Providing hunters with access to hunt on private lands is important to utahs future of hunting and effective wildlife management

The State of Utah, Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) received a $200,000 formula grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service under the Wildlife Restoration and Basic Hunter Education and Safety program (CFDA 15.611) for the period July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. The grant supports Utah's Walk-In Access (WIA) program, which provides hunters with regulated access to private lands for hunting activities. The program evaluates and monitors participating properties for habitat and wildlife quality, maintains a publicly available geographic information system mapping tool, and facilitates hunter access to private land hunting areas.

The WIA program delivers multiple benefits aligned with federal wildlife management objectives, including strengthening partnerships between UDWR and private landowners on wildlife conservation initiatives, reducing hunter trespass and vandalism complaints, addressing depredating wildlife issues on private lands, and improving hunter retention and recruitment by simplifying access rules and regulations. By enabling hunters to harvest big game on private lands where populations seek refuge from public land hunting pressure, the program supports wildlife population management objectives while enhancing the quality of hunting experiences for both new and experienced hunters in Utah.

For many the ease of access is a primary determining factor. Access to private land improves convenience but also serves as a partnership between the division of wildlife and private landowners to cooperatively develop and promote healthy wildlife conservation practices habitat restoration projects and preservation of wild land qualities in the state. The wildlife and wildlife related recreation benefits from this relationship. Wildlife managers also need to manage population objectives through facilitating hunter harvest on private land areas where big game populations have learned to seek refuge away from public land hunting pressure.hunter retention is directly correlated with the quality of hunting experiences. Hunter recruitment similarly is dependent on simplicity of rules regulations and ease of access to hunting areas and confidence or clarity of where a person may hunt. Because utahs walk in access program evaluates and monitors each participating property for habitat and wildlife quality and provides the public with an online reference map through a geographic information system the hunting experience is very easy for new and existing hunters. Expected benefits from the WIA program include. Strengthening relationships between udwr and private landowners in wildlife conservation efforts. Strengthening relationships between sportsmen and private landowners in wildlife conservation efforts. Reducing hunter trespass and vandalism complaints. Easing hunter concerns regarding finding places to hunt. Reducing depredating or nuisance wildlife from private land.