Mojave desert tortoise
Salt Lake City — A total of $4 million was allocated to dozens of wildlife-related projects at the annual Utah Species Protection Account funding meeting, hosted by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources on April 24.
The Utah Species Protection Account — formerly known as 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, helps prioritize funding decisions and is currently being updated to guide the next 10 years of conservation efforts.
"Proactive conservation helps keep Utah's native species healthy," DWR Assistant Habitat Section Chief Paul Thompson said. "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 30 projects will be funded by the Species Protection Account over the next fiscal year (from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026). The $4 million is a decrease from past years. However, during the 2025 legislative session, the Utah Legislature also approved a tax on certain new energy development projects. The funds raised by that tax will go into the Species Protection Account to pay for projects that benefit Utah's native species populations.
"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 understands the value of funding the preservation of Utah's biodiversity."
The projects that will be funded each year are selected and approved by the Species Protection Account Advisory Committee, a seven-person committee of diverse stakeholders and organization representatives.
This year, the funds will be allocated to the following:
- 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 48% of the total funds will go toward these species' recovery efforts.
- Three community science projects will also be funded this year to encourage the public to collect needed information on amphibians, reptiles, bumblebees and the monarch butterfly. The projects are the Utah Herp Search, Western Toad Project and Utah Pollinator Pursuit. Understanding where these species occur in Utah will help further their conservation.
- Other projects to help biologists better understand native species and improve their habitats, including projects focusing on Utah's Western toads (also known as boreal toads), Mexican spotted owls, roundtail chubs, pygmy rabbits, pinyon jays and other native birds, plants and pollinator insects.
- Matching federal state wildlife grant funding, which will stretch funds even further to help with additional conservation projects that benefit Utah's native species.
Since 1997, the Species Protection Account has:
- Completed more than 680 projects that benefit native fish and wildlife species.
- Dedicated more than $89 million toward native species conservation efforts.
- Helped recover populations of various species to achieve two Endangered Species Act delistings and three downlistings (from endangered status to threatened), and to prevent more than 20 species from being listed under the Endangered Species Act.
These Species Protection Account allocated funds and projects are in addition to the record $6.6 million in conservation permit funds that were recently allocated to wildlife research and habitat projects in April. That funding program uses Utah's Watershed Restoration Initiative, a Utah Department of Natural Resources partnership-based program, which serves as a centralized portal for funding and tracking the completion of habitat-related projects.
Learn more about the Species Protection Account on the DWR Wild podcast.
