West Desert Recovery Unit

<p><span style='background-color:rgb(255,255,255); color:rgb(74,74,74); font-family:&quot;Avenir Next&quot;, Avenir, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif; font-size:16px;'><span style='display:inline !important; float:none; font-style:normal; font-variant-caps:normal; font-variant-ligatures:normal; font-weight:400; letter-spacing:normal; text-align:start; text-decoration-color:initial; text-decoration-style:initial; text-indent:0px; text-transform:none; word-spacing:0px;'>This is the boundary for the West Desert Recovery Unit for the Utah prairie dog.</span></span></p><p><strong>The West Desert Recovery Unit</strong> is primarily in Iron County, but extends into southern Beaver County and northern Washington County. &nbsp;There are 16,841 ac (6,815 ha) of mapped habitat in the West Desert RU (UDWR 2010a). &nbsp;Approximately 39% of the mapped habitat occurs on Federal lands. &nbsp;The West Desert RU contains over 70% of all adult Utah prairie dogs (Table 3). &nbsp;In any given year, 10-20% of the individual adults occur on public lands (Table 6). &nbsp;The West Desert population has fluctuated between less than 1,000 and 4,778 adult Utah prairie dogs (Table 3). &nbsp;Peaks of greater than 4,000 animals occurred in 1989, 2000, and 2005-2010. &nbsp;Between 2000 and 2003, the West Desert RU spring counts showed a decrease from 4,521-2,523 prairie dogs; however, the population rebounded to over 4,000 adult prairie dogs counted each year from 2005 through 2010 (Table 3). &nbsp;Average prairie dog density in the West Desert RU was 0.78 prairie dogs per acre from 2000-2007 (USFWS 2007). &nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><span style='background-color:rgb(255,255,255); color:rgb(74,74,74); font-family:&quot;Avenir Next&quot;, Avenir, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif; font-size:16px;'><span style='display:inline !important; float:none; font-style:normal; font-variant-caps:normal; font-variant-ligatures:normal; font-weight:400; letter-spacing:normal; text-align:start; text-decoration-color:initial; text-decoration-style:initial; text-indent:0px; text-transform:none; word-spacing:0px;'>See the 2012 Revised Recovery Plan (</span></span><a style='background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255); border:0px solid currentcolor; box-sizing:border-box; color:rgb(0, 97, 155); font-family:&quot;Avenir Next&quot;, Avenir, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif; font-size:16px; font-style:normal; font-variant-caps:normal; font-variant-ligatures:normal; font-weight:400; letter-spacing:normal; line-height:1.5; text-align:start; text-decoration:none; text-indent:0px; text-transform:none; word-spacing:0px;' target='_blank' href='https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/1203012_UTPD_RevisedRecoveryPlan_Final.pdf' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'>https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/1203012_UTPD_RevisedRecoveryPlan_Final.pdf)</a><span style='background-color:rgb(255,255,255); color:rgb(74,74,74); font-family:&quot;Avenir Next&quot;, Avenir, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif; font-size:16px;'><span style='display:inline !important; float:none; font-style:normal; font-variant-caps:normal; font-variant-ligatures:normal; font-weight:400; letter-spacing:normal; text-align:start; text-decoration-color:initial; text-decoration-style:initial; text-indent:0px; text-transform:none; word-spacing:0px;'> for more details.</span></span></p>