From bees, bats and bighorn sheep to elk, mule deer and jackrabbits, critters of all shapes and sizes have an improved plain of sagebrush and grassland to call home in the Stansbury Mountains.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation provided funding alongside a host of other partners, including hunter dollars, for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to hire a contractor to enhance nearly 1,100 acres on the Wasatch National Forest about 60 miles west of Salt Lake City.
The area is home to some of the state’s most prized big game species and was once dominated by grasses, forbs and sagebrush. However, over time, encroaching pinyon-juniper growth took a toll on the native forage.
To counter that expansion, crews used heavy machinery to masticate or crush and chew up the pinyon-juniper trees. 
A combination of aerial forb and shrub seeding coupled with planting 7,000 sagebrush seedlings across 20 acres of Bureau of Land Management land managed by the Salt Lake Field Office helped restore areas affected by recent wildfires.
The work didn’t stop there. Workers installed four wildlife water guzzlers in strategic locations to best serve big game and other wildlife. Since completion, they now supply life-sustaining water, especially during dry periods of the year.
(Photo credit: Utah Division of Wildlife Resources) 