President’s Message

As I look back on last year, I can hardly contain the excitement I have for the future of our organization. The annual fundraising banquet has sold out the past two years and we will be looking for a larger venue for 2026 and beyond. Organizational revenues continue to grow and I am sure most of you have been receiving emails and social media posts regarding the Desert Bighorn sweepstakes we are currently running. As a result, we anticipate giving away two sheep hunts at our 2025 banquet, an ARRO Dall’s sheep hunt and an Old Mexico Desert Bighorn hunt! Please see our website for ticket sales and like all hunt applications, the only rule is that if your hat’s not in the game, you’re certainly not going to win! It is still my personal goal to give away hunts for all four species of North American wild sheep at our banquet and we are closer than ever to achieving that objective. Our board of directors continues to expand with passionate, motivated individuals and as a result of a tremendous donation from one of our long-time supporters, Utah WSF couldn’t be in a better position going forward. The opportunity for growth is unique and as a result, the Board has transitioned Hadli Sorenson, our banquet and fundraising director, into a full-time executive director’s position. Please see the executive director’s write-up for her short and long-term goals for the organization. This year Utah WSF had a booth at the Sheep Show in January and in February we will also have one at the WHCE. If you are planning on attending make sure to stop by the booth to say hello and talk sheep hunting, tag applications, etc.! This will also be the inaugural year of the Utah WSF summer golf tournament and fundraiser. This event, like our 2025 banquet will sell out, so get your tickets ASAP to enjoy a day on the course to support Utah WSF! In 2024 Utah was the beneficiary of 20 Desert Bighorns, 17 ewes and 3 rams, from the Valley of Fire in Nevada, which were captured in July and moved to the new nursery herd facility to augment that population. A significant amount of capture work is planned for this winter throughout the State as well. In total, 111 Utah Bighorns will be captured, collared and disease tested. The units being tested include the Kaiparowits (40), Pine Valley (26), Flaming Gorge (25), Henry Mountains (10) and Pilot Mountains (10). These captures will increase the ability of the DWR to evaluating herd health and unit specific management plans, set tag numbers, track Bighorn movements and monitor disease events. I hope as a member that you have seen the increased effort the organization has made in “telling our story.” With a greater social media and website presence in place, we will continue to improve in this area with monthly/quarterly newsletter’s, email correspondence, etc. As always, I would like to thank all of our conservation partners, especially SFW and the Utah DWR, who have helped Utah WSF in pursuit of its Mission Statement. I would also like to thank the Utah WSF Board of Directors for their support and once again, thank our membership for making our organization one to be proud of!

Respectfully,

Travis Jenson
President, Utah WSF