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Show their engines. Highways take up space and bring human visitors into every nook and cranny feasible,' he explained. explain-ed. "The only sure way habitat can be preserved is to buy title of the critical lands so they can be set aside for the management of game species. spec-ies. This has been one of the Division's foremost programs,' pro-grams,' noted the assistane chief. Vegetative types on lands that have been preserved or manipulated to benefit big game have also aided other wildlife species and domestic domest-ic livestock. The Division has adapted the multiple use concept, considering all uses on these lands to produce re -newable resources and maintain a quality environment, environ-ment, Stapley pointed out. Often acquired lands have proven to be in strategic locations lo-cations that would not normally nor-mally be available to the public. pub-lic. Now, any land purchased under the Division, with sportsmen's money, is open to the public for activities such as camping, fishing, horseback riding, hiking, hunting and picture taking as long as they are in harmony har-mony with the major objective obj-ective of supporting wildlife. Thus, concluded Stapley, the Division purchased lands have proven their value several sev-eral times over. WILDLIFE REPORT UTAH STATE DIVISION OF WILDLIFE RESOURCES ing and summer home developments, devel-opments, which are on the increase; and recreation of every facet which disturbs wildlife trying to exist on the continually diminishing habitat.' hab-itat.' 'Golf courses eliminate the important browse species. spe-cies. Snowmobiles and every sort of off -road vehicle imaginable im-aginable shatter the air with WHY WILDLIFE NEED THE LAND (Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of articles art-icles explaining the land acquisition ac-quisition program of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. This week we explain the purpose of the program and why it is important im-portant for the state's wildlife.) wild-life.) The survival of every living liv-ing thing depends on the land. Wildlife species that inhabit any given area are there because be-cause of adequate space and the necessary plant community.' com-munity.' 'It's no differentfor Utah's deer, elk, moose, bighorn sheep, upland game, waterfowl water-fowl you name it,' says Division of Wildlife Resources Resour-ces Assistant Game Management Man-agement Chief Homer Stapley. 'Any time vegetative vegeta-tive types are altered, there is a change in the wildlife use of the land.' Utah, in the 127 years since the pioneers arrived, has seen major changes in habitat which, in too many cases, have adversely affected af-fected wildlife, said Stapley. Those lands which have had the most dynamic changes affecting game, particularly deer, have taken place along the state's foothills -- the very areas deer depend on during the critical harsh winter periods, he explained. These facts were most graphically portrayed in the winters of the 1930's and 1940's and, most recently, 1972-73 when Utah deer herds suffered vast die -offs. "The Division recognized the future of deer depends on the preservation of the narrow strip of land parallelling par-allelling Utah's foothills, said Stapley. 'Range managers man-agers have long known these have been among the most abused lands in the state.' Stapley noted that, 'Besides 'Be-sides supporting big game in the winter, they are used for livestock during spring, fall and sometimeswinterjhous- |