Project Details

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.

1. Reduce the risk of large-scale, uncharacteristic wildfires.
2. Improve the resilience and adaptive capacity of the project area by managing stand densities.
3. Improve wildlife habitat for a wide range of species, including improvement of summer and transition range habitat for mule deer.
4. Restore, maintain, or improve the ecological function of riparian areas.
5. Reduce the potential for erosion and sediment transport associated with wildfire, thereby improving fisheries habitats.
6. Maintain or promote tree vigor and form in young stands through stand density management to minimize the future impacts of biotic (e.g., mistletoe and bark beetles) and abiotic damage (e.g., snow damage and windthrow).
7. Restore, maintain, or improve aspen ecotones.
8. Reintroduce low severity fire to the landscape.

To achieve these objectives, we plan to reduce hazardous fuels, address conifer encroachment in riparian and aspen stands, and create a mosaic of age/size classes, stand structures, and species composition on the landscape level. Treatments are intended to return the area closer to its historically functioning condition and allow for low-severity prescribed and natural fire to be reintroduced to maintain those properly functioning conditions. Reduced wildfire risk and increased habitat diversity should positively impact water quantity and reduce the risk of water quality issues associated with high-severity fires in these watersheds. Proposed treatments to reach these objectives include conifer removal, pre-commercial thinning via mastication and lop and scatter, prescribed burning, cut pile and burn, cut skid and deck, and traditional commercial timber sales.

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.

Timing: If left untreated, the advanced lodgepole regeneration would continue the self-pruning process, their growth rate will gradually slow, and the understory vegetation will decline further under a crowded, closed canopy. Mature lodgepole and even-aged mixed conifer stands would move further away from properly functioning condition, lacking a sustainable amount of younger age classes and patches of early seral productivity. Proposed treatment areas, which are already poor habitat for many wildlife species due to lodgepole density, would become even less productive. Previously logged and regenerated areas are currently at an ideal stage for thinning, and beetle-killed mature lodgepole still possesses economic value that can be captured for a limited time. There are also large amounts of dwarf mistletoe infecting the overstory of these areas, impacting stand health and growth rates. Large tree development in the project area will be delayed. It may even be impossible without enacting some form of density management treatment as part of the overall management strategy of these areas. Without intervention, the area will continue to decline in value for most wildlife species. Overall forage values will remain minimal, and the density of the stands will not allow for efficient wildlife passage and use. The current state of the treatment area poses a high risk for high-intensity, stand-replacing fires. The areas where sanitation treatments will occur are areas overrun with dwarf mistletoe. Dwarf mistletoe will continue to transfer from the overstory to the understory, inhibiting growth and stunting regeneration and overall recovery of these stands. Prior treatments failed to consider the amount of disease in the overstory, resulting in a heavily infected understory. Without treatment, the stand is unlikely to develop the structure and individual tree size needed to provide quality habitat for wildlife species. The treatment hopes to eliminate but will inhibit the spread of the disease.

Location:
The project area is in UTDWR, designated a crucial summer range for mule deer, elk, and black bear, a crucial moose winter range, and documented bighorn sheep transitional habitat. It is also located in the heart of the GMU 8 North Slope deer herd's seasonal migration routes (see maps on Image/Docs page), supporting deer on the unit and some that range from Chalk Creek / Kamas units on the west end and the South Slope Uintas' Diamond Plateau/Burnt Cabin Gorge area to the east. Habitat management goals for deer in this unit call for conserving and improving habitat with direct range improvements throughout the unit, emphasizing crucial ranges. Conifer encroachment into sage and aspen, including utilization of prescribed fire, was specifically noted. (UTDWR GMU 8 plans; Statewide Deer Plan, Statewide Elk Plan). Unit 8 hosts general-season hunting opportunities for multiple species, and the North Slope of the Uintas is a recreation destination (UWCNF has 9 million visits/year), with multiple trailheads, campgrounds, fishing, etc., in the immediate project area. Long-term habitat benefits will be experienced and appreciated by thousands of hunters and other recreationists as a result of these treatments.

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.

1. 2003 Wasatch-Cache Forest Plan: - (Sub-goal 3d) Restore or maintain fire-adapted ecosystems (consistent with land uses, historic fire regimes, and other Forest Plan direction) through wildland fire use, prescribed fire, timber harvest or mechanical treatments. 
Vegetation/fuel treatment, prescribed fire, and wildland fire use are allowed:
for the purposes of maintaining, improving or restoring watersheds to desired conditions, and to protect property in the wildland urban interface.(G3.1W-1) for the purposes of maintaining, improving or restoring terrestrial habitat, for hazardous fuel reduction, and to protect property in the wildland urban interface. (G3.2U-1)
To mimic historic conditions and to restore ecosystem functioning. (G4.2-1)Timber harvest, vegetation/fuels treatment, road construction, prescribed fire and wildland fire use are allowed:
To mimic historic conditions and to restore ecosystem functioning as compatible with the backcountry recreation opportunity and natural setting desired. (G4.3-1)
to maintain or improve forage production or for hazardous fuel reduction. (G6.2 -1) 
Timber harvest, road construction, vegetation/fuel treatment, prescribed fire, new recreation development, and new trail construction are allowed for the purposes of providing public enjoyment, safety, and protection of site investments. (G4.5-1)
Use prescribed fire in wilderness only to meet wilderness management objectives. The objective of prescribed fire management in wilderness (FSM 2324.21) is to reduce, to an acceptable level, the risks and consequences of wildfire within wilderness or escaping from wilderness. (G37)

