Bureau of Land Management
Salt Lake Field Office
Wildlife Program
The Wildlife Program of the Bureau of Land Management Salt Lake Field Office includes terrestrial and aquatic habitat management. An important component of the wildlife program is to evaluate potential affects to wildlife and associated habitat that may be impacted by proposed projects on BLM public lands. The BLM takes a holistic approach to balance ecosystem sustainability while meeting the multiple use madate of the BLM.
BLM wildlife biologists achieve these goals by working closely with partners such the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and non-governmental organizations on habitat restoration projects for the conservation of a variety of species. The BLM is also actively involved in applied research management with Utah State University and Brigham Young University.
Some of the smallest, most unique critters are found in the Great Basin on lands managed by the BLM. In Rich County, Box Elder and Tooele counties, pygmy rabbits make their home in the sage brush steppe plant communities. The pygmy rabbit is North America’s smallest rabbit weighing less than 500g and only found burrowing in tall dense sagebrush communities in loose soils in the Western United States.
The Duck Creek Allotment in Rich County is managed by the BLM as well as adjoining lands on state and private. Graduate students have been studying how animals respond to range improvement treatments in this allotment. Projects target BLM/Utah Special Status Species such as the Greater Sage Grouse and the Pygmy Rabbit. By tracking the pygmy rabbit, Tammy Wilson, USU PhD Graduate Student hopes to determine home range sizes as well as rabbit use of treated and untreated land.
The Greater Sage Grouse can be found on public lands managed by the BLM SLFO in Rich, Tooele and Box Elder counties. This is a high priority species for the office because BLM has large tracts of Greater Sage Grouse habitat. The Greater Sage Grouse uses sagebrush in varies seral stages throughout their lifecycle. The BLM works with Sage Grouse Working Groups to identify priorities and actions for restoring sagebrush to conditions suitable for the Greater Sage Grouse for lekking, nesting, early brood rearing and winter range.
The West Desert may not have much water but it is still has important habitat for the Bonneville Cutthroat Trout, Boreal Toad, and Least Chub. THE BLM SLFO is a signatory to the 2008 Conservation Agreement Strategy for the Bonneville Cutthroat Trout and the 1998 Conservation Agreement Strategy for the Least Chub. The Boreal Toad is a BLM/Utah Sensitive Species.
The smallest chub, the Least Chub, is managed by an interagency Least Chub Recovery Team under a 2008 Conservation and Agreement Strategy. The Least Chub is found only in Utah. Currently there are only 6 wild populations of Least Chub remaining. The BLM SLFO has two refuge populations to support two of the wild source populations. The goal of the recovery program is to have two refuge populations for every source population. The BLM works closely with the Recovery Team to implement the objectives and strategies of the agreement.
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Aquatic Biologist, Paul Thompson, measuring the length of a Least Chub during annual sampling at a pond in Box Elder County. Look very closely to see the tiny Least Chub. The Least Chub is found only in Utah. Currently there are only six wild populations of Least Chub remaining.
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