1 year tree/ dormancy please help need to know before to late.

From what I have gathered most trees need dormancy excluding tropical trees and such. my question is what should I do with my potted maple tree this is just one year old. I live in Utah were the winters can get rather cold at night.

to start of I'm very new to bonsai I have 2 maple trees that I basically started from some local seeds I found out side so they are from this area so far I have kept them alive however worried about the cold I all ready brought them inside after a few cold days about a month ago my question is what should I do now I'm worried if I try to put them back outside now they have been inside it will be a shock and just kill them right off besides the struggle of how to keep the roots from freezing.

so to get to my main question should I try to keep them inside this winter or should I try to find a way to get them to go dormant any advise would be helpful.

You should be able to get them through the winter by burying the pots and throwing some straw/mulch around them in a place outside that is protected from the wind. Dessication is the #1 problem in your winter climate. Even though it is usually wind caused, check every now and then to see that the soil in the pots is not dry - add a little water as needed. Water has a big heat capacity, so the temperature of damp roots will stay more constant than in dry soil, 'insulating' them from low temperature extremes.

I suggest you find out which maple species you have. Some may be good bonsai material, others may be a waste of time.
Iris

Amur maple (Acer ginnala) maybe. It has great fall colors and leaf sizes suitable for bonsai. It is usually a small shrubby tree in open cultivation and is often used in landscapes in the area. I recall another maple that I think is indigenous to the area - Big Tooth maple (Acer grandidentatum). There are other possibilities, but these are the ones I remember from the time I lived in the area.

thanks for the replies I'm not fully sure what kind it is but I do know that it dropped it seeds very early spring and they had a light pink to them that's why I picked them up that and when the leafs of the full grown tree where of the smaller scale for maple trees. but besides all that I honestly planed and sill plan on me ending up killing them some way or another saying I'm still very new at Bonsai my first batch didn't make make it out of the growing box.

p.s I looked it up best guess is Rocky Mountain Maple