Prior to use of prescribed fire and wildland fire use, investments made for timber production, such as road systems and silvicultural improvements, and the value of the timber for wood production receive consideration. (G5.2)

Burnt Beaver 2025 (BB2025) will help address UWC Forest Plan Objective 3.b., "stimulate aspen regeneration and reduce other encroaching woody species in aspen by treating (fire use and/or timber harvest) approximately 3,200 acres average annually for a 10- year total of 32,000 acres."

Vegetation cover types will form a mosaic of plant communities representing a diverse mix of ages, sizes, and species. Fire use will play a role in reducing fuels, maintaining the historic dynamic of aspen regeneration and ratio of conifer to aspen and mountain brush vegetation patterns and age classes. Mechanical treatment of fuels along with limited use of prescribed fire will emphasize the safety of people and protection of property in the heavily populated and increasingly developed urban wildland interface adjacent to National Forest. 
2. 2001 Roadless Rule: -Prohibits cutting, sale, and removal of timber in inventoried roadless areas, except: For the cutting, sale, or removal of generally small diameter trees which maintains or improves roadless characteristics and to: Improve habitat for threatened, endangered, proposed, or sensitive species, or maintain or restore ecosystem composition and structure, such as reducing the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire effects. 

3. Utah Mule Deer Statewide Management Plan: -Initiate broad scale vegetative treatment projects to improve mule deer habitat in ranges being diminished by encroachment of conifers into aspen habitats. -Seek opportunities through WRI to improve aspen communities that provide crucial summer habitat for mule deer. -Encourage land managers to manage portions of aspen/conifer forest in early successional stages using various methods including timber harvest and managed fire. -North Slope is a habitat restoration priority area for mule deer in Utah. 
4. Utah Statewide Elk Management Plan: -Identify habitat projects on summer range (aspen communities) to improve calving habitat. -Increase forage production by annually treating a minimum of 40,000 acres of elk habitat -Encourage land managers to manage portions of forests in early successional stages through the use of controlled burning and logging. Controlled burning should only be used in areas with minimal invasive weed and/or safety concerns. 

5. Utah Moose Statewide Management Plan: -Initiate prescribed burns and other vegetative treatment projects to improve moose habitat lost to ecological succession or human impacts. 

6. Utah Bighorn Sheep Statewide Management Plan: -Encourage land management agencies to use fire as a management tool to improve bighorn sheep habitat. When possible allow fires that can have beneficial effects for bighorn sheep to burn. -Initiate vegetative treatment projects to improve bighorn habitat lost to natural succession or human impacts. 

7. Northern Goshawk of Utah: Habitat Assessment and Management Recommendations: -Early and mid-seral species should be increased using both mechanical means and fire. -Policies should be adopted to manage for the production of large early seral species through clearings, thinnings, and weedings, using mechanical means or fire. -Fire or mechanical treatments or both should be used to create conditions favorable to lodgepole pine and quaking aspen. 

8. Guidelines for Aspen Regeneration on National Forests in Utah: - Much of the loss of aspen-dominated acreage is attributable to encroachment and overtopping by conifer. It has often been presumed that this encroachment i.e., the natural succession process for seral stands, is the result of fire suppression. 

9. Utah Black Bear Management Plan: -Successional replacement of aspen stands by conifers can significantly reduce bear-food production in aspen communities. Both fire and selective logging of conifers can be used to maintain aspen vigor. 

10. UDWR Wildlife Action Plan: - While the Aspen-Conifer physical (abiotic) habitat remains largely intact in Utah, coverage of aspen itself within that setting has declined greatly for two main reasons: (1) departure from natural fire regime (reduction in disturbance), resulting in widespread forest succession to conifer dominance; and (2) heavy ungulate browsing on young aspen stems, following disturbance. - Increased disturbance from either prescribed or natural fire over a large treatment area helps distribute ungulate browse pressure. Mechanical disturbance can also be used to stimulate aspen regeneration and improve disease resilience. As with fire, larger mechanical treatment areas serve to distribute browsing pressure and reduce damage to individual stems, increasing regeneration success. 

11. State of Utah Catastrophic Wildfire Reduction Strategy: - Rather than just reducing fires, the ultimate goal is to return landscapes to a condition of health and resilience that allows for wildfires to burn without becoming catastrophic to either human or natural systems. 

