Mammals
Moose
The largest member of the deer family in Utah, at home where northern mountain forest meets water.
Cutthroat trout
Utah's only native trout, in four subspecies, and the focus of decades of restoration work.
Cutthroat trout are the only trout native to Utah, and the state has four subspecies: Bear River, Bonneville, Colorado River and Yellowstone. Brook, brown and rainbow trout were brought in from the late 1800s for anglers. They compete with cutthroat for food and habitat, some eat young cutthroat, and rainbow trout interbreed with them. With habitat changes and urbanization, the Division of Wildlife Resources says, only a handful of cutthroat populations were identified in Utah by the 1970s.
The DWR has restored dozens of populations since then. A typical project puts a barrier at the downstream end of a stream, removes the non-native fish, and restocks cutthroat for a few years until they reproduce on their own. In 2023 the DWR said eight projects were planned over the following decade, mostly for Bonneville and Colorado River cutthroat.
Watching and staying safe
Seasons, limits and closures for cutthroat waters are set by the DWR and change; check its current fishing rules before going.
More wildlife · Streams and wetlands
Birds
Bear River refuge birds
American avocets, western grebes, tundra swans and bald eagles across a year in the Great Salt Lake wetlands.