Outdoor News Daily

MISSOULA, Mont. — With a focus on elk habitat stewardship and conservation, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has announced grants for 2008 projects in Utah.

Twenty-three grants totaling $210,450 have been awarded. Grants affect Beaver, Carbon, Daggett, Duchesne, Emery, Millard, San Juan, Sanpete, Summit, Tooele, Uintah, Utah and Weber counties.

Another $37,785 is available for allocation in additional grants later this year.

“This is all about ensuring the future of elk, other wildlife and their habitat in Utah,” said David Allen, Elk Foundation president and CEO. “Grants are based on revenues from Elk Foundation auctions and raffles for Utah special hunting permits, our fundraising banquets across the state, and worthy project proposals.”
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ELY, Nev.— The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has acquired nearly 200 acres of private inholdings in Nevada’s spectacular Goshute Canyon Wilderness. The acquisition prevents development, keeps intact a large sweep of wildlife habitat and opens public access.

The land eventually will be conveyed to the Bureau of Land Management, which administers Goshute Canyon Wilderness.

“This area is classic summer range for elk with perennial streams and aspen forests, ranging in elevation from 6,400 feet up to a dramatic 10,200 feet. It’s also home to deer, raptors, mountain lions, chukars and grouse,” said Bob Hammond, lands program manager for the Elk Foundation.
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MISSOULA, Mont.— With a new round of grants for 2008, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has topped $175,000 in support for conservation, education and hunting heritage efforts in Missouri.

The Elk Foundation emphasizes habitat conservation in states with wild elk herds, but significant portions of funds raised in non-elk states also are kept at home. In Missouri, the organization has now allocated $179,709 for 81 different projects.

A committee of local Elk Foundation volunteers and staff awards grants each year.
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The Colorado Division of Wildlife is continuing its native cutthroat trout restoration program in southwest Colorado with a project on Deep Creek, located in the upper Lightner Creek drainage within the San Juan National Forest.

The project is a being done in cooperation with the San Juan National Forest and a landowner.

On July 30, 31, and Aug. 1, the DOW is planning to chemically treat less than 1 mile of Deep Creek to remove non-native brook trout. The creek will be treated with rotenone, a compound used successfully throughout the United States during the last 70 years for fish removal projects. The organically derived chemical kills fish by preventing use of oxygen absorbed in the blood.
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As the first step in a process that could change the listing category of the delta smelt from threatened to endangered, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) today asked for submittal of all relevant information about the delta smelt.

The request is contained in a Service 90-day finding that a petition to upgrade the listing contains substantial information that current threats to the delta smelt may be greater than in 1993 when the smelt received protection as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). The notice opens a 60-day comment period, which ends Sept.8. During that period, as specified by the ESA, the Service encourages all parties to submit relevant scientific or commercial information about the species to help the Service complete the best analysis possible of the small fish.
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