- Utah is poised to remove hunting/fishing license requirements for over two dozen wildlife areas later this year.
- Visitors must watch an educational video about the areas' importance before entry, beginning in July.
- The new law aims to balance recreation opportunities with conservation efforts.
SALT LAKE CITY — You soon won't need a hunting or fishing license to access more than two dozen Utah wildlife management areas along the Wasatch Front, but you'll have to watch an educational video about their importance.
Utah legislators passed HB30 during the final week of the legislative session, which removes the license requirement for people entering management areas in Davis, Salt Lake, Utah and Weber counties that lawmakers established in a bill last year. It instead requires a digital verification that someone has watched a short educational video before entering one of the areas, and creates a new fund that pays for improvements to the public land.
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources plans to have the video and new rules for accessing wildlife management areas by July 1, which is when the new law goes into effect, said Faith Heaton Jolley, a spokeswoman for the agency. The old rule will remain in place until then.
Last year's HB309 — aside from a few exceptions — required permits for anyone 18 or older visiting 30 wildlife management areas amid issues with maintaining management areas, which are designated public lands used for wildlife habitats, as well as areas for hunting and fishing.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Management purchases and maintains management areas through hunting and fishing license fees, as well as a tax tied to purchasing hunting or fishing equipment, but officials said many areas have been "loved to death" by other types of recreation.
It passed a rule to mirror the law, but the implementation of the new law and rule didn't go smoothly. Over half of the people who recreate on wildlife management area land have never owned a fishing or hunting license before, according to one Utah State University study.
"A few weeks after (last year's) session ended, we started getting lots of emails, lot of calls and a lot of angry people," said Rep. David Shallenberger, R-Orem, sponsor of this year's HB30, during a committee meeting in January.
Lawmakers said in August that they'd like to revisit the rule after hearing complaints by residents who were used to recreating in the management areas without a permit. By then, the division had amended its rule to allow people to continue along the Bonneville Shoreline and Great Western trails, which cut through a portion of the Timpanogos Wildlife Management Area.
Everyone agreed that education was important in protecting management areas, which became the key element of HB30. The video will be about two minutes and explains the importance of wildlife management areas, Shallenberger said. His bill also establishes the Wildlife Management Area Stewardship Fund, where people, businesses and nonprofits can donate to the pool of funds that go toward wildlife management areas.
"(Hikers and bikers) have been eager to be part of the solution and help take care of these," he said, noting that some of these non-hunting or fishing groups have already assisted in cleaning up some of the areas.
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources officials supported the measure as the bill was crafted, since it allowed the division to continue to manage the properties for their intended use, while adding new educational opportunities. The division plans to unveil new rules to comply with HB30 that will be rolled out over the next two years, starting with the Wasatch Front and other higher-populated counties in July, Jolley said.
Exact details of the new rule will be released before then.
It was one of a handful of new outdoor recreation bills passed during the session. Many other bills will go into effect as early as May 6, barring a veto by Gov. Spencer Cox.
Other key outdoor recreation bills passed during the 2026 session
These were some of the other bills that Utah lawmakers passed during the 2026 legislative session that affect outdoor recreation in one way or another.
- HB12: Expands the language of Utah's outdoor recreational infrastructure grant program to allow for projects that build or acquire trails, facilities or equipment for recreation users of all abilities. HB567 was also passed, clarifying that projects that help restore algal bloom-affected bodies of water or other natural features may also qualify for grants.
- HB93: Creates the Goshen Bay Waterfowl Management Area around the wetlands near the southern end of Utah Lake.
- HB111: Makes several changes to wildlife laws. The changes include a $25 fee cap on harvest reports filed late, as well as allowing some hunts on golf courses during certain legal seasons. Among other adjustments, it also directs the state to relocate any grizzly bears that wander into Utah, much like how the state handles wolves.
- HB536: Expands the punishment for graffiti or defacement of public lands to include more damage or destruction of natural and archaeological features, such as damaging or destroying natural features like hoodoos, stalactites, stalagmites or petroglyphs on public lands, and creates a new fund to help pay for repairs to damaged natural or archaeological features.
- SB209: Calls on the Utah Division of State Parks to study the creation of a new dam and Gooseberry Narrows State Park in Sanpete County.
- HJR30: Allows the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to claim over 22,000 acres of disputed Great Salt Lake land to be added to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in exchange for about $60 million.
