Salt Lake City — The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is proposing a few new and updated rules, some of which are necessary after recent legislative changes — including the wildlife management area license requirement for certain counties and the new process for regulating hunting guides and outfitters — along with a few other proposals. The DWR is seeking the public's feedback on the recommendations.
Updates to WMA license requirement exemptions
During the 2025 legislative session, a new law was passed to require anyone 18 years old or older to possess a hunting, fishing or combination license to access a wildlife management area or waterfowl management area in counties that are designated as "class one" or "class two" counties, which includes Davis, Salt Lake, Utah and Weber. The law also updated the definition of a WMA, and under that new definition, there are a total of 30 WMAs in the four counties where this new legislation applies.
The DWR is proposing a few rule updates to provide additional clarifications to the new law requirements:
- Adding definitions for educational programs and education or visitor centers. These definitions would allow the DWR's George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Wildlife Education Center and the Great Salt Lake Hasenayger Reserve to be exempt from the requirement for visitors to have a hunting, fishing or combination license.
- Excluding DWR employees, contractors, volunteers and guests who are conducting official duties from the license requirement. (They would be required to have a valid license if they wanted to access a WMA outside of their official duties.)
- Excluding sovereign lands (some of which are included in the boundary of Farmington Bay WMA) and Utah Reclamation Mitigation Conservation Commission properties (Provo River Delta, Diamond Fork and Utah Lake Wetland Preserve) from the license requirement.
Dedicated Hunter rule amendments
The Dedicated Hunter Program is a service-based hunting program that allows participants to have more time to hunt deer each year. Participants are required to complete 32 hours of DWR-approved service (or pay for their hours) in order to qualify for deer permits through the program. They enroll in the program for a three-year period and can harvest two deer during that period if they meet the service requirements.
The DWR is proposing a change to the program to allow program participants to earn service credit prior to joining the program. However, the "banked" service hours have to meet the following criteria:
- The service must be completed on DWR-approved projects.
- The person must register for service projects through the DWR Dedicated Hunter project website.
- The pre-program service has to occur during the time period from Jan. 1, up until the date the big game drawing results are released, in the same year an application is submitted to join the Dedicated Hunter Program.
- Service performed outside of an enrollment period is not extended or accumulated for future years or enrollments beyond the year of the application to join the program.
- Service hours performed or purchased in excess of program requirements do not accumulate for use in future enrollments.
If approved by the Utah Wildlife Board, the change would go into effect Jan. 1, 2026.
The DWR also proposed a few administrative rule changes for the program, including clarifying what happens when a hunt is canceled or a hunt unit is discontinued and clarifying that purchased service hours and performed service hours are nonrefundable and nontransferable.
Conservation Permit Program rule amendments
The Utah Conservation Permit Program was launched in 1980 in an effort to increase funding for conservation projects for fish and wildlife throughout Utah. Each year, the Utah Wildlife Board designates a small percentage of limited-entry and once-in-a-lifetime hunting permits as "conservation and expo permits." The conservation permits are offered to conservation and sportsmen's groups, who then auction them at banquets, fundraisers and other events. The conservation groups must allocate 90% of the money raised from these permit sales toward conservation and research projects like habitat enhancement, wildlife transplants, aerial surveys and deer survival studies. The remaining 10% of the proceeds are retained by the conservation groups to help cover administrative costs.
The DWR is proposing a few updates to the Conservation Permit Program, including:
- Removing the Dec. 31 season extension for bighorn sheep unit permits.
- Removing the requirement to have a conservation permit for every public permit on Antelope Island.
- Clarifying that the Utah Wildlife Board approves the permits and season dates in the memorandum of understanding with Utah State Parks for Antelope Island State Park.
New rules for outfitters, guides and spotters
A new law was passed during the 2025 legislative session to allow the Utah Department of Natural Resources to regulate hunting guides and outfitters in the state. Previously, guides and outfitters were regulated by the Utah Division of Professional Licensing. The law requires a guide, outfitter or spotter — someone who is being paid to assist individuals in hunting or fishing activities — to obtain a certificate of registration and pay a fee to the DWR. The new legislation outlines the parameters of when a guide, outfitter or spotter can be compensated for their services and when their certificate of registration can be revoked.
