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This is the near-final draft of the 2010 Utah Turkey Guidebook. This draft may contain errors and is subject to change. If you download the draft edition, please make sure that you download the final edition of the guidebook when it is available. The final edition of the guidebook will be available online by Thursday, September 3, 2009.

Camphosts and Museum Hosts greet park visitors, provide information about the park and surrounding areas, collect user fees, and assist with maintenance, cleaning and general upkeep of the campground or museum. Camphosts also oversee day-to-day campground activities and help deter vandalism. Most of our parks have full hookups for hosts in exchange for 30 or more hours a week of volunteer efforts.

Dr. Beth Townsend of Midwestern University in Glendale Arizona will present a lecture on the fossil mammals of the Uinta Basin on September 17th at the Utah Field House of Natural History. Dr. Townsend has spent the last decade collecting and researching the fossil mammals and will be presenting her findings. The lecture is free to the public and starts at 7:00 PM.

Hurricane — A call to Utah's Turn-in-a-Poacher hotline has resulted in a major poaching arrest in southwestern Utah.  On Aug. 18, Hurricane resident Mathew Steven Spendlove was charged with four Class A misdemeanors and three Class B misdemeanors in 5th District Court in St. George.

For the first time in 11 years, you can have two pintail ducks in your daily duck bag limit. That and moving Youth Hunting Day into mid-September, were among changes the Wildlife Board approved recently.

Starting in 2010, the chance you'll catch yellow perch in Utah could increase. And the chance to catch fish at Utah's community fishing waters might go up too.

A statewide yellow perch limit and a lower limit at the community waters are among the ideas Division of Wildlife Resources biologists are proposing for Utah's 2010 fishing season.

The number of cougars taken by hunters in Utah this season should be similar to the number taken over the past four seasons.

Members of the Utah Wildlife Board approved rules for the state's upcoming season at their Aug. 20 meeting in Salt Lake City.

Huntington North Reservoir received a new sportfish recently. On July 9, Division of Wildlife Resources hatchery workers flushed 10,000 wriggling wipers out of a hatchery truck and into its waters.

If you like camping and Bluegrass music, you'll love Rockport's annual Dam Jam Bluegrass Festival located at Rockport's Old Church campground area. Come and enjoy authentic Bluegrass music. Listen to local Bluegrass bands perform in the Old Church. If playing is your passion, stroll around the camp area and "jam" with other musicians. For further details contact Rockport State Park at 435-336-2241.

In 2008, Utah State Parks hosted 4,540,957 visitors! 
The chart below provides visitation numbers for each park during the same year.

The Utah Dating Violence Task Force and several community partners will host the 2nd Annual 5K Walk/Run to Prevent Dating Violence to raise awareness, reduce the stigmas, and offer support to those affected by dataing violence. All proceeds from the race will be used by the Utah Dating Violence Task Force towards the 2010 Dating Violence Prevention and Awareness Week activities.

If you're an archery hunter, you can stay safe during this year's archery hunts by following a few, simple rules.

Utah's general archery buck deer and elk hunts kick off Aug. 15.

As boaters cool off at area lakes and reservoirs, Utah State Parks Boating Education Specialist Chris Haller reminds boaters to follow Utah’s speed and proximity law.
This law requires boat operators to remain at a slow wakeless speed whenever they are within 150 feet of another boat, person floating on the water, towed waterskier, shore anglers, launch ramp, dock, or designated swimming area. Personal watercraft are considered boats.

Here are some basic guidelines.

The Division of Wildlife Resources will host its annual Tushar Mountain Goat Watch in the Tushar Mountains east of Beaver.

The event is free. The DWR will provide all the equipment you'll need to view the goats.

The Utah Geological Survey (UGS) needs your help in locating fissures in the Cedar Valley area of Iron County. The Central Iron Water Conservancy District has asked the UGS to study earth fissures in the Enoch area and adjoining parts of Cedar Valley in Iron County.

"Our hope is that by putting out the information on fissures and what they are, people might recognize them and direct us to where they are," said Mike Lowe, UGS Ground-Water and Paleontology Program Manager.

More than 5,700 acres of critical big game and sage-grouse habitat now belongs to the state of Utah. 

The land, located in the foothills of Tabby Mountain north of Fruitland, is a critical piece of winter and transition range for elk, deer, sage-grouse and other wildlife.

