond far more speedily to incidents than ever before. It is not uncommon for SAR rangers to respond to multiple, back-to-back incidents. Prior to Rescue-1, rangers often had to drive back to the Emergency Operations Building to restock supplies between calls – slowing response time by as much as an hour. Given the harsh weather conditions in our parks, a speedy response can be life-saving. The number of Search and Rescue operations has increased dramatically over the years, with a record number of incidents in 2024. Although Arches and Canyonlands have average visitation compared to other national parks, the number of incidents rangers respond to is consistently among the top 10 highest.
Protecting Water and Indigenous Stories
The Maze district in Canyonlands National Park is a special place, known for its rich cultural history and remote location. Those who have traveled through this exceptional country likely know a couple of things:
The Maze district in Canyonlands National Park is a special place, known for its rich cultural history and remote location. Those who have traveled through this exceptional country likely know a couple of things:
- The Great Gallery contains some of the most spectacular Indigenous pictographs and petroglyphs and,
- Water is scarce The Great Gallery—the best-known panel in Horseshoe Canyon—includes well-preserved life-sized figures dating from 400 A.D. to 1,100 A.D. Because Horseshoe Canyon contains some of the most significant rock art in North America, personnel needs to be on-site to monitor the site and assist visitors. We filled the critical need for a backcountry trailer to house volunteers and park rangers who stay onsite at the Great Gallery in Horseshoe Canyon. We also purchased and protected one of the last remaining private in-holdings in Canyonlands – the water rights to a natural spring. Together, we worked with the spring’s owners, the National Park Service, and the National Park Foundation to secure these rights and donate them to the park to be protected for future generations.
Celebrating Dark Skies
How Grand County, Utah, Limits Light Pollution
In recent years, significant efforts have been made to raise awareness about the importance of protecting dark skies in the region. Thousands of residents and visitors have been educated on the environmental and health benefits of preserving natural nightscapes. This initiative led to the creation of policies designed to ensure that growth in the area would not negatively impact the surrounding park lands and habitats. One notable effort is Astrofest, an annual celebration launched in 2022 through a partnership between the National Park Service, Utah State Parks, Canyonlands Natural History Association, Bureau of Land Management, and Friends of Arches and Canyonlands Parks. This event has become a cornerstone of the region’s dark sky advocacy. In 2024, the city of Moab was proudly designated an International Dark Sky Community, recognizing its commitment to preserving the night sky. Additionally, financial support was provided to numerous local residents, enabling them to update their lighting systems to be compliant with dark sky standards, further contributing to the protection of this vital resource.
Annual Southeast Utah AstroFest
Attention stargazers, astronomy enthusiasts, and celestial explorers! Get ready to embark on a journey through the cosmos at the annual Southeast Utah AstroFest, the ultimate astronomy festival happening under the vast skies of Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and Dead Horse Point State Park!
Supporting Volunteer Programs
Volunteers play a pivotal role in park operations
Over the years, we’ve supported a wide range of volunteer programs that help protect and preserve our parks. These programs have included efforts to monitor and safeguard Indigenous cultural sites, promote visitor safety through Preventative Search and Rescue (PSAR) interactions, and locate and remove trailside graffiti to maintain the natural beauty of the area. Volunteers have also picked up thousands of pounds of litter and micro-trash, and removed significant amounts of invasive plant species, all contributing to the health and sustainability of these cherished spaces.
Youth Engagement
Investing in the upcoming generation
It might be surprising, but many local youth have never visited the National Parks right in their own backyard. Thanks to the support of our partners and community, we’ve offered over 50,000 hours of free outdoor experiences in the parks and nearby areas to young people from our region. We’re proud to create these opportunities that support the growth of future generations and help them develop a lasting appreciation for these incredible natural spaces.
Park Ranger Housing
House Purchase for NPS Seasonal Employees
One of the biggest challenges for the National Parks Service is securing housing for seasonal employees. The Southeast Utah Group has been in discussion with the Friends regarding this issue for several years.
In 2019, an opportunity was presented to the Friends by a local resident who was in the process of downsizing his home situation. He offered his 9 bedroom 8 bathroom home to the Friends for purchase on the condition that it be used exclusively for NPS employee housing. The Friends jumped at the chance to fulfill this need and raised over $1,000,000 to purchase the home. A deed restriction was put in place and the home can only be used by public land agency employees and other essential workers in the Moab area.
The generosity of our members and the community made this possible.
