Salt Lake City — Dozens of projects benefiting wildlife —including wildlife research, conservation and habitat restoration projects —have been funded after $6.5 million was committed to the projects by participating conservation groups during the annual conservation permit project funding meeting held on April 1.
The Utah Conservation Permit Program was launched in 1980 in an effort to increase funding for conservation projects for fish and wildlife throughout Utah. Each year, the Utah Wildlife Board designates a small percentage of limited-entry and once-in-a-lifetime hunting permits as “conservation and expo permits.”
2026 conservation projects
Many of the conservation projects that are funded by these special permits are proposed to Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative, a Utah Department of Natural Resources partnership-based program launched in 2006. The WRI focuses on improving watershed health and biological diversity, increasing water quality and yield, improving wildlife habitat, and increasing opportunities for sustainable uses of natural resources.
“These projects help improve wildlife habitat and watershed health throughout the state, which helps our fish and wildlife populations in these areas,” Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative Program Director Tyler Thompson said. “These projects are crucial, and the conservation permits and funds help make them possible.”
Proposals for the projects are due around the first week of January each year. After reviewing all of the proposals, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and WRI committees decide which habitat and conservation projects are of the highest priority. They then give the conservation groups an opportunity to review these projects, and the groups determine during the annual meeting which projects to assign funds to. The annual funding meeting has been taking place since 2008.
During the April 1 meeting, DWR biologists presented 91 projects, 87 of which were then partially or fully funded by the 12 conservation groups in attendance. The groups assessed the individual projects’ goals, benefits and costs, and then selected the projects they wanted to support. A total of 132,000 acres of wildlife habitat will be improved as a result of the projects.
The projects that received the highest funding from the meeting were:
- Upper Valley — South Hollow Habitat Improvement project: This is the second phase of this project which will improve habitat and food sources and install water guzzlers for deer and other wildlife near South Hollow and Willow Spring on the Dixie National Forest. This project received $305,000 in funding.
- Burnt Beaver project: This project is a large project on the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest and the Ashley National Forest that will improve wildlife habitat, restore aspen in the area and reduce wildlife risks. This project received over $260,000 in funding.
- Twelve Mile Mule Deer and Watershed Restoration project: This project will improve mule deer habitat, reduce wildfire risk and improve water quality in the Twelve Mile Canyon Watershed area in Sanpete County. This project received $235,000 in funding.
- Willow Watershed Habitat Improvements project: This project is part of ongoing efforts to improve the habitat for fish and wildlife in the area of Willow Creek and Meadow Creek in the Book Cliffs. The project will involve the installation of beaver dam analogues, the removal of invasive trees along the river and seeding of native plants. This project received over $220,000 in funding.
“We are really grateful for the support of our conservation partners who believe in wildlife conservation and want to help improve wildlife populations and habitats in Utah,” DWR Habitat Conservation Coordinator Alison Whittaker said. “The four top-funded projects and many of the other projects will directly benefit deer herds in Utah, as part of our ongoing efforts to help grow more deer in the state.”
Most of these habitat projects take multiple years to plan and complete. Funds for these projects will become available July 1, with much of the seeding and restoration work being conducted in the fall, during prime planting season. The funded projects will benefit wildlife in several ways, including:
- Protecting and improving critical winter and summer ranges for deer and elk, particularly in sagebrush and aspen ecosystems.
- Helping the DWR better understand movements and migration routes of big game and other species in Utah in order to remove barriers to movement and improve habitat in crucial areas.
- Monitoring survival rates and condition of adult female deer (does) and their fawns to help the DWR better understand the status and trends in deer populations throughout Utah.
- Providing additional water sources for deer and other wildlife through the installation and repairs of water guzzlers around the state.
- Increasing resistance to uncharacteristically large and severe wildfires.
Conservation permits
The conservation permits are offered to conservation and sportsmen’s groups, who then auction them at banquets, fundraisers and other events. The conservation groups provide 90% of the money raised from these permit sales toward conservation and research projects like habitat enhancement, wildlife transplants, aerial surveys and deer survival studies. The remaining 10% of the proceeds are retained by the conservation groups to help cover administrative costs.
Expo permits
The expo permits are not auctioned, but rather, are offered once each year through a public drawing currently held at the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo in Salt Lake City. Utahns and nonresidents who attend the expo can apply for these permits. There is a $5 application fee and part of that fee goes to the conservation groups hosting the expo to help pay for costs associated with hosting and running the permit drawing. The remaining portion of the application fee is used for conservation efforts.
Benefits to hunters
Since 2001, conservation permits have generated more than $88 million for conservation work in Utah. If not for the revenue from these permits, the DWR and its partners would have much less funding to complete high-priority wildlife conservation projects — the funding raised also provides a match for federal grants, increasing the overall funding for wildlife conservation. The conservation and expo permit funding has led to the enhancement of thousands of acres of crucial habitats and the completion of important research to help the DWR better manage big game populations.
The conservation groups that participated in the meeting and helped fund the conservation projects include:
- Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit Association
- Dallas Safari Club
- Mule Deer Foundation
- National Wild Turkey Federation
- Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
- Safari Club International
- Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife
- Utah Archery Association
- Utah Chukar and Wildlife Foundation
- Utah Houndsmen Association
- Utah Wild Sheep Foundation
- Wildlife Conservation Foundation
