SALT LAKE CITY — A total of $5.1 million was allocated to dozens of wildlife-related projects at the annual Utah Species Protection Account funding meeting, hosted by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
The Utah Species Protection Account — formerly known as the Endangered Species Mitigation Fund — was created in 1997 to direct funds toward species and projects that will proactively help to prevent Endangered Species Act listings in Utah. The Utah Wildlife Action Plan identifies species and habitats that are in need of conservation attention, helps prioritize funding decisions and is currently being updated to guide the next 10 years of conservation efforts.
“Proactive conservation helps keep Utah’s native species healthy,” DWR Utah Wildlife Action Plan Coordinator Scott Gibson said. “Healthy populations don’t need protection under the Endangered Species Act, which in turn keeps management decisions at the state level and reduces additional federal oversight and economic restrictions that can come with Endangered Species Act listings.”
Thirty-three projects will be funded by the Species Protection Account over the next fiscal year (from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027). The $5.1 million is an increase from past years. During the 2025 legislative session, the Utah Legislature also approved a tax on certain new energy development projects. The funds raised by that tax will go into the Species Protection Account to pay for projects that benefit Utah’s native species populations. In 2026, the Species Protection Account received $1.2 million from this tax revenue, with expected increases in future years.
“Conservation funding for species that are not hunted or fished is hard to come by,” Gibson said. “Those of us in Utah working to better understand and maintain healthy populations for our lesser-known species are fortunate that our state legislature understands the value of funding the preservation of Utah’s biodiversity.”
This year, along with funding several recovery programs aimed at helping species listed under the Endangered Species Act, the projects that received some of the most funding included:
- Removing invasive carp at Utah Lake to help the threatened Juke sucker, only found at Utah Lake and its tributaries. This project received $150,000 in funding.
- Researching the Wilson’s phalarope, which was recently petitioned for federal listing under the Endangered Species Act. This project received $147,000 in funding.
- Helping fund the rare plant and insect programs through a partnership between DWR and Utah State University. This project received $280,000 in funding.
The projects that are funded each year are selected and approved by the Species Protection Account Advisory Committee, a seven-person committee of diverse stakeholders and organization representatives.
Since 1997, the Species Protection Account has:
- Completed more than 700 projects that benefit native fish and wildlife species.
- Dedicated more than $90 million toward native species conservation efforts.
- Helped recover populations of various species to achieve two Endangered Species Act delistings and three downlistings (from endangered status to threatened), and to prevent more than 20 species from being listed under the Endangered Species Act.
These Species Protection Account allocated funds and projects are in addition to the $6.5 million in conservation permit funds that were allocated in April to wildlife research and habitat projects. That funding program uses Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative, a Utah Department of Natural Resources partnership-based program, which serves as a centralized portal for funding and tracking the completion of habitat-related projects.
Learn more about the Species Protection Account on the DWR Wild podcast.
