Wildlife Board Approves Changes To Elk Management Plan

The Utah Wildlife Board approved a new 10-year Utah Statewide Elk Management Plan, which includes several changes to elk hunting, along with a few other items during Thursday's public meeting at the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources’ Eccles Wildlife Education Center. The statewide Elk Management Plan was approved in 2015 — with an update in 2020 — and is set to expire this month. A diverse 19-person committee was convened to help create the updated elk management plan. The committee included hunters, members from state and federal agencies, conservation groups and academia as well as private landowners, agricultural producers and members of the public. The new proposed management plan would go into effect in 2023 and guide the state’s elk management until 2032, with a review in 2026. The plan was developed using in-depth elk research, the current status of Utah’s elk herds and also public surveys. The new statewide elk management plan outlines a variety of goals and strategies regarding population objectives, ways to preserve and maintain habitat across the state, and different recreation opportunities like hunting. The individual elk-management unit plans will be revised in 2023 and will go out to the public for feedback if they include changes to hunting unit boundaries or population objectives.You can see all of the proposed changes by watching the the Thursday Wildlife Board Meeting by going to the Division of Wildlife Resources You Tube channel.