Like a school of minnows trying to escape the sharp bite of the pied-bill grebes Ron Rood was trying to photograph in mid-July, Utah’s birding community is confounded.
Trail runners, mountain bikers, paddleboarders and other recreational groups in the northern parts of the state have also been caught in the eddy of uncertainty.
A new law governing access to Wildlife Management Areas in Utah’s four most populous counties has become so confusing and affected so many groups, in fact, that state legislators are saying they want a do-over.
“The impact on the public was more than I certainly expected when we passed the legislation,” Sen. Mike McKell, the floor sponsor for the bill that created the license requirement, told The Salt Lake Tribune. “And sometimes we learn when we pass legislation… there are unintended consequences.”
Why, where are licenses required?
As of May 7, any adult entering a Wildlife Management Area in Salt Lake, Utah, Davis or Weber counties is required to carry a fishing or hunting license. The regulation was passed in March by the Utah Legislature as part of HB309. It does not make exceptions for so-called “nonconsumptive” users, like birders and mountain bikers, many of whom have been enjoying those public lands without licenses for decades.
The increasing popularity of those lands may have prompted Rep. Casey Snider, the bill’s sponsor, to include the license requirement in HB309. Though Wildlife Management Areas are run by the state, the lands are purchased and managed solely with funds generated by the sale of hunting and fishing licenses.
Snider told the House of Representatives in February that the bill would create a path for other users to contribute to that funding as well.Snider did not immediately respond to The Tribune’s request for comment.
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Kyle Burgess runs on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail in Orem, Friday, July 25, 2025. Hunting or fishing licenses are now required for any access to the Wildlife Management Areas in the four most populous Utah counties: Salt Lake, Utah, Davis and Weber.
Between planning and execution, though, the plan hit a snag. Spokesperson Faith Jolley said the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources sent out a series of news releases explaining the change and posted signs on several trails. Still, many visitors to those areas were caught off-guard when asked to produce their paperwork.
That includes Rood, who often visits the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, located a half-hour drive from his home in Magna, to photograph birds. He was stationed there July 19, he said, before a game warden chased him off.
“Be careful,” Rood posted in the Birding in Utah Facebook group, “I was just threatened with a citation from DNR for photographing Pie-billed Greebes [sic] without a fishing license.”
Ultrarunner Kyle Burgess had a similar encounter. He was running part of his usual route from his home in Orem up to Provo Canyon when a ranger flagged him down and told him he needed a license.
“I just happened to cross his path, and he was like, ‘Hey, FYI, you probably know this,’” Burgess said. “No, I don’t. Does anybody?”
Burgess gained internet fame in 2020 when he filmed a mountain lion chasing him down a trail. When he posted on July 6 about the encounter with the ranger on his Instagram account, which has 40,000 followers, it appeared to draw more awareness to the access change than any of the official notices.
“We’ve done all these things, and it’s gotten a little bit of coverage every time,” Jolley said. “But then in the last month, it’s gotten a lot more attention.”
Still, the confusion around the law can’t be pinned solely on lack of awareness.
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) A sign along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail in Orem, Friday, July 25, 2025. Hunting or fishing licenses are now required for any access to the Wildlife Management Areas in the four most populous Utah counties: Salt Lake, Utah, Davis and Weber.
Clear as a marsh
Users also are unclear about where they need a license and where they do not. Members of the SUP Utah Facebook group had a lively discussion in May about whether paddleboarders needed a fishing or hunting license to be on Causey Reservoir because the Causey Wildlife Management Area in Weber County is included in the regulations. The short answer is no, because Causey Reservoir is on Forest Service land.
However, Jolley pointed out that users of trails that cross through the Causey Wildlife Management Area around the reservoir will need a license … most of the time.
Licenses aren’t required on trails where an easement is in place, Jolley said. So travelers on the Wheatgrass Canyon Trail, where the Forest Service has a right-of-way, won’t need a license despite it passing through the Causey Wildlife Management Area. Yet no such easement exists on the nearby Baldy Ridge Trail, where a license will be required.
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Further muddying the waters, the DWR, in conjunction with the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation, recently created an exemption to the law for some parts of the Timpanogos Wildlife Management Area. As of July 17, licenses won’t be needed to traverse the parts of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and Great Western Trail that pass through that area. However, they will still be required for access routes to those trails, such as the Alta Ditch Road that Burgess occasionally travels.
“It’s a gray area, honestly,” Burgess said. “It’s kind of like a, ‘Well, yes, but no.’”
A pay-to-play debate
Burgess bought a fishing license, just to be safe. Still, his concerns about the law remain. He wonders what visitors to Utah are supposed to do (Jolley pointed out that three- and seven-day licenses can be purchased for less than a year-long license). He also wonders whether the state asking users to pay to access public lands is a slippery slope.
“Where does the pay-my-part stop?” he asked.
Other users, like Rood, say they would “be happy to pay a fee for access,” but not necessarily for a hunting or fishing license. He said he wants his money to support the nongame wildlife he appreciates, like horned lizards and the grebes.
McKell said Utah lawmakers will take all of that into consideration when they discuss changes to the bill, which he expects to happen during the next legislative session.
“Those folks who go out and do bird watching, I think we’ll find a way to make sure they have good access, along with those folks like me that maybe hunt and fish and trail run,” McKell said. “We’ll make sure we get it right.”
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