Each year beginning at Donner Trail Park near the mouth of Emigration Canyon the First Encampment Hike (five mile trek) on city streets to the First Encampment Park is held to commemorate the entry of the Mormon pioneers into the valley.

This year's trek will be held on SATURDAY, July 18, 2009, at 7:00 a.m. at Donner Trail Park, located east of Hogle Zoo and the Bonneville Golf Course at the corner of Wasatch Drive and Kennedy Drive.

If you plan on visiting Lake Powell during the July 4 holiday, or anytime this summer, plan your visit so you don't arrive at a major launch ramp between 10 p.m. and 5:30 a.m.

If you arrive during those hours, you won't be able to launch your boat.

The National Park Service has closed the ramps from 10 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Utah time (9 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. in Arizona).

 

Recent surveys indicate that over 80 percent of Utah's registered boat owners have not completed an education course. Utah's Boating Course is a simple and easy course to complete.

In Utah, some fireworks are illegal. Generally, if they are sold in Utah, the are legal to use in Utah. If you could not purchase the firework in Utah, it is not legal to light that firework in Utah at any time.

It's not unusual to find a deer fawn or an elk calf in the woods—or even in town—this time of the year.  If you find a deer fawn or an elk calf, the best thing to do is keep your distance and leave the animal right where you found it.

The well known Mountain and Lake courses at Wasatch Mountain State Park are consistently ranked among the most popular, affordable and scenic in Utah. Nationally, Golf Digest rated Wasatch Mountain as one of Utah's Best Places to Play, giving the facility 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Permits to hunt buck deer in Utah this fall sold out on June 13.  All of the state's deer permits are gone, but plenty of general bull elk permits are still available.  This should be a great year to hunt elk.

During your visit to Fremont Indian State Park, kids can play in the Kid's Discovery Zone. Kids can pretend to be a Fremont Indian and play in the pithouse, weave on a loom, and make their own rock art on the rock art wall. Kids can also pretend to be an archeologist, put on a lab coat, study real artifacts, and learn about Native American culture in the Archeology Lab.

Many golfers agree that Palisade State Park Golf Course is one of Utah's best-kept golf secrets. Hidden in the geographic center of Utah, Palisade is a beautiful 18-hole mountain course with towering trees, stunning vistas of the surrounding Sanpete County, and breathtaking views of Palisade Reservoir.

Anglers are spreading the word: tiger trout are a beautiful fish that put up a big fight. And they taste great on the table! If you want to hook one of these fighters, you need to toss aside some of the techniques you've used to catch rainbow trout.

June 20 is the day the Division of Wildlife Resources will host its annual Osprey Watch. The free wildlife viewing event will be held on the peninsula that's opposite the Flaming Gorge Dam visitor center in northeastern Utah.

Camp under the night sky in your favorite state park (June 27). We have more than 1,000 campsites throughout Utah - tell stories and toast marshmallows around a cozy campfire. For reservations, call 800-322-3770.

The Mountain Spirit Heritage Festival is Summit County's annual celebration of its history. Come celebrate with dancing, live music, and food vendors. Friday's events take place at the Coalville, Utah fairgrounds. Music starts at 4:00 PM and free "Pig" dinner starts at 6:30 PM.

Two men plead guilty to charges stemming from search warrants served over the Memorial Day weekend. During the search of a home and shed in Panguitch, officers from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and the Garfield County Sheriffs office found evidence that implicated the two Panguitch residents in the illegal killing of nine buck deer, two doe deer, and two buck pronghorn.

If you're looking for a fun activity that's close to home and doesn't cost much, mark June 6 on your calendar.  June 6 is Free Fishing Day in Utah. You won't need a fishing license to fish in the state that day.

Whether you venture to streams in the High Uintas or just toss a line into the community pond, be sure you know the rules for the water you plan to visit.
Regulations and limits have changed at a few popular fisheries.

Also, be sure to read about the latest assessment of Utah's wind, solar, and geothermal renewable energy resources.

Downtown Salt Lake City's famous pair of peregrine falcons is back.

You can watch their antics by logging onto the Division of Wildlife Resources' Web site. Right now, the falcons are caring for three eggs the female has laid in a nest box on the northeast corner of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

What could be the first population of greenback cutthroat trout ever found in Utah will get some added protection through a change to the state's fishing rules.

Division of Wildlife Resources Director Jim Karpowitz signed the emergency change this week. The change takes effect May 1.