Great Salt Lake PF improving an adopted 87-acre WMA pheasant factory
By Tom Richards and Al Eiden
Our Great Salt Lake City Chapter is partnering with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to “Adopt a Wildlife Area” near the town of Goshen, Utah. The chapter has committed to working on and improving habitat on the 87-acre Wildlife Management Area (WMA) for the next 5 years.
Duane Reading, habitat chair, got the chapter all-in for the first year of the project. Accomplishments thus far have included:
*Removing a fence that was a barrier for wildlife movement.
*Conducting a soil sample of the property to determine which nutrients were lacking. Volunteers used that information to spread fertilizer where it would provide the most impact to growing cover for the wild pheasants living there.
*Eradicating problem vegetation from irrigation ditches. The ditches were also cleaned and repaired so that water could be controlled and the habitat on the WMA could be more effectively managed.
*Planting seeds and vegetation plugs to provide food and cover for the birds.
The work the chapter spearheaded qualified as volunteer hours in Utah’s innovative Dedicated Hunter Program. This program promotes high hunter ethics and encourages hunters to give their time to conservation efforts. If a volunteer meets the guidelines of the Dedicated Hunter Program, they can hunt all the general elk and deer seasons with the appropriate weapon type. Every volunteer that came out to support the chapters projects got all their hours counted towards their Dedicated Hunter volunteer hours.
As a bonus, several people who consider themselves big game hunters were introduced to Pheasants Forever’s mission and to the chapter’s outstanding work that benefits more than just pheasants.
Learn more about the
Great Salt Lake Chapter here.
This story first appeared in the Winter 2021 issue of Pheasants Forever Journal.