Robert & Susan Fitts, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Desiree Beaudry, February 8, 2010

Transcript (43 pages) of an interview by Desiree Beaudry with botanist Robert and microbiologist Susan Fitts of Salt Lake City, Utah, on 8 February 2010. Part of the Utah Environmental Oral History Project, Everett Cooley Collection tape no. U-2096

Botanist Robert Fitts was born in Glendale California and grew up in Parowan, Utah. He worked with Vince Tepedino at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Bee Lab where he served as a plant specialist. He had spent much of his career trying to preserve the native, especially the endangered, species of plants in Utah and throughout the West. Susan Fitts was born in Manhattan, Kansas and grew up in Clovis, New Mexico. She received a degree in microbiology from Kansas State and a Masters in agronomy from New Mexico State University. She worked briefly with the Forest Service as a plant pathologist and then helped form a new chapter of the Native Plant Society in Utah County. Both Robert and Susan have worked to preserve plant species and habitat in Uinta Basin. They discuss the difficulties posed by energy development and recreation in the area as well as how the demographics of the nearby towns and cities positively and negatively affect their efforts.Interviewer: Desiree Beaudry