MDF Podcast - Talking Mule Deer with Steve Belinda and Jodi Stemler

S2 E23 Utah Mule Deer Conservation with MDF Volunteer Darren West and Utah DWR’s Covy Jones

We are talking this week to MDF’s volunteer habitat conservation coordinator in Utah Darren West, and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resource’s big game coordinator Covy Jones about the collaborative work to improve and increase mule deer habitat in the state of Utah. These partners are working to share MDF’s Chapter Rewards generated by Utah chapters’ fundraising events and MDF’s Expo Tags as well as other state, federal and partner dollars for large landscape projects across the state. The efforts through the Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative are helping to increase the carrying capacity of mule deer in the state by adding more optimal habitat areas. Covy tells us how state game biologists are studying the herds and individual animals to assess herd health, and Darren explains how MDF chapters identify priority projects for chapter volunteer work days. We also hear about new collaring efforts in the state to learn more about mule deer migrations in order to know how deer are using the landscapes and where these migrations intersect with highways resulting in increased road mortality. To wrap up, Darren tells us about some of the projects that Utah chapters will be engaged in, many of which are working to restore wildlife management areas that were impacted by fires in 2018.