SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, July 1, 2026 Salt Lake City — The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources announced Wednesday it is temporarily restricting recreational target shooting with a firearm on wildlife management areas in 16 counties in Utah.
That ban, made in cooperation with county sheriff’s offices, has been enacted because of the current drought and active wildfire season.
“Because wildfires can destroy essential wildlife habitat, this temporary restriction will help protect Utah’s wildlife management areas during the extreme fire danger conditions Utah is currently experiencing,” DWR Director Riley Peck said.
“Significant resources go toward improving the habitat in these wildlife management areas to make them more beneficial for a variety of wildlife species, which is why these proactive, preventative measures are so important. We support responsible target shooting on these properties when it’s safe to do so, but protecting these resources from wildfire is crucial for wildlife and is a huge benefit for the anglers, hunters and other wildlife enthusiasts who use these properties.”
Preserving wildlife management areas helps minimize and mitigate wildlife depredation on private property and are vital to providing important winter ranges and feeding grounds for many wildlife species, including big game animals. These lands also provide access to hunting, fishing and wildlife-related recreation and are purchased and managed using funds generated by fishing and hunting license sales.
So effective immediately, target shooting with firearms — or the possession of explosives, incendiary or chemical devices, or exploding targets — is not allowed on WMAs in the following counties:
- Beaver
- Box Elder
- Cache
- Carbon
- Daggett
- Duchesne
- Emery
- Iron
- Juab
- Millard
- Morgan
- Sanpete
- Sevier
- Summit
- Uintah
- Wasatch
The coordination for target shooting restrictions on WMAs is ongoing, so the list of counties may be updated. For a full list of the WMAs in each county, visit the DWR website.
