Seasonal closure extended to May 15 on 4 WMAs in northern Utah

OGDEN — The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is extending the closure of four wildlife management areas in northern Utah in order to protect deer and pronghorn that are still wintering in deep snow in the areas.

Instead of opening to the public on May 1, the following WMAs will remain closed through May 14:

• Swan Creek (Rich County)
• Woodruff Coop (Rich County)
• Middle Fork (Weber County)
• Kamas (Summit County)

Many wildlife management areas in northern Utah have a seasonal closure to public access from Jan. 1 to the second weekend of April. On April 3, that closure was extended to May 1 to protect wintering wildlife, but because these four WMAs still have several feet of snow on them, the closure has again been extended to May 15.

Utah's wildlife often struggles to find food during the winter, and some animals — like deer and elk — rely heavily on the body fat reserves they built up during the previous summer. Mid-winter and early spring are especially vulnerable times for these animals.

“We were hoping enough snow would have melted by now that the animals would have left the WMAs and headed to higher elevations, but that hasn’t happened yet,” DWR Northern Region Wildlife Manager Jim Christensen said. “The animals are still at lower elevations and are still struggling. Deer herds in the northern areas of the state were hit pretty hard this winter, and we are seeing high mortality rates in some areas. In these types of conditions, big game animals are weakened and highly vulnerable to repeated, ongoing human-caused disturbances, so we'd like to prevent any unnecessary disturbances to the deer during this sensitive time of year. Not having people force the deer and pronghorn to move will help them save what little energy they have left.”

There are 194 wildlife and waterfowl management areas in Utah, and the purpose of these lands is:

• To conserve critical habitats for wildlife
• To help minimize and mitigate wildlife depredation on private property
• To provide anglers and hunters — who provide funding for the WMAs through the purchase of a fishing or hunting license — a place to hunt and fish in Utah

For more information about the extended closure on these WMAs, call the DWR’s Northern Region office at 801-476-2740.