Below is a news release from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation supplied $100,000 in funding support for the project.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) unveiled the newest wildlife management area in Utah at a ribbon-cutting event—the Cook Wildlife Management Area (WMA)—which will help protect and provide summer habitat for big game animals and other wildlife in the area.
The Cook WMA is located in Daggett County, roughly 7 miles west of Manila in northeast Utah. The 1,600-acre WMA is surrounded by approximately 7,200 acres of land owned by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Funds Office, which is also open to public access through a DWR agreement.
The new WMA was purchased from—and named after—private landowners Dall and Ellen Cook. Several partnering organizations aided in the purchase of the land, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mule Deer Foundation, Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Utah Wild Sheep Foundation.
“We are extremely grateful to the Cook family and also to our many funding partners who are passionate about wildlife conservation,” DWR Director Riley Peck said. “Wildlife management areas are crucial in protecting important habitat for our many wildlife species in Utah and for helping to provide a place for Utahns to hunt and fish.”
The Cook WMA provides important summer range for deer, elk and pronghorn and also provides habitat for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, moose, upland game and black bears in the area. The WMA will also provide the public with walk-in-only wildlife recreation opportunities.
The land sale was finalized in January, and the WMA is now open to the public. The WMA is walk-in access only—no vehicles are allowed. The DWR is currently working on creating a management plan for the new WMA and will work to update existing water pipelines, install three new guzzlers and improve fencing.
The Cook WMA is the 149th wildlife management area in Utah. In addition to providing areas for people to hunt and fish, WMAs provide vital winter and summer ranges and foraging areas for many wildlife species, including big game. The areas also help minimize and mitigate wildlife depredation on private property. WMAs are primarily funded by the sale of hunting and fishing licenses in Utah.
RMEF has a long conservation history in Utah. Dating back to 1987, RMEF worked with partners to complete 896 conservation and hunting heritage outreach projects with a combined value of more than $219.1 million. These projects conserved or enhanced more than 1.5 million acres of habitat and opened or improved public access to 34,736 acres.
Most recently in 2023, RMEF covered a $1.3 million funding gap to conserve, open public access to 2,600 acres and help create the East Canyon WMA just east of Salt Lake City. In late 2021, RMEF supplied funding support that led to the purchase and creation of the 8,107-acre Cinnamon Creek WMA near the Cache-Weber County boundary line in northern Utah.
(Photo credit: Utah Division of Wildlife Resources)
