CWU advisory committee terminates one CWMU, approves several boundary adjustments and sets follow‑ups

The CWU Advisory Committee took a series of formal actions Feb. 24 on multiple Cooperative Wildlife Management Units across the state, including a termination, several approvals of boundary or trade‑land adjustments, and one denial.

Key committee actions included termination of the COR (certificate of registration) for the Sweetwater CWMU after staff review and discussion of very limited antelope and hunter opportunity in that unit. The committee voted to terminate the Sweetwater COR; the division had indicated the ranch had not renewed and that renewal support would be unlikely without significant changes.

A related complaint about Salt Wells was considered; the committee ultimately decided to take no action on Salt Wells’ status pending further review in the renewal cycle. Committee members expressed concern about very low deer density on Salt Wells and noted low hunter satisfaction in recent years; the division told the committee it would likely recommend a reduced tag allocation or no renewal if the operator sought renewal in the next cycle.

The committee approved several boundary and public‑land requests presented by operators as improvements to legal clarity and hunter access. The committee recommended that Ingham Peak and TLBAR (TL Bar) keep their public acres in the CWMU and approved the Blackhawk request to include small, otherwise inaccessible public parcels inside its boundaries for ease of on‑the‑ground orientation. Prohibition Springs — a complicated checkerboard boundary case — was approved with specific conditions: the operator agreed to a 2:1 acreage trade ratio for trade lands, those traded‑in parcels would be treated as uncompensated walk‑in access rather than compensated trade lands, the committee asked that the CWMU name reflect the limited species focus (Prohibition Springs Antelope) and the committee recorded that public access to species other than pronghorn on accessible parcels would remain available.

The committee considered a request from Preston Nutter to swap and incorporate remote public parcels into the unit. Committee members voted the request down after concerns that several of the public parcels were practically accessible to backcountry hunters and that including them in the CWMU would remove public access to useful hunt areas. The vote failed on a 4–3 or similar margin.

Finally, the committee considered a variance request from Blackhawk to extend its bull‑elk season by two weeks into mid‑December. Staff and the committee agreed to pause that request and seek legal clarification about whether current rules allow the committee or wildlife board to authorize bull elk hunting into December; the variance was tabled pending counsel review.

Votes at a glance: see list below for itemized motions and outcomes.

Ending: Several approvals will proceed to the regional rack/board steps required by rule. The committee frequently noted that its approval often included specific conditions (trade ratios, signage, and walk‑in‑access designations) that Division staff will document for regulatory filing and for operators to implement before the next hunt season.