Utah’s hunters work with the state to preserve land

The Mule Deer Foundation, Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and other sportsmen’s groups pledged a record $6.6 million to help restore Utah landscapes and troubled watershed areas across Utah in a daylong meeting Wednesday in Salt Lake City.

The spending and projects are part of Utah’s unique Watershed Restoration Initiative, which has been held up as a model for other states to engage in unique private/public partnerships to improve habitat for native wildlife.

Money comes from the auctioning of tags awarded for big game hunts — big money that gives hunters a chance to bag a trophy animal during the hunting season. It is also derived from other hunting associations that target wild turkeys or chukar, an upland game bird. A pair of seats were occupied by representatives of the Utah Houndsmen Association that works with state and federal agencies concerning the conservation of mountain lions, black bears and bobcats. Two men from the National Wild Turkey Federation kept jokingly chiding project presenters that they didn’t see any wild turkeys in the photos. From then on, turkeys were mentioned in many of the proposed projects.

That organization alone on a national scale worked to conserve or enhance more than 22 million acres and opened more than 700,000 acres for hunting.

The watershed initiative, while housed within the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, taps the collaboration of other partners that include the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. Additionally, it relies on the sweat and boots on the ground of dozens of volunteers who help carry out the work.

Tyler Thompson, director of the Watershed Restoration Initiative, said the program derives its success from these sportsmen groups and other partnerships.

“I think Utah has a long history of working together with partners to help improve the landscapes, and I think that history was reflected in this meeting. This group has come together and funded projects like this for almost two decades now. And I think our sportsmen care about wildlife,” Thompson said. “They care enough that they want to get involved, not only through funding projects like this, but they also get involved through volunteer efforts. They’re out there on the ground, putting seedlings in the ground and fixing fences. And so it is a team effort here in Utah.”

The Mule Deer Foundation, for example, funded $2.5 million toward preserving and enhancing wildlife habitats across Utah, according to Greg Sheehan, the group’s president and chief executive officer.

“By working together with other conservation organizations, we are making a lasting impact on the state’s landscapes and wildlife, ensuring that future generations can experience thriving wildlife populations into the future,” he said.

Some of the projects are small, such as the $21,000 effort proposed by Austin Green of the Sageland Collaborative that wanted a fencing program to improve big game health.

Fencing can serve as an impediment to big game movement if not done in the right way. One photo during many of the presentations showed the sad outcome of the carcasses of animals that had become entangled in barbed wire and left to die a slow death.

Proper fencing placed strategically not only helps to avoid these deaths but also facilitates the movements of animals as they make their trek from winter ranges to summer feeding areas.

One graphic showed a lone antelope bounded by fencing that could not find its way out of the maze of barriers.

Other projects involved much more money, such as the Wasatch Front Watersheds effort that hoped to secure a little more than $471,000.

Dani Bordeaux, a wildlife biologist, said one needs to only look at the top of Millcreek Canyon to see the success of the project thus far.

“The Wasatch Front project is absolutely fantastic for the deer, elk and moose,” she said. “Primarily what we’re doing here is improving the habitat for (animals) by removing the conifers that are encroaching into the aspen stands and basically opening that habitat up for the big game,” she said. The project also entails treating 520 acres of Myrtle spurge, an aggressive noxious plant that crowds out other vegetation. It poses a danger to people because of its caustic, latex sap, which causes nausea, vomiting and diarrhea when ingested. The sap can cause blindness if it gets in people’s eyes. Skin contact with sap causes redness, swelling and blisters.

Giving nature a helping hand

The approaches to helping restore watersheds and landscapes for native wildlife are as varied as the topography in Utah.

Some involve planting of seedlings in areas that once experienced fires or rebuilding critical riparian stream corridors to facilitate the efficient movement of water. Or maybe it is building homes for beavers or relocating those who have become a nuisance.

Other projects involve a method called lop and scatter to remove brush or encroaching pinion and juniper. Prescribed burns done properly help clear areas for native wildlife, like deer and elk, to have places for winter or summer ranges so they can dine on native vegetation once deterred by overgrown forests.

The efforts attempt to mimic what nature would do if it were allowed to, said Tory Mathis with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, who is based in the Vernal area.

“The role of sportsmen and hunters is big. What they pay into the system through tags and their support helps restore wildlife. There have been enough impacts through human habitation that what is happening impacts homes, drinking water and encourages non-natives like cheat grass. If it goes on too long, it gets out of balance. We’re trying to mimic the balance of what nature would do.”

Since 2006, the program has focused on three core values: watershed health and biological diversity, water quality and yield, and opportunities for sustainable uses of natural resources.

Since its inception, it has completed 2,842 projects covering more than 2.6 million acres with funding of nearly $414 million, along with $50 million worth of in-kind donations.

Many of the projects involve the installation of guzzlers, or watering troughs, many in remote areas that necessitate they are transported in via helicopters.

It is expensive work, but provides a lifeline to animals who have been the victims of a prolonged drought with inadequate snowfall.

Of course, the groups’ interests are driven by their stated missions. Representatives of the National Wild Turkey Federation have an eye on hunting access and restoring habitat so the birds can thrive. There are an estimated 35,000 wild turkeys in Utah.

Other projects, such as the Salina Creek effort, was on the list of funding possibilities for its placement as the No. 1 priority to help moose.

Other species in some regions were experiencing population declines, so efforts were proposed to help them recover in numbers. Deer are collared to track movement and given care in the field to help with fawn survival rates, for example.

There were 90 projects up for possible funding, many more than the money available. But through the Watershed Restoration Initiative, the division, other agencies, sportsmen groups, landowners and volunteers work collaboratively to do what they can in many of the most pressing areas.