How Utah is helping imperiled species with big money

There is a lot of difference between the Mohave desert tortoise and the Wilson’s phalarope. The average speed of the tortoise is 0.2 miles per hour as it rumbles through the desert of southwest Utah.

The Wilson’s phalarope flies more than 4,000 miles on its migration journey between Canada and Argentina and zips around in frenetic circles to stir up food on lakes.

The Great Salt Lake, for example, is home to 90% of the bird’s global population.

But this lumbering tortoise species and bird that can fly on auto-pilot in its arduous transcontinental journey have more in common than you might think: They are part of a targeted effort by the state of Utah to be saved, preserved and cherished.

A total of $5.5 million has been allocated to dozens of wildlife-related projects at the recent annual Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Endangered Species Mitigation Fund meeting in April.

The Endangered Species Mitigation Fund was created in 1997 to direct funds toward species and projects that will proactively help to prevent Endangered Species Act listings in Utah. The Utah Wildlife Action Plan identifies species and habitats that are in need of conservation attention and further helps prioritize funding decisions.

“Proactive conservation helps keep Utah’s native species healthy,” said the division’s assistant habitat section chief Paul Thompson. “Healthy populations don’t need protection under the Endangered Species Act, which in turn keeps management decisions at the state level and reduces additional federal oversight and economic restrictions that can come with Endangered Species Act listings.”

Roughly 60 projects will be funded by the Endangered Species Mitigation Fund over the next fiscal year. The $5.5 million is an increase from past years, due to an additional $2 million in funding that was approved by the Utah Legislature during this last legislative session.

“Conservation funding for species that are not hunted or fished is hard to come by,” Thompson said. “Those of us in Utah working to better understand and maintain healthy populations for our lesser-known species are fortunate that our state legislature had the foresight to establish the Endangered Species Mitigation Fund to help preserve Utah’s biodiversity.”

This year, the money will be spent this way:

• Programs and recovery efforts to help Utah species currently listed under the Endangered Species Act, including the Utah prairie dog, June sucker, Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, bonytail, Virgin River chub, woundfin, Mojave desert tortoise and several plant species. Approximately 45% of the total funds will go toward these species’ recovery efforts.
• Conducting studies to better monitor Utah’s native species populations so they can be more effectively managed in order to prevent additional listings under the Endangered Species Act. Two projects will be jointly funded this year with the Office of the Great Salt Lake Commissioner to better understand species that use the Great Salt Lake. These two projects will complete comprehensive surveys for Wilson’s phalaropes, red-necked phalaropes and the snowy plover.
• Other projects to help biologists better understand other native species and improve their habitats, including projects focusing on Utah’s springsnails, Western toad (also known as the boreal toad), green sucker, bluehead sucker, roundtail chub, flannelmouth sucker, pygmy rabbits, Gunnison sage grouse, Gunnison’s prairie dog, pinyon jay, black-rosy finch and other native bats, plants and pollinator insects.

Since 1997, the Endangered Species Mitigation Fund has completed more than 650 projects to benefit native fish and wildlife species and dedicated $85 million toward native species conservation efforts.

How Utah can celebrate success

In 1999, the population of the June sucker was at only 300 fish, which led to the establishment of the June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program in 2001. Partners in the recovery program have actively worked to increase the population through habitat management and reduction of threats.

The June sucker is found only in Utah Lake.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources , along with multiple other partners and millions thrown at the effort, are growing the recovery of this important species of fish.

In 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the status of the fish would be downgraded from endangered to threatened. This means that efforts were working — and it matters.

According to the division, the June sucker is an “indicator species.” Scientists monitor species like June sucker to understand how healthy an ecosystem is — in this case Utah Lake and the lower reaches of its tributaries. The June sucker reacts to environmental stress and disturbance in a way that can be measured and used by scientists to see how changes in natural or human activity are affecting these fish and their habitat. So if the June sucker is doing well, that means the lake is doing well — and that’s a good thing.