The Salt Lake City Country Club near the mouth of Parley’s Canyon was home to an estimated 80 to 120 elk, but on March 19, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and the Utah Highway Patrol said it was time for them to head back home to the mountains.
“Seriously though, we’re very grateful to the Country Club,” said DWR Conservation Outreach Manager Scott Root. “We just had nowhere to put them. You can’t just move 80 head of elk, so we had to wait for a Sunday morning when traffic wasn’t as bad and push them up the mountain.”
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Sections of I-80, East Canyon, Parley’s Way, and Foothill Drive were closed to allow the elk to cross the roads safely.
“We were very lucky, as far as I can tell, that we did push them right where we wanted them to go,” said Roots. “No accidents on I-80 or on Foothill. So hopefully, they’re up on the mountain, and everything’s good. We could see them go up the mountain; let’s just hope they’ll stay up there during the next week of winter.”
Wildlife officials say that the elk moved down, to begin with, because of the storms and snowfall we’ve been seeing all winter.
“I mean, they were hungry, the snow was deep, and it was cold,” said Roots. “This rivals some of those really serious winters in the past, and they came down for survival, and we’re grateful that we could get them back up now, and let’s just hope they stay.”
If the elk decide to come back down, plans are ready to help get them back up again. However, no one could blame them for wanting to come down from the mountains.
Back to the canyon: ⛰️ I-80 has reopened after efforts to relocate a herd of elk in the area.
📹: Stan Hale
Send us your animal videos at https://t.co/rfXQN8Df2K! pic.twitter.com/wsOfbucMWm
— KUTV2news (@KUTV2News) March 19, 2023
HEADS UP: Closures taking place on I-215E/I-80/Foothill Dr. today at 10 a.m. for elk relocation
More info » https://t.co/GmHknhrOmE @kslnewsradio #utah pic.twitter.com/35gb2I07nY
— Utah Is Awesome! (@UtahIsAwesome) March 19, 2023
Utah wildlife officials herded these elk off the Salt Lake City Country Club greens and across I-80 on Sunday. We watched from 🚁5️⃣ pic.twitter.com/u90wO30Z4o
— Jeff Dahdah (@jeff_dahdah) March 21, 2023
“I mean, if I could retire to the Country Club every winter, I would do it,” said Roots.
Wildlife officials say the movement operation went without any issues and that there was even a crowd there to cheer on the elk as they made their way home.
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“This is a once-in-a-lifetime wildlife viewing opportunity,” said Roots. “Especially for those in the big city, Salt Lake. We had a great view, and I mean, what a neat opportunity to watch our state animal.”
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