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SALT LAKE CITY — An audit of state funds used to promote efforts to delist wolves as a federally endangered species says questions "remain unanswered" in the use of $5.13 million by Big Game Forever to aid in the effort.
The Utah Legislature has appropriated $5.98 million in all since 2011 to aid in the push to delist the gray wolf as an endangered animal, $5.13 million of it for Big Game Forever, and the efforts were the focus of an audit by the Utah Office of the Legislative Auditor General. The audit, released Tuesday, said representatives from Big Game Forever did not cooperate in the effort and that auditors had limited documentation at their disposal to review.
"Compounded by little documentation and employees and subcontractors unavailable or unwilling to speak to us, the questions about how (Big Game Forever) carried out the contract remain unanswered," reads the audit.
The audit, furthermore, raised questions about Big Game Forever's use of subcontractors in efforts to lobby on behalf of delisting the gray wolf, though it didn't offer additional details. "We have concerns primarily with (Big Game Forever's) extensive use of subcontractors, some of whom may be relatives. We also looked at connections with a former (Utah Department of Natural Resources) employee," it reads.
Utah Rep. Casey Snider, R-Paradise, requested the audit of state funding used for wolf delisting. Big Game Forever, a nonprofit entity based in Bountiful, according to online Utah Department of Commerce records, handled the efforts from 2015 to 2019. Hunter Nation, a nonprofit based in Mission, Kansas, received the contract for the work in 2023.
The audit said Hunter Nation received $500,000 for its work in 2023 and reported no issues with its operations. The expenses by the Kansas organization "can be clearly tracked and are clearly used for the purposes listed" in its contract with the state, the audit reads.
Big Game Forever was the focus of an in-depth report by the Utah Investigative Journalism Project last August that determined that some of the funding earmarked for the entity went to a consulting firm owned by Ryan Benson, the Big Game Forever founder. Additional money went to a consulting firm owned by Benson's brother, Jon Benson.
Documents obtained via records requests as part of last August's report pinpoint hours worked by the varied subcontractors that assisted Big Game Forever "without disclosing exactly how much they were each individually paid," the report reads. Ryan Benson previously led Lake Restoration Solutions, the now-bankrupt company that had proposed dredging Utah Lake in Utah County and creating man-made islands for development.
Tuesday's audit doesn't specify why Snider requested the review. Gray wolves have been delisted from a small area of northern Utah as a federally endangered species, but Utah officials have long called for delisting across the state so they can handle wolf management instead.
"The (Utah Division of Wildlife Resources) has a statewide management plan and personnel who can effectively manage wolves statewide," reads a DWR "fact sheet" on the issue. "Right now, however, any wolves that move out of the small delisted area are considered endangered and are subject to exclusive federal jurisdiction. While endangered, those animals cannot be managed by the DWR, regardless of their impacts on livestock or wildlife."
Snider also requested audits of state funding granted for a reforestation proposal, an initiative to assist military veterans and plans to protect the massive Pando grove of Aspen trees in central Utah. Auditors reported no issues or anomalies related to those plans.
