Dieback Dynamics

September 16, 2025 | By Peggy Hodgkins

Across the Colorado Plateau, pinyon-juniper ecosystems are facing more and more stress due to increasing heat and aridity. Today we talk with Seth Munson, a plant and ecosystem ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Southwest Biological Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. Seth’s research focuses on how dryland ecosystems respond to drought, wildfire, invasive species, and land-use to assist land management decision-making. He is currently working with the National Park Service to assess the areas of dieback of pinyon-juniper woodlands in the SE Utah Parks. The research involves both ground surveys and satellite imagery to create maps detailing the intensity and recovery of dieback over time.

Science Moab · Dieback Dynamics

Underneath the Rivers: Stewardship of Utah’s Sovereign Lands

August 5, 2025 | By Peggy Hodgkins

Tony Mancuso is the Sovereign Lands Program Manager for the Green and Colorado Rivers at Utah’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR). His management efforts focus on maintaining the health and navigability of waterways under state jurisdiction, including removing invasive species and restoring natural habitats. Tony talks about specific projects like the New Rapid and Gold Bar side channels aimed at enhancing fish habitats and wetland environments. He also emphasizes the importance of public education and engaging youth through programs like Science Moab. The discussion highlights the challenges, collaborative efforts, and long-term commitments required in resource conservation and management.

Science Moab · Underneath the Rivers: Stewardship of Utah's Sovereign Lands

Creating Water Resiliency on the Navajo Nation

July 1, 2025 | By Peggy Hodgkins

Ryan Barton emphasizes the importance of collaboration and negotiation in solving water issues and bringing resilient water systems to the Navajo Nation. As a hydrologist working for the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources, Ryan has been involved in projects for over a decade including hydrographic surveys, lake capacity studies, and the San Juan River Basin Crop Inventory. Science Moab talks with Ryan about his most recent and ongoing efforts to successfully provide drinking water to the Westwater community west of Blanding, UT through extensive collaboration among various entities. Ryan’s path into hydrology has been influenced by family and childhood experiences of nature conservation.

Science Moab · Creating Water Resiliency on the Navajo Nation

Wintertime Stories

January 7, 2025 | By Admin

Not everyone looks at the night sky in the same way. Science Moab talks with Autumn Gillard, the Cultural Resource Manager for the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, who shares her passion for the night sky influenced by her grandmother’s teachings. We discuss the importance of the night sky in Southern Paiute culture, including its influence on traditional stories, dances, agricultural methods, and ecological knowledge. The conversation touches on the cultural differences in interpreting celestial bodies among various tribes and Western astronomy and the significance of winter storytelling. Autumn emphasizes preserving and passing down this knowledge through storytelling, mentorship programs, and community outreach events, and advocates for recognizing the scientific contributions of Indigenous people.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/2002409447?secret_token=s-YYlgU3NXTeW” params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Science Moab · Wintertime Stories

Preserving the Past

January 2, 2024 | By Admin

Ever wonder how those amazing dinosaur bones make it from being embedded in rock to a museum where they are flawlessly displayed within a complete skeleton? Natalie Toth knows. Natalie is the Chief Preparator at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and her job begins with a chainsaw in the field and ends with a fully prepared fossil display. We talk about the chain of events that must occur for this to be completed and about the backbone of this process which is building a world class Earth Sciences collection for researchers around the world to use.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1700185449?secret_token=s-GdmVsa3wEAB” params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Science Moab · Preserving the Past

Sculpting A Plateau

October 10, 2023 | By Admin

Here in SE Utah, we are living in a geologically young, rapidly eroding landscape and we have the Colorado River to thank for sculpting such a beautiful and dynamic area. We talk with Joel Pederson, professor and Department Head of Geomorphology at Utah State University about his continuing research on incision rates of the Colorado River across the Colorado Plateau. We talk about some new advancements in age dating and why the area around Moab is currently the fastest eroding reach of the River.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1614819540?secret_token=s-j9mjz5Aa2H3″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Science Moab · Sculpting a Plateau

Chasing the Eclipse

August 4, 2023 | By Admin

On October 14, 2023, an annular solar eclipse will cross North, Central, and South America. Parts of SE Utah will be in the direct path of the eclipse. We talk with Cris White, Eclipse Coordinator for the Earth to Sky Interagency Partnership, about the uniqueness of eclipses and the many scientific activities that will be happening in conjunction with this year’s eclipse.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1578243586?secret_token=s-XL5irnQPSQL” params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Science Moab · Chasing the Eclipse

Restoring Biocrust

June 2, 2023 | By Admin

Drylands encompass over 40% of terrestrial ecosystems and face significant degradation from a warming/drying climate and overuse. To combat this degradation, some restoration efforts have focused on the use of biological soil crusts (biocrusts): complex communities of cyanobacteria, algae, lichens, bryophytes, and other organisms living in association with the top millimeters of soil. We talk with Anita Antoninka, Dept. of Forestry at Northern Arizona University, about the current knowledge in biocrust restoration. These efforts effectively restore biocrusts in different ecosystems using a variety of lab and field methods, providing a useful resource for the scientific community as well as land managers.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1525524967?secret_token=s-NIuS0WVVii6″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Science Moab · Restoring Biocrust

