Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, Dugway, Utah - Wildlife refuge, bird habitat, hunting

Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1959. Covering 17,992 acres with a 10,000 acre marsh system, Fish Springs offers essential habitat for migrating wetland birds. The area was primarily established to provide nesting, wintering and migratory territory in the Pacific Flyway for waterfowl. But the Wildlife Refuge is a crucial resting place for other species of marsh-birds, raptors and passerines, with 277 species being recorded since the Refuge was established.

The list of waterfowl and other bird species that live in or visit the refuge is impressive. Both Canada geese and ducks nest in the marsh. Pintails, widgeons, and green-winged teals are predominate migratory species in fall, while gadwalls, redheads, mallards, teals, and pintails are the major nesters.

Grebes, herons, egrets, and rails make up the bulk of the water and marsh birds, while refuge rookeries have generous numbers of snowy egrets, white-faced ibis, and black- crowned night herons. Both peregrine falcons and golden eagles feed in the refuge. Great-horned owls and northern harriers both feed and nest. This is just a sample of the birds to be seen.

Many species remain to nest and raise their young. Peak spring and fall migrations are generally in mid April and late September. The Refuge offers both wildlife observation and hunting to the general public. The area is a great resource for many universities, government agencies and individuals conducting scientific research. Rarely seen, there are tarantula spiders at Fish Springs. Native fish, the Utah Chub, Least Chub and Speckled Dace are responsible for the name of the area. Many native mammal species reside in or utilize the refuge. Of the forty mammal species seen on the refuge, nineteen are small rodents. Other mammals include mule deer, pronghorn antelope, black-tailed jackrabbits, desert cottontails, and coyotes, the latter subject to population control because they prey heavily on the geese.

There is a self-guided tour route open all year. The Refuge office is open from 7am to 4:30pm, Monday to Friday. There is no fee required to visit Fish Springs. It is located in Western Utah on the southern edge of the Great Salt Lake Desert. Take note, this isolated refuge is eighty miles in any direction from the nearest gas station or grocery store. Getting to the wildlife refuge requires a long drive on gravel roads. From Salt Lake, take I-80 West, to exit 99. Go south on UT-36 through Tooele, and turn right on marked Pony Express Route (gravel road) for approximately seventy miles to refuge on right. From Nevada, take I-80 East to exit 410. Then go south on US-93A, turn left on gravel road to Gold Hill, then left in Gold Hill for twenty two miles to Callao, then left for twenty five miles to refuge on left.

Hunting is permitted for ducks, geese, coots, and mergansers only. Hunting all other species of wildlife is prohibited. The Refuge may be accessed for hunting from two hours prior to legal shooting time to one and a half hours after sunset (end of shooting hours). Every individual must register at the Refuge contact station upon arrival. Group registration is not allowed. All hunters must sign out prior to leaving the Refuge. If you are hunting multiple days, you must register and sign out every day.

Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge Tips:

Blinds - Non-permanent blinds may be constructed. Blinds made from materials other than vegetation must be removed when they are no longer in use.

Special Blind Area - Blinds for disabled hunters are available.

Parking - Parking area provided. Parking allowed on road shoulders in the hunt area. Do not block the road.

Closed areas- Are gated or marked by signs. Hunters or dogs may not enter closed areas. To retrieve birds, allow enough room between the closed area boundary and where you hunt to retrieve your bird.

Firearms - Rifles and handguns are NOT PERMITTED on the refuge unless they are unloaded and cased or broken down. Shooting upon or across DIKES and ROADS is prohibited.

Boating - Use of small boats, canoes, etc., is permitted but gasoline motors or airboats are not allowed.

Camping - Overnight parking or camping is not permitted. Campfires are not permitted. Camp stoves and portable heaters may be used.

Personnel Property - Decoys, boat, vehicles, and other personal property may not be left on the Refuge overnight.

Litter - Shell casings and ammunition boxes are litter. Failure to make a reasonable effort to retrieve litter could result in a citation.

Dogs - May be used if kept under close control at all times.

Half of the 18,000-acre refuge is mud and alkali flats, with desert upland, the other half is a 9,000-acre marsh fed by five major springs, with several lesser springs and seeps. The mineral-laden and slightly alkaline water maintains a year-round temperature of between 70 and 80 degrees. When water levels are at their highest in the spring, excess water overflows the marsh and disappears into the desert. Despite subzero winter temperatures, the waters never freeze, and the refuge plays host to between 5000 and 6000 wintering waterfowl.