SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Nov. 24, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — Utah wildlife officials just served up a future snack bar for deer and elk in central Utah, seeding more than 33,000 shrubs to nibble.
“Our habitat biologists just finished planting over 33,000 shrub seedlings to improve big game winter range habitat in central Utah,” the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources posted Thursday on its Facebook page.
“Deer and elk depend upon woody shrubs species like sagebrush and antelope bitterbrush during the winter for food. Restoring shrub species on the landscape will help these animals maintain good health through the winter, which will increase their survival rates and promote population growth.”
Heavy equipment was used to till the ground, soften the soil and remove grass and weedy plant competition where possible, the DWR said. Seedlings were planted at multiple locations near Santaquin, Ephraim, Eagle Mountain, Wallsburg, Orem, Indianola and Vernon, Utah.
The work is part of the DWR’s Wildlife Migration Initiative, begun in 2017 in concert with other wildlife and land management agencies as well as private groups, such as the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Sportsmen for Fish & Wildlife.
The initiative’s efforts, in addition to habitat restoration, identifies crucial locations and wildlife movement patterns and reconnects fragmented range lands, according to the DWR. Projects throughout the state include capturing animals and fitting them with advanced tracking devices.
