SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Utah Highway Patrol and other agencies collaborated Sunday morning to facilitate an elk relocation that closed Interstate 80 for a couple of hours.
Brenda is an enthusiast of Tanner Park, located just west of Parleys Canyon. She has been watching dozens of elk find a food oasis at the Salt Lake Country Club for weeks now.
"We can see them through our front window and in between trees. They've just been camping out and enjoying the grass as much as they can with all this snow," Brenda said.
She was one of many onlookers watching the elk be relocated from the country club to the mountains Sunday. A helicopter guided the herd as they traversed the freeway and the mountainside.
"It's been heartbreaking to watch them because I've been worried they're going to cross into traffic and get hit," Brenda said. "So it's really nice we can have this planned event to get them safely up the mountain."
Scott Root with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said about 80 elk were hanging out at the Salt Lake Country Club Golf Course for a month and a half. The DWR attempted to relocate them in the past, but heavy snowfall in January and February pushed the elk back down. Although more snowfall is possible in the coming weeks, Root is optimistic they will stay in the mountains this time.
"Elk are pretty hardy. They can do pretty well in snow and we're hoping they'll stay up there," Root said.
Watching a high-traffic area come to a standstill for wildlife was shocking to Brenda.
"My mom has lived here for 50 years, and she says she's never seen the freeway shut off," Brenda said.
Root says in his 32 years of working for the DWR, he can't recall a time when a highly populated area had to be shut down to accommodate the relocation of wildlife.
"Having to shut down Interstate 80 and Foothill Boulevard — that's serious because there's people that may need to get somewhere really fast," Root said.
Brenda is hopeful this is the end of the I-80 elk saga for the safety of the animals and people.
"I hope people are being careful and certainly just leaving them alone and letting them be so they can hopefully make their way up the mountain," Brenda said.
