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Anastasia Hufham

Open Lands Reporter

Anastasia is an environmental reporter covering Utah's public lands and the Colorado River. Before starting at The Tribune, she reported on local government and environmental issues in Moab and New Haven, Conn.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Bureau of Land Management office in Salt Lake City is pictured on Wednesday, March 19, 2025.

Utah leaders sued to stop a Biden conservation rule they said would harm ranchers. Now the Trump administration has taken action.

By Anastasia Hufham | April 17, 2025, 3:04 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Chief Todd Royce, director of law enforcement for the Department of Natural Resources, gives an update on a DNR officer involved shooting during a traffic stop on an attempt to locate call in Duchesne county on Wednesday, April 16, 2025.

One person hospitalized after shooting involving Utah natural resources officer

By Anastasia Hufham | April 16, 2025, 4:48 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The site for Utah FORGE, the nation's largest geothermal experiment, north of the town of Milford, on Thursday, July 6, 2023. The Bureau of Land Management leased thousands of acres of land for geothermal projects this week.

Interest in geothermal energy breaks a Utah BLM leasing record

By Anastasia Hufham | April 11, 2025, 12:00 p.m.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Boaters recreate on Lake Powell near Page, Ariz. on Thursday, July 13, 2023.

Here’s why 3 decent winters in a row still isn’t enough to fill Lake Powell

By Anastasia Hufham | April 9, 2025, 3:51 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) North and South Fork of the Weber at the Great Salt Lake on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024.

Utah had a ‘relatively quiet’ year of water lawmaking. Two of its most important lakes are still struggling.

By Anastasia Hufham | April 7, 2025, 3:37 p.m.

(supakitmod via Adobe Stock)

‘Beyond anything I’ve ever seen’: Two men charged with felonies after toxic wastewater dumped in Utah pond

By Anastasia Hufham | April 4, 2025, 8:25 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Antlers, pelts and skulls on display for the Division of Wildlife Resources auction on Wednesday, March 26, 2025.

Poaching remains a major problem in Utah. An auction of seized trophy bucks offers a ‘silver lining.’

By Julie Jag | Anastasia Hufham | March 30, 2025, 5:58 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Bureau of Land Management office in Salt Lake City is pictured on Wednesday, March 19, 2025.

The BLM in Utah has lost park rangers, engineers and geologists since Trump took office. See where.

By Anastasia Hufham | March 24, 2025, 5:55 p.m.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) The former Utah Supreme Court chamber during the opening day of the legislative session at the Capitol in Salt Lake City Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.

Utah Supreme Court rules on youth climate change lawsuit

By Anastasia Hufham | March 20, 2025, 7:31 p.m.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Boaters recreate on Lake Powell near Page, Ariz. on Thursday, July 13, 2023.

March storms have boosted snowpack across the West. Here’s why Lake Powell’s outlook hasn’t improved much.

By Anastasia Hufham | March 20, 2025, 9:41 p.m.

(Rick Bowmer | Associated Press) This Oct. 4, 2019, file photo shows the Salt Lake Temple at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. The church plans to save water by installing "smart controllers" at meetinghouses across the West this year.

Here’s how much water the LDS Church says it is working to save this year

By Anastasia Hufham | March 18, 2025, 1:37 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Trucks leave the Salt Lake City Intermodal Terminal, on Tuesday, December 26, 2023. The Utah Department of Environmental Quality was awarded $110 million in federal funding to reduce emissions at the terminal and improve Salt Lake City's air quality, but the agency hasn't spent that money because of uncertainty surrounding Trump's federal funding freeze.

Utah’s largest environmental grant ever is on hold amid confusion over Trump’s funding freeze

By Anastasia Hufham | March 14, 2025, 4:55 p.m.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Colorado River near the Hite Overlook near Bullfrog on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024.

Colorado River ‘running out of time’ to improve lagging spring outlook, forecasters say

By Anastasia Hufham | March 9, 2025, 12:00 p.m.

(Chris Caldwell | Special to The Tribune) Demonstrators line the street near the south entrance of Zion National Park Saturday, March 1, 2025, protesting the firing of National Park Service employees.

They used to run Utah’s national parks. Trump’s mass firings are ‘a really big deal,’ they say.

By Anastasia Hufham | March 7, 2025, 5:07 p.m.

(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) People participate in a protest against Elon Musk and the Trump administration outside the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building in Salt Lake City, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The Trump administration has marked the building "for disposal" as part of its push to cut federal spending.

DOGE is canceling office leases across Utah. Here’s where.

By Anastasia Hufham | March 6, 2025, 4:03 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, on Tuesday, Jan 14, 2025. A new bill would authorize Utah's water agent to work with neighboring states to get water from the Colorado and Bear rivers.

New bill would give Utah’s ‘water agent’ more ‘behind-the-scenes’ power to negotiate outside the state

By Anastasia Hufham | March 3, 2025, 1:00 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Greg House outside of the Veterans Affairs campus in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. He was one among thousands of federal employees fired last week.

They landed their ‘dream’ jobs in Utah. Then the Trump admin fired them.

By Julie Jag | Anastasia Hufham | February 21, 2025, 6:32 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Clouds over the Devils Garden trail in Arches National Park on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. The National Park Service terminated 1,000 employees across the country on Friday.

Trump’s mass layoffs hit Utah national parks

By Anastasia Hufham | February 21, 2025, 4:00 p.m.

(Idaho National Laboratory) A rendering of a microreactor, a small nuclear reactor that is capable of fitting inside a tractor trailer and generate smaller amounts of energy than full-size reactors.

Safety, nuclear waste, water use: Here’s what you need to know about Utah’s nuclear push

By Anastasia Hufham | February 17, 2025, 1:00 p.m.

(David J. Phillip | AP) A cross-section of a prototype reactor is shown inside Last Energy's microreactor demonstration unit Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, in Brookshire, Texas. Utah lawmakers want to make it easier to build nuclear reactors like this one in the state.

Utah lawmakers are banking on a nuclear energy future. Here’s how they’re laying the groundwork.

By Anastasia Hufham | February 14, 2025, 1:00 p.m.

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