Wildlife Management Area Amendments
HB 244 makes targeted changes to Utah’s wildlife management area statutes, focused on lands associated with the Great Salt Lake ecosystem. The bill directs the Wildlife Board to establish two named areas: the existing Willard Spur Waterfowl Management Area and a new Bear River Bay Waterfowl Management Area. For each area, it sets out the lands included, requires coordination with the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands through memoranda of understanding, and specifies that management plans must support habitat, waterfowl production, recreational use, and public access.
The bill also expands or clarifies permitted uses in these management areas. It expressly supports access for hunting, fishing, trapping, wildlife viewing, and use of airboats and other small watercraft. For Willard Spur, it removes prior limits tied to impounding structures and replaces them with a process requiring an advisory committee before the division may construct a structure in the area. The bill also updates the statutory definition of “waterfowl management area” to include Bear River Bay and makes technical changes, with no appropriation attached.
HB 244 amends Utah Code sections governing state-owned lands used as wildlife management areas, specifically Sections 23A-6-403 and 23A-12-301. It creates a new statutory wildlife management area at Bear River Bay, formalizes Willard Spur as a waterfowl management area, and ties both areas to management objectives centered on habitat conservation, migratory bird support, and public recreation. The bill also removes restrictions on impounding structures and on regulation of airboats and small watercraft in certain areas, while adding an advisory committee requirement before new structures are built in Willard Spur. These changes affect the Division of Wildlife Resources, the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands, and users of the Great Salt Lake wetlands, including hunters, anglers, trappers, birders, and boaters.
The bill appears to have broad support and little visible opposition. It passed the House committee unanimously, passed the House floor 67-0, received a unanimous favorable recommendation in the Senate committee, and passed the Senate 27-0. The voting record suggests the measure was viewed as a practical land-management and access bill rather than a controversial policy change.
The main policy tension in the bill concerns how wildlife habitat should be balanced with recreational access and infrastructure. The text reflects competing interests by preserving public access for airboats and small watercraft while also allowing habitat protection measures and requiring an advisory committee before structures are built in Willard Spur. The advisory committee is designed to include airboat users, other small-watercraft users, waterfowl hunters, and other stakeholders, indicating that user groups with different priorities were expected to have input. The bill’s removal of prior restrictions on impounding structures and watercraft regulation suggests those issues were likely the most sensitive points, even though the final votes were unanimous.