Completion Form

2024

In August and September of 2023, Utah Conservation Corps (UCC) was contracted to have a 5-person crew retreat all the old Russian Olive and Tamarisk treatment area from Minersville Reservoir to the Beaver County Fairgrounds. The crew applied Garlon 3A and Aquasweep to all resprout of invasive species (foliar spray for smaller plants and cut-stump for larger plants).

In February and March of 2024, the UDWR heavy equipment crew used excavators with thumb attachments to remove Russian Olive and Tamarisk of untreated sections of the lower Beaver River and shape and slope streambanks (including adding of fabric-protected terraces on outside eroding banks). The work should add cover for fish, help address problems associated with elevated rates of streambank erosion (e.g., recruitment of fine sediment or high total phosphorous loads), and protect cattle crossing structures to manage livestock grazing.

In March and April of 2022, riparian seeding and planting was completed on the disturbed ground and areas lacking adequate riparian vegetation. UDWR biologists and seasonal technicians completed the seeding work using seed purchased through the GBRC. Several private contractors were hired to supply and plant riparian trees, shrubs, and sedges (e.g., Water Birch, Cottonwood, Red-osier Dogwood, Chokecherry, Elderberry and Golden Current) to add cover and address streambank erosion problems. Both private contractors and UDWR employees also planted willow cuttings.

In June of 2024, the stream corridor encompassing the newly "treated" project area on private land was fenced to manage livestock grazing, which should also help to protect riparian vegetation and streambanks over the long-term.

In addition to the work on the lower Beaver River, riparian planting work was completed on lower Fish Creek (tributary to Clear Creek near Fremont Indian State Park). The planting work on lower Fish Creek was included in this project because it allowed us to use the existing contract with UCC, saving time and money putting together a scope of work and additional bid for a very small amount of work. The lower Fish Creek planting work included a 5-person crew planting for 40 hours in November of 2023 and another 40 hours in March of 2024. They UCC crew cut woody vegetation from nearby and planted stakes in the project area.

Habitats near water support the greatest variety of animal and plant life, and attract wildlife during their daily and seasonal movements. In a water-scarce landscape like Utah, these lush habitats are also where people have naturally settled.  In the West, riparian habitat covers less than 1% of the land, yet the role of riparian habitat in the landscape is substantial.  These wet habitat are disproportionately critical to the landscape around them.

Within Utah, 66-75% of all bird species use riparian habitats during some portion of their life history. Typically, diversity and abundance of birds dramatically increases in western riparian habitat compared with other habitat types, and numerous avian species are now considered as riparian obligates (Utah Partners in Flight Avian Conservation Strategy 2.0, 2002).

The lower Beaver River falls primarily on Walk-In-Access and BLM property and is a very popular recreation area for fishing, camping, hunting, wildlife viewing, and picnicking. Unfortunately, large flood events (especially in the early 1980s) left this section of stream with streambanks characterized by vertical, eroding, bare dirt and poor in and near-stream habitat. Additionally, invasive Russian Olive and Tamarisk still dominate sections of the river corridor.

In the current degraded state of untreated areas, a lack of suitable habitat is thought to be the limiting factor for trout, a significant barrier to a successful reestablishment of Southern Leatherside Chub, and negatively impact Sage Grouse; not to mention making recreation less appealing. The largely homogeneous stream channel is unable to satisfy diverse habitat requirements at different times of the year and over the life history of trout (e.g., pools with cover for refuge and riffle/glide sections for spawning). The lack of in-stream cover makes avoiding predation from larger fish and birds difficult for small trout and potentially Southern Leatherside Chub. The absence of brood-rearing habitat is a limiting factor in the Bald Hills SGMA for Sage Grouse (e.g., inadequate herbaceous vegetation for brood rearing forage). The extremely dense growth of Russian Olive and Tamarisk has made activities such as fishing and hunting difficult because sportsmen have trouble navigating the river corridor.

Active restoration work has already been completed on sections of the lower Beaver River immediately below this proposed project to return the stream to a desirable, functioning state that helps valuable game and conservation species and provides improved recreation opportunities for the public. Past work has shown that addressing the aquatic and riparian habitat problems goes a long ways towards achieving these main goals. Additionally, while the past work has been largely successful, Russian Olive and Tamarisk have been persistent in attempting to reestablish.

This completed additional aquatic and riparian improvement work on a previously untreated section of the lower Beaver River, as well as maintenance of past work to build on and protect the gains made over the past several years.

The project was essentially implemented as planned without any noteworthy challenges or issues that had to be worked through. The only significant departure from the original methods was the use of fabric on outside eroding streambanks instead of traditional rock structures. If using fabric is successful, this is a more economical approach to streambank work in the future.

Nic Braithwaite

09/16/2024 09:19:26