Project Details

This project will improve the winter range on the Wallsburg Wildlife Management Area (WMA). The Wallsburg (WMA) is located within the boundaries of the wildlife management unit 17, Wasatch Mountains, which provides habitat for 500 to 600 wintering deer and up to 300 wintering elk on a normal winter.

Shrub poor areas are increasing on the Wallsburg WMA as decadent sagebrush die off and are not replaced by new plants.  Some of the recruitment problem is caused by an understory of mostly non native perennial grasses and an increase of bulbose bluegrass.  Older sagebrush have also been affected by voles which girdle the bark.

This project will help to increase diversity of Shrubs and create a multi age class of preferred plants that will provide additional winter forage for big game.  A shrub seedling planting study on the WMA will help DWR determine the best size of shrub seedling to grow and the best season to plant to insure success of shrub seedling planting projects in the future.

Provide evidence about the nature of the problem and the need to address it. Identify the significance of the problem using a variety of data sources. For example, if a habitat restoration project is being proposed to benefit greater sage-grouse, describe the existing plant community characteristics that limit habitat value for greater sage-grouse and identify the changes needed for habitat improvement.

Provide an overall goal for the project and then provide clear, specific and measurable objectives (outcomes) to be accomplished by the proposed actions. If possible, tie to one or more of the public benefits UWRI is providing.

LOCATION: Justify the proposed location of this project over other areas, include publicly scrutinized planning/recovery documents that list this area as a priority, remote sensing modeling that show this area is a good candidate for restoration, wildlife migration information and other data that help justify this project's location.

TIMING: Justify why this project should be implemented at this time. For example, Is the project area at risk of crossing an ecological or other threshold wherein future restoration would become more difficult, cost prohibitive, or even impossible.

This project will help achieve 15 different goals and objectives from various management plans.
* Wallsburg Coordinated Resource Management Plan (CRMP)
Objective: Increase greater sage-grouse and big game habitat -- "Target 3,150 acres for sagebrush

Utah Statewide Mule Deer Management Plan

Habitat Objective 2: Improve the quality and quantity of vegetation for mule deer on a
minimum of 500,000 acres of crucial range.
b. Work with land management agencies, conservation organizations, private
landowners, and local leaders through the regional Watershed Restoration Initiative
working groups to identify and prioritize mule deer habitats that are in need of
enhancement or restoration (Figure 6).
d. Initiate broad scale vegetative treatment projects to improve mule deer habitat with
emphasis on drought or fire damaged sagebrush winter ranges, ranges that have been
taken over by invasive annual grass species, and ranges being diminished by
encroachment of conifers into sagebrush or aspen habitats, ensuring that seed mixes
contain sufficient forbs and browse species.

Deer Herd Unit Management Plan -- Unit 17

Habitat protection and maintenance -- Work toward long-term habitat protection and preservation through the use of agreements with land management agencies and local governments, and through the use of conservation easements, etc. on private lands.
Future Habitat work -- Wallsburg WMA

Elk Unit Management Plan -- Unit 17

Habitat
Within the next five years, enhance forage production on a minimum of 20,000 acres of
elk habitat, through direct range improvements to maintain population management
objectives.

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Strategic Plan.

Goal A: Conserve, protect, enhance and manage Utah's wildlife.
Obj. A-1:Maintain populations of harvestable wildlife species at species or drainage management plan objective levels through 2003.
Obj. A-2:Increase the distribution and/or abundance of 10% of the 1998 classified state sensitive species by 2003.
Obj. A-4: Maintain distribution and abundance of all other naturally occurring wildlife and native plant species through 2003.
Goal B: Conserve, protect, enhance and manage Utah's ecosystems.
Obj. B-1: Increase the functioning of 10% of the currently impaired ecosystems.
Obj. B-2: Prevent declining conditions in both impaired and currently functional ecosystems through.

The Habitat Management Plan for this unit states:
Goal III, objective 1  "Maintain key forage species on winter range"

This project will help meet some of the Habitat management strategies listed in the Wallsburg Habitat Management Plan (March 2016) including: 
*  Improve sagebrush and bitterbrush habitats with seed and/or seedling transplant projects.  
*  Utilize mechanical treatments to enhance sagebrush seedling establishment in over mature sagebrush stands.

Wildlife Action Plan

1. The project area occurs within the sagebrush steppe type which is one of the key habitats identified in the WAP. This area supports
mule deer (S4), elk (SNA) and Greater sage grouse (S3). Numerous other species of concern also inhabit the area including neotropical birds and raptors.

WRI Focus Areas

The proposed treatments lie within Central Region UPCD focus areas.

SVARM sage grouse conservation plan;
 
Strategy 6: Maintain and improve habitat conditions in winter range.

List management plans where this project will address an objective or strategy in the plan. Describe how the project area overlaps the objective or strategy in the plan and the relevance of the project to the successful implementation of those plans. It is best to provide this information in a list format with the description immediately following the plan objective or strategy.

If applicable, detail how the proposed project will significantly reduce the risk of fuel loading and/or continuity of hazardous fuels including the use of fire-wise species in re-seeding operations. Describe the value of any features being protected by reducing the risk of fire. Values may include; communities at risk, permanent infrastructure, municipal watersheds, campgrounds, critical wildlife habitat, etc. Include the size of the area where fuels are being reduced and the distance from the feature(s) at risk.

Describe how the project has the potential to improve water quality and/or increase water quantity, both over the short and long term. Address run-off, erosion, soil infiltration, and flooding, if applicable.

Description of efforts, both completed and planned, to bring the proposed action into compliance with any and all cultural resource, NEPA, ESA, etc. requirements. If compliance is not required enter "not applicable" and explain why not it is not required.

Describe the actions, activities, tasks to be implemented as part of the proposed project; how these activities will be carried out, equipment to be used, when, and by whom.

Describe plans to monitor for project success and achievement of stated objectives. Include details on type of monitoring (vegetation, wildlife, etc.), schedule, assignments and how the results of these monitoring efforts will be reported and/or uploaded to this project page. If needed, upload detailed plans in the "attachments" section.

List any and all partners (agencies, organizations, NGO's, private landowners) that support the proposal and/or have been contacted and included in the planning and design of the proposed project. Describe efforts to gather input and include these agencies, landowners, permitees, sportsman groups, researchers, etc. that may be interested/affected by the proposed project. Partners do not have to provide funding or in-kind services to a project to be listed.

Detail future methods or techniques (including administrative actions) that will be implemented to help in accomplishing the stated objectives and to insure the long term success/stability of the proposed project. This may include: post-treatment grazing rest and/or management plans/changes, wildlife herd/species management plan changes, ranch plans, conservation easements or other permanent protection plans, resource management plans, forest plans, etc.

Potential for the proposed action to improve quality or quantity of sustainable uses such as grazing, timber harvest, biomass utilization, recreation, etc. Grazing improvements may include actions to improve forage availability and/or distribution of livestock.