Solace in the Desert

September 30, 2022 | By Admin

We talk with author, photographer, and conservationist Jonathan Bailey about his latest work, “When I Was Red Clay”. Jonathan writes about his struggles growing up and how the natural world, namely the deserts of southern Utah, provided solace. Amongst the many essays in the book, we talk about the colors of the desert, dragonflies, and preserving badlands from energy development.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1347708733?secret_token=s-RBOtp9EzS9G” params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Science Moab · Solace in the Desert

It’s Radiothon time! October 7th – 15th

September 23, 2022 | By Admin

As the cooler weather brings relief from the hot summer, the staff and crew at KZMU are gearing up for another Radiothon! This Fall’s membership drive starts October 7th and continues through the 15th. In addition to all your favorite DJs bringing you themed shows and positive energy, we’re thrilled to bring several brand new DJs and their musical tastes to your ears. Check out our program schedule for the full line up of amazing music shows, independent journalism, and more.

DONATE NOW

April 2nd marked the 30th anniversary of broadcasting in Southeastern Utah. 30 years ago, KZMU was born in a single wide National Parks Service cast-off trailer that was too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. You can catch some wonderful archival stories of our 30 year journey over the air and on the website – look for our 30th Ever Radio Revue episodes, produced by Christy Williams.

KZMU News

KZMU News, our daily in-house newscast, continues to partner with regional sister stations through stand-alone media partnerships and through the Rocky Mountain Community Radio coalition. These partnerships enable mutual sharing of stories and content to deepen the impact of these small newsrooms in the 4 corners region. As of this September, we now have a sturdy News Department with two full time journalists, Molly Marcello, our News and Public Affairs Director, and Justin Higginbottom, our Reporter. This is some significant growth in a department that, 4 years ago, didn’t exist.

KZMU News has won two journalism awards this year! We won the prestigious regional Edward R. Murrow award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with our Lift Up: LGBTQ+ Visibility series. We also won first place at the Public Media Journalist Association Awards in our division for Long Form Documentary with our feature Welcome to Moab: A Service Story. Out of 1,500 entries, 221 awards were presented to 101 organizations at the PMJA Awards. The awards recognize the best work in public media journalism from across the country.

Donate to Radiothon and support KZMU News

Radio Play Festival

In our 7th presenting year of the annual KZMU Radio Play, we decided to change the format to be more inclusive and increase access for those interested in the art of radio theater. Our first step was to host a free Radio Theater Workshop sponsored by the MARC and Moonflower Coop. Nearly 30 people were in attendance. We then adopted the tried and true model of amateur film festivals and put a call out for community members to create their own 5 minute radio plays.

We received 9 submissions and presented all of them at our Radio Play Festival held on April 9th in front of a live, small, but enthusiastic, audience at Star Hall. This year we were able to provide each team with a small honorarium for their creativity, time, and energy and were also able to pay workshop instructors, stage manager, and an assistant producer. This shows significant growth in the project and we’re thrilled that we can not only be more inclusive, but also be more equitable with participants and support teams.

We’re excited to produce another Radio Play Festival in the spring!

Donate and support Radio Theater in Moab!

Partnership with Green River Epicenter

This year we were proud to partner with the Epicenter in Green River by airing two special broadcasts.

The first featured the acclaimed author and podcast host Ken Layne with a live airing of Desert Oracle Radio. As part of Ken’s visit to high desert/canyon country he made an appearance at KZMU’s 30th birthday bash and then promptly headed up tot he studio for a live performance of his bi-weekly-ish podcast. Local artist and musician Jon Gottschalk provided live guitar accompaniment for the evening.

Our second partnership with Green River’s Epicenter featured renowned guitarist William Tyler for his Frontier Fellowship special entitled Twilight Zephyr. Inspired by AM radio, wind, trains, and big night skies, William created an audio magazine of sorts around those very themes. Listen : Twilight Zephyr.

Ken Layne at KZMU during a live recording and broadcast of Desert Oracle Radio.

William Tyler at KZMU during the broadcast of Twilight Zephyr.

Looking Forward

KZMU staff, board, volunteers, and donors gather for a photo just moments after we hit our Spring Radiothon goal!

The Trading Post was a beloved program on KZMU hosted by Doni and Fast Eddie. Catch their story, and more on our 30th Ever Radio Revue.

As we look forward into the next three decades of broadcasting we are at the beginning stages of strategizing a capital campaign which will reflect the fact that KZMU is so much more than a radio station. Led by trustees the campaign is focused on bringing KZMU more to the forefront of our downtown community, in a way that also provides for multi-media needs, fosters creative connections, and is a hub for collaboration with other community organizations.

There is rarely a dull moment in community radio and KZMU is no exception. This past year has brought local, regional, and national recognition and awards while we’ve served our community members in new and meaningful ways. We have plenty of room to grow and improve; from meeting DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) goals to literally making room for more people to work inside the station. Your continued support remains fundamental in our efforts to be the best we can be.

Thank you for your generous support to Moab Community Radio!