This week, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources acquired a new parcel of land in Cache and Weber counties, creating new recreation opportunities for the area.
With the help of funding from state and national partners, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources placed the winning bid on a land parcel at auction on Tuesday. This 8000-acre parcel of land, called Cinnamon Creek, marks the 193rd wildlife management area in Utah.
Faith Heaton Jolley, the division’s public information officer, said that as an important wildlife habitat, the state plans to preserve the area for wildlife and open it up for hunting and fishing.
“It contains a lot of important habitat for some of our different species, elk, mule deer, moose, but then also sage grouse, greater sage grouse, sharptailed sage grouse, and so being able to kind of preserve this area from development for these wildlife species, so they can use this habitat during different times of the year is really important. And also, this is a pretty popular area for wildlife related recreation,” Heaton Jolley said.
Cinnamon Creek is an exciting addition to state lands, as it’s one of the only public properties in the area.
“The reason this particular parcel was pretty crucial is it is basically the only public property, surrounded by a bunch of private lands. So being able to provide that access through some of our programs that we have with private landowners, to allow people to cross through their area to be able to access this public land is really important,” Heaton Jolley said.
The UDWR hasn’t specified projects for the property yet, but will likely work to manage and improve habitat for wildlife in the future.
“Like with our other wildlife management areas, I'm sure we'll plan some different habitat improvement projects, to just kind of help the land be at its full potential to provide habitat and feed and other resources for wildlife that, that utilize that area,” Heaton Jolley said.
