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Show Smw Wildlife Here Native, Some I Transplanted Wildlife management, in some respects at least, is a give and take situation. Especially Es-pecially when it comes to establishing populations, of new animals or reintroducing species previously inhabiting areas within the state. Interstate Inter-state and intrastate transplants trans-plants have played a very important part in diversifying Utah's overall wildlife picture. History records the existence exist-ence of many types of animals in Utah that eventually became be-came hard to find or nonexis- ' tent within the state. On the " other hand, some species of animals are found in Utah today that have never been here before. Elk, Rocky Mountain and desert bighorn sheep, buffalo and antelope are all native to Utah. Early visitors and inhabitants in-habitants reported sighting these species frequently. Most, however, declined drastically dras-tically in numbers in the late 1800's and early 1900's. At the turn of the century, elk were located only on the north slope of the Uinta Mountains after being found historically on most of Utah's high mountain ranges. The decline was evident through most of the western states. Game managers and concerned con-cerned sportsmen started building the elk population by transplanting elk from Yellowstone Yel-lowstone National Park in the early 1920's. Recent intrastate intra-state transplants seek to establish es-tablish additional herds. To-,day, To-,day, elk in Utah are fairly abundant and well established. establish-ed. Moose were unknown in Utah prior to the mid 1930's, and a year-around population was not observed until 1947. The original animals apparently ap-parently migrated into Utah from Wyoming. The existing population has been managed to the point where 37 moose were taken from the Uinta population and transplanted to the Manti Mountains. From this nucleus a new population has been established there. At one time in Utah's history the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep was prevalent in most of the state's mountain mount-ain ranges. Osborn Russell, an early Utah trapper, reported seeing a herd that included as many as 100 rams in the Willard Peak area. The sheep were virtually eliminated by 1890 with only a small remnant rem-nant group left in the Uinta Mountains. Wyoming and Canada cooperated co-operated with Utah in providing provid-ing bighorn sheep in an effort to rebuild herds in the state. Thirty-four sheep were transplanted trans-planted in 1966 and 29 in 1969-70 in the area near Willard. There are wild Rocky Mountain sheep now from the Wellsville Mountains south to Ogden Canyon. Desert bighorn sheep are also native to Utah, showing up in petroglyphs of the early Indian inhabitants. Their numbers declined in the late 1940s, responding (probably) to the pressure of uranium exploration and mining. Desert bighorn appear to f be making some progress! ' now, and that growth has been helped by transplant efforts. Twelve sheep were h brought to Zion National Park " from the State of Nevada in ji 1973. The first release from J that parent stock took place ; this year. Native populations ( along the Colorado River have ,s also increased; and for the ' past two years, transplants have been made from this t population to new areas with- j in the state. Plans call for continued transplants within i "the state. jj Rocky Mountain goats have never been known to inhabit latitudes as far south as Utah, j but game managers identified L suitable habitat in the state f and imported six goats from h the state of Washington in I 1967. The high altitude ani- li mals were released east of I Salt Lake City. Today, there are frequent reports of sightings sight-ings which indicate there are two populations of goats in the mountains around Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood Cot-tonwood canyons. The pronghorn antelope was prevalent in Utah in relatively good numbers at one time but declined drastically dras-tically in the late 1800's. In 1922 only 670 antelope could be counted in ten areas of the state. Transplants came from both Wyoming and Montana to bolster the diminished herds. Today, the antelope are widely distributed in Utah. Herds have grown in size enough to allow intrastate intra-state transplants which have created additional herds. Buffalso were known to inhabit many parts of Utah in the state's early histrory but, as in all of their original range, declined dramatically as they were hunted and civilization encroached. Concerned Con-cerned sportsmen working with the Division brought 18 animals from Yellowstone in 1941 and an additional five bulls in 1942. Utah's Henry Mountain buffalo herd is now American's only free roaming hunted population and numbers num-bers approximately 300 animals. ani-mals. Surprisingly enough to most Utah residents, deer were relatively scarce in the state's early history. Changes in habitat and management programs have increased deer populations many fold since the early days. Populations of deer have fluctuated frequently, fre-quently, but the state still supports a widely distributed 'deer herd. Deer have been transplanted in Utah only as a damage prevention measure. It is one of the larger game animals that has not been aided by other states in its growth. The cooperation between -various states' game management manage-ment departments has proven very beneficial to Utah's wildlife wild-life populations. Many species have been imported. Few have been exported although Utah has agreements to help other states introduce new or i bolster existing populations as conditions warrant. |