Cinnamon Creek – Utah
During the fall season, this sweeping landscape offers rolling sagebrush hills featuring a vibrant display of golden aspen stands – a candy store, of sorts, for elk and other wildlife.
It’s also a shining example of a collaborative effort to conserve northern Utah elk country and open access to it.
The Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration put this 8,107-acre section of its property on the open market. Doing so, it received plenty of attention, including from private developers.
Noting its wildlife values, habitat and the looming threat of development, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources or DWR sought to purchase and protect the landscape. So, in 2021, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation joined several other organizations to supply the necessary funding to make that happen.
Today, it is known as the Cinnamon Creek Wildlife Management Area, named after the creek that runs through it. Combined with other streams that cross the property, the riparian area is critically important for native Bonneville cutthroat trout and other wildlife.
The WMA also features key habitat and summer range for elk, moose, mule deer, grouse and other species.
DWR crews made parking and road improvements to reduce the chance of flooding and improve access to hunters and others looking to use it.
Creating and improving public access is a long-time focus of RMEF’s mission. Since 1984 RMEF has opened or improved public access to 1.5 million acres of land.
To view the sites and boundaries of RMEF land conservation and access projects, turn on the RMEF layer and use the code RMEF when you sign up for your onX subscription to receive a 20% discount.