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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah wildlife officials have, since the early 1980s, given a portion of their hunting permits to conservation groups, who auction off those permits for money that goes back to conservation projects.
Groups like Ducks Unlimited, the Mule Deer Foundation or the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation participate in this program. They receive rare permits that are otherwise difficult to find, such as bighorn sheep or bison permits or hunting units with fewer big game permits.
It's also divided in proportion to how much a permit brings in. So the money brought in from a bighorn sheep permit goes toward bighorn sheep conservation projects. This program has done quite well in generating funds for conservation projects across the state.
How well? It has generated more than $65 million since 2001, according to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
"It's been one of the significant success stories here, repurposing wildlife dollars into conservation," said Rep. Casey Snider, R-Paradise, at the beginning of the 2022 Utah legislative session.
This practice won't end any time soon; however, a bill that Gov. Spencer Cox signed this week makes technical changes that clarify where the money goes. HB78 establishes something called a wildlife conservation fund, where the proceeds of these auctions will go.
It's the product of a recent audit that recommended the change to improve the transparency of the program, according to Snider, who sponsored the bill.
"Sunlight is always the best medicine for anything we do here, especially when it's taxpayer dollars — and more importantly when it's taxpayer dollars generated from taxpayer resources, which wildlife specifically is," he said back in January. "(The fund) allows the public to see every step of the process."
In 2020, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources issued 326 permits to conservation partners — less than 2% of all permits that year. Those permits were then auctioned off, generating $5.2 million. A more recent report noted that 293 permits brought in another $6.1 million in 2021.
About 60% of the profits went to groups with projects that the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources approved, while about 30% went to the division itself. The remaining 10% went to conservation groups toward administrative costs, according to a final review of the process.
The 2020 audit found nothing nefarious about the program. All the reviewed permits were paid for, the money went to the right places for projects that had already been approved and everything was paid on time.
But the audit suggested a fund or something similar to help track money coming in and out.
Riley Peck, a biologist for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, explained that it wasn't clear if the money was classified as dedicated credits or expendable receipts. The former means money collected by an agency that funds agency operations; the latter means collections by an agency for expenditures that are "limited by a nonstate entity that provides the funds," according to the state.
In simpler terms, it wasn't clear enough where the money was going and what it was being used for.
The audit recommended that these funds be classified as restricted revenue instead, which are collections that flow into a "separate fund, subfund or account designated for a specific program or purpose," per state law.
One of the stipulations from HB78 is that the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources will report to the Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environmental Quality Appropriations Subcommittee regarding the amount of money in the fund, as well where the money came and how it is spent.
"This would allow for more transparency and easier tracking of those funds," Peck said.
Snider proposed a similar bill last year but time ran out in the 2021 legislative session before it could pass.
The bill sailed through the Utah Legislature with ease after being introduced much earlier this year, receiving unanimous votes in both chambers. Cox then signed the bill on Tuesday.
A report from the Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst found the new law will have no fiscal impact. It will just put funds in a central location.
