Time running out to help nongame wildlife

This year's income tax preparation season ends on April 17

If you care about songbirds, river otters and other nongame wildlife, there's still a few days left to help them.

Just write in the proper code on your 2006 Utah State Income Tax form and donate the amount you want to give to the Utah Nongame Wildlife Fund before the tax deadline on April 17.

The code for the fund is 01. To donate, all you have to do to is write 01, and the dollar amount you want to give, on any line from line 22a through 22f. Then write your total contribution on line 22.

If you've already filed your taxes, there's an additional way you can give Utah's nongame wildlife some much-needed help.

Nongame wildlife need funding

"Most Utahns don't realize it, but hunters and anglers provide almost all of the funding to manage Utah's wildlife," says Greg Sheehan, Administrative Services Section chief for the Division of Wildlife Resources. "They provide this funding when they purchase hunting and fishing licenses. Because most of the money we receive comes from sportsmen, it's used almost entirely to benefit wildlife that people can hunt or fish for."

Sheehan says the money received through the nongame tax checkoff is used entirely to help wildlife for which people don't hunt or fish. "For people who care about nongame wildlife, the tax checkoff is a convenient and easy way to help," he says.

How nongame wildlife money is used

Last year, Utah taxpayers gave close to $30,000 to the Utah Nongame Wildlife Fund. These funds were used to support several important programs that benefit nongame wildlife.

The DWR's nongame avian program uses the money to fund surveys of raptor and songbird populations in Utah. The management decisions biologists make through the information they obtain helps ensure birds as common as yellow warblers and American robins, and as rare as peregrine falcons and yellow-billed cuckoos, will thrive for years to come.

The DWR has also used the money to learn how much habitat is available in Utah to support Mexican spotted owls. Biologists have developed this habitat model using GIS technology and results from nearly 15 years spent surveying owls in Utah's remote canyons.

Biologists in the DWR's nongame mammals program use these contributions to help endangered and sensitive species. Through their work, river otters now live in southern Utah, a black-footed ferret population is establishing itself in the northeastern part of the state and important information is being gathered about pygmy rabbits and prairie dogs.

"We appreciate every dollar we receive from Utah's taxpayers," says Kevin Bunnell, mammals coordinator for the DWR. "The more funding we receive, the more we can do to help these animals and keep them off the federal Endangered Species list."

If you've already filed your taxes

If you've already filed your taxes, there's still a way to help. The DWR accepts donations for nongame wildlife throughout the year. These donations can be sent to Division of Wildlife Resources, P.O. Box 146301, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84114-6301. Please indicate, either on the check or on a note attached to the check, that the money is for Utah's Nongame Wildlife Fund.

"We encourage everyone who wants to help Utah's nongame wildlife to donate," Sheehan says. "It's a great way to get a good feeling during tax time or anytime during the year."