Wild Lands
Need Wild
Lions.
Utah’s landscapes are shaped by forces most people never see. Mountain lions are among the unseen architects of this wilderness, helping sustain the wild character that makes Utah extraordinary. Scientists call it a trophic cascade. We call it The Lion Effect.
That wild character isn’t just scenery – it’s the foundation of a $9.75B outdoor recreation economy, 153,000 Utah jobs, and the reason 11 million people visited Utah’s national parks last year.
Today, that system is under threat from the legislation that weakens science-based wildlife management and treats mountain lions as obstacles rather than essential parts of a healthy ecosystem.
Utah Wild is a campaign of the Mountain Lion Foundation — protecting America’s lion since 1986.
PHOTO: Paul Garvey
One campaign.
One clear goal.
Utah Wild is a science-based advocacy campaign launched by the Mountain Lion Foundation to restore responsible wildlife management in Utah. It is a pro-science, pro-stewardship effort that believes wildlife decisions should be grounded in facts not fear.
These are not remote, abstract places. They are the watersheds, canyon rims, and forested plateaus that frame the views Utah’s $9.75B outdoor economy is built on. The Paunsaugunt Plateau north of Bryce. The Pine Valley Mountains west of Zion. The La Sals above Moab. Every visitor who comes for these landscapes is, whether they know it or not, dependent on the ecological systems being dismantled inside them.
Since 2020, a series of legislative actions has dismantled decades of science-based mountain lion management in Utah — stripping wildlife biologists of authority, eliminating seasons and permit systems, and launching a lethal removal program in landscapes surrounding Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Arches National Parks. These weren’t the product of open debate — two of the most consequential changes were introduced as last-minute amendments with no public hearings and no input from the state’s own wildlife scientists.
Utah Wild is a campaign designed to bring together a broad coalition of scientists, recreation businesses, rural communities, and citizens who believe healthy ecosystems require responsible governance.
Funded and led by the Mountain Lion Foundation.
Science was sidelined.
Here's how.
Visitors to Utah’s national parks in 2025
Utah recreation economy
at risk annually
Utah jobs tied to outdoor recreation.
Science-based management. Regulated seasons, permits, and biological oversight maintained stable lion populations.
HB 125 mandates predator removal whenever ungulate numbers fall below politically-set objectives, accelerating pressure on lion populations.
HB 469 eliminated seasons, bag limits, and permit requirements while stripping wildlife biologists of much of their authority to respond to population decline.
Wildlife Board restructured to favor license-holding hunters; scientific representation narrowed.
WRI-7707, a lethal predator removal program, launched in 6 units — including landscapes adjacent to Zion and Capital Reef National Parks, and the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.
This was legislators managing wildlife by slipping an amendment into an unrelated bill at the last hour.
Cory Huntsman · Former President, Utah Houndsmen Association
The Lion Effect.
Vegetation & Watersheds
Ecosystem Resilience
Mountain lions reproduce slowly — females raise small litters every 2–3 years — making populations especially vulnerable to overharvest. Utah’s own data shows female harvest rates have surpassed sustainable thresholds.
What Visitors See
When lions keep deer moving, willows and cottonwoods regenerate along streams. Songbirds return. Beavers come back. Streams stay cold and full. These are the cottonwood groves shading Zion’s Virgin River, the aspens turning gold above Cedar Breaks, the riparian corridors anglers and hikers travel through. The Lion Effect is what visitors are actually buying when they plan a trip or purchase a flight to Utah.
The Lion Effect is not abstract theory. It is measurable ecological function. When lions disappear, ecosystems change.
This reaches beyond wildlife.
The Lion Effect protects ecosystems. And ecosystems are what Utah’s economy, identity, and future are built on. Weakening science-based wildlife management doesn’t just affect mountain lions — it affects everyone and everything that depends on Utah’s wild landscapes staying wild.
The Economy
Utah’s outdoor recreation economy generates $9.75B annually and supports more than 153,000 jobs. It’s the lodges, restaurants, and guide services of Springdale, Torrey, Moab, Escalante, and Kanab — gateway towns whose livelihoods rise and fall with the health of the lands around them. It’s hunting outfitters who understand that sustainable harvests depend on naturally regulated herds, not boom-and-bust cycles. When the ecosystems behind this economy erode, the economy erodes with them.
The Brand
Utah has spent decades and millions of dollars marketing the “Mighty 5” to the world — five national parks defined by landscapes most travelers have never seen anywhere else. That brand is only as durable as the ecosystems behind it. Healthy watersheds, intact riparian corridors, abundant wildlife — these are not decorative. They are the product. Dismantling science-based management while marketing wilderness is a contradiction the world will eventually see.
The Future
Utah’s hunters, ranchers, and rural families have stewarded these landscapes across generations. The current trajectory asks them to trade long-term ecological health for short-term political fixes. Fewer lions means weaker natural checks on Chronic Wasting Disease, which is already spreading through Utah’s deer and elk herds. Degraded riparian systems mean diminished hunting, fishing, and wildlife viewing for the next generation. What’s being decided right now will impact Utah’s wild for years to come.
Wild Utah isn't just an idea. It's an economy, an identity, and an inheritance.
You can't market a wild landscape and dismantle the science that keeps it wild. The Mighty 5 brand depends on what happens now.
The people raising concerns
aren't who you'd expect.
Opposition to Utah’s current management trajectory has not come solely from environmental advocates. Hunters, houndsmen, wildlife professionals, rural communities, and recreation business leaders are all raising the same concern: science-based safeguards matter — for wildlife, for landscapes, and for the people who depend on both.
Hunters & Houndsmen
Wildlife Professionals
Rural Communities
Recreation Business
Citizens
Utah now faces a defining question.
Will its wildlife be managed through long-term ecological science, or short-term political pressure?
If Science Is Restored
- Lion populations can stabilize and recover
- Wildlife professionals regain biological authority
- Ecosystems remain resilient and functional
- Utah protects its $9.75B recreation economy and ecological identity
If Current Policies Continue
- Lion populations decline past ecologically damaging thresholds
- Fewer lions could weaken a natural check on Chronic Wasting Disease dynamics
- Ecological degradation intensifies across sensitive lands
- Utah becomes a precedent for politically driven wildlife governance nationwide
- Degraded riparian areas in gateway corridors — the streams and cottonwood groves visitors come to see
- Long-term decline in deer herds as habitat collapses, hurting hunting outfitters who depend on sustainable populations
- Reputational risk to Utah’s “Mighty 5” brand as conservation organizations, scientists, and travelers push back
Four steps to restore
science-based management.
Pause the Removal Program
Restore Protections
Independent Assessment
Re-center Stewardship
Wild Utah is worth protecting.
We are building a broad coalition of organizations, businesses, and individuals committed to restoring science-based wildlife governance in Utah.
Add your name to the Utah Wild coalition.
We welcome anyone who believes healthy ecosystems require responsible management.
Add your voice. Sign the petition. Stay informed.
Every signature strengthens the case for science-based stewardship.