By McKenzie Romero | Editor
Did you have mountain goats on your list of hazards to watch out for when hiking in Utah’s mountains?
The state is home to roughly 1,500 mountain goats, who become extra territorial in the summer after the nanny goats birth in late May and form nursery herds to watch over their kids. Utah wildlife officials are warning hikers to give the goats plenty of space.
In today’s Dispatch we look at what hikers need to know about sharing the trails with mountain goats, what happens if the Great Salt Lake hits another record low, and how election officials are preparing for potential challenges to midterm election results.
“If you get too close, they can come at you with those sharp horns, and it can be dangerous.” — Rusty Robinson, once-in-a-lifetime species coordinator with Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, warning hikers to give mountain goats plenty of space.
Utah wildlife managers say it’s better to lose the staring contest and back away from mountain goats. (Utah Division of Wildlife Resources)
By Annie Knox
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is urging hikers who spot a mountain goat to keep a distance of at least 150 feet, even if it means heading back down the trail.
Mountain goats can be especially aggressive toward dogs, said Rusty Robinson with the DWR. In 2023, mountain goats killed three dogs in the span of a month at Mount Timpanogos. Unlike many other species of big game, female goats have horns, too, so it can be difficult to tell them apart from the males.
The shores of the Great Salt Lake are pictured at Great Salt Lake State Park near Magna on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
GREAT SALT LAKE COLLABORATIVE
By Adam Small, KSL
Utah’s Great Salt Lake is quickly approaching its second-lowest level ever recorded. Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Joel Ferry said he does not expect the Great Salt Lake to hit a new record low this year, but if the state gets another record-dry winter, reaching a new record low in 2027 would be “unavoidable.”
If that ever happens, Ferry said the state would aggressively ramp up efforts to lease new water in the Great Salt Lake Basin. Meaning they would purchase water from other water rights holders and deliver that water to the lake.
Georgia residents line up to vote in 2024. (Photo by Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
STATELINE
By Kevin Hardy
Democratic state officials across the country are raising alarms over how President Donald Trump may seek to interfere with or challenge the results of November’s midterms. At stake is not only whether Republicans will maintain their grip on Congress, but also the control of state legislatures across the U.S.
Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox said elections have always had “some issues,” but he said there’s no evidence of anything coming close to major voter violations of election laws in the recent past. He said he expected Republican and Democratic secretaries of state to continue their long tradition of conducting elections with integrity.
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