The protest started small: six kids, two poster boards and a shade tree marked for removal along a proposed utility access route that neighbors say would serve the area’s growing data-center buildout.
Then someone spotted a bright green frog sitting still on the bark. A parent took a close-up photo on a phone, and the children named him Joey before taping copies of the picture to their signs.
The chant changed from a general plea to save the tree line into a specific demand: wait for Joey, wait for review, wait for answers. Parents arrived, cars slowed and the commotion grew loud enough that the crew packed up and left without cutting.
By dinner, “Do it for Joey” was moving through group chats around Bluffdale. By morning, residents were calling him the town’s unofficial mascot for a slower, more transparent review of AI infrastructure plans.
The Patch is continuing to ask which project the utility work supports, whether any habitat review applies and when residents can expect a public explanation of the tree-removal plan.