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Jason Jones, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
ST. GEORGE Almost 53 acres of private property in southwestern Utah vital habitat for the Mojave desert tortoise were recently acquired through the combined efforts of several agencies and organizations.
The parcel is on the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve in Washington County. The Utah Department of Natural Resources, which administers the state’s Endangered Species Mitigation Fund, joined forces with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, the county and The Nature Conservancy to acquire the property, where some of the highest observed densities of desert tortoises in the reserve have been found.
ST. GEORGE An area in Washington County known for its higher density of the threatened Mojave Desert tortoises is expanding.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources announced Tuesday that about 23 acres of land were donated toward the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. In addition to the donation, the agency reports that another 30 acres were acquired through an Endangered Species Mitigation Fund, giving the reserve an additional 53 acres.
The new land additions were acquired through the help of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Washington County, and The Nature Conservancy a national land conservation nonprofit. The private property acquired was one of the largest remaining private properties within the reserve, according to DWR biologist Ann McLuckie.
Box Elder County, where dry desert mountain ranges and the Great Salt Lake dominate much of the landscape, isnât often thought of as a place to catch state record-caliber fish.
However, the mountainous northwest corner of the state happens to be the only area in Utah where a certain subspecies of cutthroat trout can be found, making it the go-to location for anyone looking for Yellowstone cutthroat in the state.
The Yellowstone cutthroat is native to the Snake River drainage, a watershed whose southern boundary encompasses the Raft River Mountains of Box Elder County. The fish can be found in a few streams draining off the north slope of this range, which reaches nearly 10,000 feet in elevation and contains the highest point in the county.
Januaryn8, 2021
SALT LAKE CITY In an effort to enhance fishing and boost native fish populations, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources stocks a variety of fish species throughout Utah every year.
In 2020, the DWR stocked 8,241,139 fish into 626 local waterbodies. That’s a total of 1,170,330 pounds of fish!
The practice of stocking fish in the Beehive State goes back more than a century, as fish were first formally stocked in Utah in 1871. At that time, fish were transported from other states by train and were stocked into lakes along the train route. In 1897, Utah opened its first hatcheries and started raising trout locally.