The utah wildlife action plan (uwap) is a 10-year plan for the utah division of wildlife resources (udwr) and conservation partners to align and coordinate programmatic- and project-level aspects of…

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded a $123,076.92 Formula Grant to the State of Utah, Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) under the State Wildlife Grants (CFDA 15.634) program. The grant supports the coordination and implementation of the Utah Wildlife Action Plan (UWAP) - a 10-year strategic plan focused on conserving species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) in Utah. Key activities include:

• Maintaining a central database of SGCN locality records to track population status
• Aligning conservation efforts across UDWR and partner organizations to address threats and maintain healthy SGCN populations
• Preventing the need for additional Endangered Species Act listings through proactive management

This grant supports the data management and coordination functions that enable UDWR and its partners to effectively implement the UWAP, which has helped keep over 90% of Utah's petitioned species from being listed under the ESA. The award period is from July 1, 2023 through December 31, 2024.

The utah wildlife action plan (uwap) is a 10-year plan for the utah division of wildlife resources (udwr) and conservation partners to align and coordinate programmatic- and project-level aspects of their planning and implementation. The uwap s cornerstone are the species in greatest conservation need (sgcn) in utah. Having a coordinated list of species in need of conservation attention allows all conservation partners in utah to focus their attention on species truly needing conservation attention. The uwap identifies important habitats for the sgcns, so that these habitats can be maintained, protected, and even expanded. The primary threats to the sgcns are also identified so that conservation partners with authority to address those threats can work toward alleviating and minimizing them. While some of the sgcns in the uwap are species that are already listed as threatened or endangered under the endangered species act (ESA), most are not and the goal of the uwap is to maintain and restore healthy species populations, habitats, and minimize threats to prevent the need for additional species listings under the ESA. Over the past 20 years, utah has demonstrated a strong conservation ethic for its native species through the uwap and provided the conservation track record to keep species off the ESA. In fact, the U.S. Fish and wildlife service has found that more than 90 of the utah species petitioned for listing under the ESA have not warranted protection, which demonstrates effective state management for these species. Keeping species management under state authority allows for effective management and opportunities for utah to continue to grow economically. This grant supports the coordination of implementation and revision of the uwap. This grant supports much of the data handling needs created by the utah wildlife action plan. The udwr s natural heritage program (unhp) manages the udwr locality records for sgcns. The unhp staff continually add new species locality records to our central database as data are received from the udwr biologists and uwap partners. Maintaining sgcn locality information is critical to determining the success of the uwap in maintaining healthy populations of sgcns in utah.