Releasing pheasants and providing service

Students in the USU Eastern Wildlife Science program were busy last week as they released pheasants for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and built a “wildlife guzzler” on the Porphory Bench.
Students enrolled in the NR 2000 course – Natural Resources Professional Orientation, are given the chance to interact with individuals and make contact that will help them with future employment in the field.
The course is designed to introduce students to a variety of natural resources professions by having guest speakers from several different state, federal and private organizations come and talk with students about their work in the “real world.” They also talk about necessary education, work and volunteer experience, and seasonal work opportunities.
The course has several outside of class assignments that are meant to give students volunteer opportunities, professor Mike King, Ph.D., said. “The pheasant release is something our students both in this course and in our student Wildlife Club have been doing for a few years. Pheasants are released annually by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) to increase hunting opportunities.”
“The pheasants are raised by a variety of individuals throughout the state for DWR release programs. In our areas, pheasants are being released during the hunting season at Desert Lake Waterfowl Management Area, the Gordon Creek Wildlife Management Area, and the Huntington Game Farm.”
On Nov. 12, the students helped DWR build a “Wildlife Guzzler” (an artificial water source) on Porphory Bench west of Price.
In the past, wildlife students have assisted with a variety of other service projects including, youth waterfowl hunting and shooting clinics, putting reflectors on fences to prevent sage grouse from colliding into barbed wire, building artificial beaver dams to help check streambank erosion, and assisting with mule deer capture/radio collaring projects.