The DWR is proposing new rules to clarify more about the application process, field requirements, prohibited activities and other details required by the new legislation, including:
- Moving enforcement authority from the Utah Division of Professional Licensing to the DWR and DNR Law Enforcement.
- Creating an updated application process for hunting outfitters, guides and spotters.
- Requiring applications to be renewed annually on March 31.
- Creating field requirements for hunting outfitters, guides and spotters, including that no more than two individuals may be assigned to a client while hunting or fishing for protected wildlife and that no more than three individuals may be assigned to a client while hunting for a once-in-a lifetime species.
- Requiring individual hunting guides and spotters to be assigned to a specific outfitter.
- Clarifying prohibited activities and providing suspension protocols if violations occur.
Public land variance requests for CWMUs
The DWR oversees the Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit program, which allocates hunting permits to private landowners who then provide hunting opportunities to public and private hunters for a variety of wildlife species. The CWMU program in Utah has opened more than 2 million acres of private land to the public for hunting.
For 2025, there were four applications from CWMUs requesting the inclusion of public land — two new applications and two renewals. The DWR is proposing to approve all of the CWMU applications.
Sage-grouse translocation updates
Sage-grouse are typically relocated to augment existing populations and to introduce populations into new or historic areas. The DWR is proposing to translocate greater sage-grouse from the Blue, Diamond and Parker mountains — which fall within the Uintah and Parker Sage-grouse Management Areas, respectively — in order to bolster populations in the following areas:
- Tidwell Slopes/ Mytoge Mountain within the Parker Sage-grouse Management Area
- Tabby Mountain within the Strawberry Sage-grouse Management Area
- Browns Park within the Uintah Sage-grouse Management Area
The last time sage-grouse were translocated in Utah was 2019.
Rule amendments for possession and release of pen-reared game birds
The DWR is also proposing a few updates to the rule regarding individuals possessing or releasing pen-reared game birds, including:
- Requiring facilities that hold at least 1,000 birds or eggs will need a commercial license through the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, if held for 60 days or longer.
- No longer requiring mycoplasma testing — but the DWR will conduct and pay for random sampling.
- Requiring bird sellers to provide documentation of disease test results. (The seller must test for avian influenza once a quarter, or 30 days prior to the release of game birds.) Facilities are considered disease free 30 days after testing negative.
- Clarifying that releasing birds from a flock showing clinical signs of disease is prohibited.
- Clarifying prohibited species and other administrative updates to the rule.
Give feedback
The public meetings for the recommendations can either be viewed virtually or attended in person. You can view the biologists' presentations before the meetings and share your feedback about them on the DWR website. The presentations are also available on the DWR YouTube channel, but comments can only be submitted through the forms on the DWR website.
The public comment period opened on April 30 for each of the five Regional Advisory Council meetings and for the Utah Wildlife Board meeting. Public comments submitted within the online-comment timeframes listed below will be shared with the RAC and wildlife board members at each respective meeting. Members of the public can choose to either watch the meetings online or attend them in person. If you wish to comment during the meeting, you must attend in person. Online comments will only be accepted until the deadlines listed below.
The meetings will be held on the following dates and times:
- Central Utah RAC meeting: May 13 at 6 p.m. at the DWR Springville Office at 1115 N. Main St. in Springville. (Online comments must be submitted by May 8 at 11:59 p.m.)
- Northern Utah RAC meeting: May 14 at 6 p.m. at the Weber County Commission Chambers at 2380 Washington Blvd. #240 in Ogden. (Online comments must be submitted by May 8 at 11:59 p.m.)
- Southern Utah RAC meeting: May 20 at 6 p.m. at the DNR Richfield City Complex at 2031 Industrial Park Road in Richfield. (Online comments must be submitted by May 15 at 11:59 p.m.)
- Southeastern Utah RAC meeting: May 21 at 6 p.m. at the John Wesley Powell Museum at 1765 E. Main St. in Green River. (Online comments must be submitted by May 15 at 11:59 p.m.)
- Northeastern Utah RAC meeting: May 22 at 6 p.m. at the DWR Vernal Office at 318 N. Vernal Ave. (Online comments must be submitted by May 15 at 11:59 p.m.)
- Utah Wildlife Board meeting: June 12 at 9 a.m. at the Eccles Wildlife Education Center at 1157 South Waterfowl Way in Farmington. (Online comments must be submitted by June 5 at 11:59 p.m.)
