The Iron County Commission voted Nov. 10 to approve a letter of support for the Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) to pursue a 20-acre acquisition adjacent to Parowan Valley Wildlife Management Area, conditioned on commitments to protect neighboring farmland from prairie-dog encroachment.

Barbara Sugarman, the DWRUtah prairie-dog recovery biologist, told the commission the agency is under a purchase agreement for the Dally property, with a closing scheduled in December, and that the acquisition would help the stateand divisionbuild a stronger case for delisting the prairie dog from the Endangered Species Act. She summarized recent control work and costs and said the division spent a little over $25,000 in 2025 addressing conflicts adjacent to the WMA.

Adjacent producers said they appreciated DWRefforts but asked that any purchase agreement and management language protect neighbors from encroachment. One producer asked the commission to ensure the agreement's language is "at least as strong as it was back in 2001" and requested that baseline inventory levels and containment measures be guaranteed in any new agreement. Another producer described ongoing damage and urged burial or better installation of silt fencing to reduce prairie-dog dispersal.

DWR and county staff negotiated language on the record. Kevin (DWR staff) acknowledged possible limits—DWR cannot build a buried, 6-foot prairie-dog-proof fence without jeopardizing recovery-credit rules from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—but committed to a written plan: the division will include a requirement for a visual barrier (fence, vegetation or similar measure) on the east and south property lines in its upcoming WMA management plan and will engage neighbors in drafting the plan. The commission moved to approve a letter of support that included the requested visual-barrier language, a commitment that DWR will address mitigation measures in its WMA plan, and a condition that DWR keep adjacent landowner baseline survey numbers as a reference; the motion passed by voice vote.

DWR representatives said control options remain available under federal rules: live trapping between June 15 and Sept. 30 and lethal-control windows to Oct. 1-Dec. 31, with landowners able to perform legal control during permitted windows. DWR reiterated that delisting will be a multi-year process and that improved cooperation with the county and adjacent landowners is a priority.

Next steps: the county will send the letter of support with the added language and DWR will revise its WMA management plan, including neighbor input, prior to or concurrent with acquisition closing.