Font ResizeMidway » The Utah State Parks Board decided Thursday that hunting can be used to prevent bighorn sheep from spreading disease on Antelope Island.
But sport killing of mature rams would only be used after other options -- such as transplanting sheep within Utah, out of state or to private land -- had been exhausted.
The board removed language in its wildlife management plan for the island that called for hunting as a last resort in order to give wildlife managers more flexibility to establish hunts.
"If you get to the last resort, it's too late," said Department of Natural Resources Director Mike Styler. "The disease is there, and you have a problem. You have to plan ahead, be proactive and do something before you get to a problem."
Most board members seemed reluctant to allow hunting in a park where wildlife watching is a popular activity, and surveys have revealed that three-fourths of visitors would oppose a bighorn hunt. There are no plans for such a hunt.
Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep were first introduced to Antelope Island in 1997, when 23 animals were transplanted there and that has expanded to about 160 animals. Many are mature rams which are more likely to carry diseases, which can decimate a herd.
Wildlife managers from the Division of Wildlife Resources have used the island bighorns as a "nursery herd" to produce animals for transplant to other areas of Utah, as well
Past proposals for Antelope Island hunts have been controversial because the public favors watching wildlife on the largest Great Salt Lake island. But the Utah Legislature mandated an annual bison hunt where six bulls are killed each year by hunters, generating about $8,100 annually.
The Utah State Parks Board has turned down hunter requests for a trophy mule-deer hunt on the island.
Styler estimated that auctioning hunts for three trophy bighorn rams on the island could generate as much as $150,000 a year, which would be put back into the island's habitat management program.
"It has generally been our feeling that we want hunting to be a last resort," said board member Bill Bleak. "But it is an option you may have to allow some day to save a herd."
Midway » Visitors to several popular Utah State parks will pay more in 2010 after the Utah State Park Board approved a number of fee increases Thursday.
Camping fees for individual sites at Sand Hollow, Quail Creek and Gunlock will rise by two or three dollars.
Nightly fees at sites for full hookups at Sand Hollow, for example, will increase from $25 to $28, while fees in areas with vault toilets will rise from $13 to $15. Group-camping fees will increase at Bear Lake and Hyrum. Day-use fees are also going up at Quail Creek, Gunlock, Anasazi State Park and Snow Canyon.
State Parks' budget took a hit during the past legislative session, forcing the parks board to look for ways to increase revenue. But not all board members were happy with the increases.
"I have a real concern raising fees during a recession," said Eli Anderson. "We should follow Wal-Mart's example and roll back prices so people will come. There are soup lines downtown but as we sit here everything looks pretty and we are throwing out more increases. Enough is enough."
Anderson left the meeting before the vote was taken and the rest of the board approved the increases unanimously.
The board also changed the name of Iron Mission State Park in Cedar City to Frontier Homestead State Park Museum. Focus groups and local leaders said many visitors did not understand the name's meaning (it was originally a settlement of Mormon pioneers) and that Iron Mission didn't reflect what was on display there: pioneer and American Indian memorabilia and one of the state's largest collections of wagon wheels.
Tom Wharton