12. Conservation Agreement and Strategy for Colorado River Cutthroat Trout in the State of Utah -Natural climatic events such as flood, fire and drought may threaten specific populations of Colorado River cutthroat trout (CRCT); Small, isolated populations are more susceptible to catastrophic loss and impacts from demographic stochasticity.

13. Unit 8 Deer Management Plan -Work with federal, private, and state partners to improve crucial deer habitats through the Watershed Restoration Initiative (WRI) process. Also work with federal and state partners in fire rehabilitation on crucial deer habitat through the WRI process. -Manage conifer encroachment on important summer ranges by utilizing prescribed fire. 

14. Unit 8 Elk Management Plan Work cooperatively with the USFS and BLM to utilize prescribed burning, mechanical conifer and PJ removal, and grazing to enhance elk forage quantity and quality.

15. Summit County Resource Management Plan pgs. 21-25
Wildlife goal 1: provide for healthy wildlife habitats.
Wildfire management goal 1: continued prevention of catastrophic wildfires in Summit County. 
Forest management goal 1: provide for healthy and sustainable ecosystems while including benefits for people. Sub goal -- timber for commercial harvest: Use timber harvest where allowed, to contribute to the economy while achieving properly functioning conditions of vegetation and watersheds.

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.

This 861-acre project is a continuation of many fuel treatments planned for the Burnt Beaver Restoration over the next 5-7 years. The main emphasis on this project is in the following areas: Georges Park, West Beaver, Middle Beaver (wetlands) and 082/164 Forest Service Road corridors. The design features of this project will reduce the risk of large unwanted fires by decreasing and removing hazardous fuels. Monitoring for invasive species in different forest cover types as fuel treatments are completed will also be conducted to promote landscape resilience.  
Hand cut and pile treatments (276 acres) are designed to reduce conifer in areas of dense conifer forest types or in areas of conifer expansion in aspens stands or conifer areas that have been disturbed by mountain pine beetles. Hand-cut and pile treatments are preferred for reducing fuels and conducting prescribed burning during the spring, fall, and winter months. The 585 acres of lop and scatter treatments are fuels reduction treatments designed to protect Forest infrastructure, human health, safety, and scenic values. In areas of lop and scatter, project managers may either elect to burn the material or leave it on the ground to promote coarse woody debris to decompose and provide nutrients to the soils. 
These areas are heavily used during the summer months for a variety of recreational activities and human use, such as camping, hiking, hunting, and snowmobiling. The project area provides a critical wildlife habitat for elk, moose, deer, and black bears (see habitat tab for all species and wildlife tracker map). Range management benefits to this project for cattle and sheep allotments as well. This project is in the Green River Watershed, which is predominantly in Fire Regime Group III (35-200 years low to mixed-severity) and IV (35-200 years stand replacement), with an intermixed Condition Class of 2 (moderate departure 34-66%, declining ecological integrity or 3 (high departure 67-100%, poor ecological integrity).
Implementing this project will protect natural resources, recreational sites such as Hoop Lake, private lands to the north of the project area, and Lone Tree and McKinnon communities.

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.

Runoff and erosion rates associated with high-intensity/severity wildfires are much higher than those associated with prescribed burns. After severe and intense wildfires, soils become hydrophobic, increasing runoff and decreasing the soil moisture content in the ecosystem. Runoff introduces large quantities of sediment, ash, and other chemical contaminants into the river system, negatively impacting water quality. Intense/severe wildfires can cause riparian areas to be denuded of vegetation, increase water temperature, decrease dissolved oxygen, and lead to eutrophication and poisoning of aquatic organisms. 
This project would remedy catastrophic wildfire effects to water quality by using prescribed fire and fuel reduction treatments to reduce hazardous fuel loads. Five sub-watersheds (West Fork Beaver Creek, Beaver Creek-Henry's Fork, Gregory Basin, Burnt Fork, and Birch Creek) would be protected against uncharacteristic wildfire effects. These systems flow into the Green River and are used for recreation and many municipalities along its course. The Green River also flows into Flaming Gorge, which provides drinking water to eastern Utah. The project area encompasses several ecological communities, e.g., lodgepole pine, aspen, aspen-conifer, spruce-fir, Douglas fir, and the tributaries that flow through these forest communities. Implementing this project would benefit the American Beaver and Colorado Cutthroat Trout habitat from future degradation from wildfire risk. Improvements to stream channels through LWD placement, slower peak flows, and increased riparian woody vegetation (willows, aspen, etc) will provide both species with forage and cover and help maintain cooler water temperatures.

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.

In Burnt Beaver 2025, we will continue implementing shaded fuel breaks west of the work already done in previous phases II-IV. We will use hand crews for cut-and-pile and lop-scatter treatments to achieve a 150-foot buffer along sections of the North Slope Road, the Middle Beaver Trail, and the West Beaver Trail. This is intended to provide USFS staff with defensible space to conduct prescribed burning and/or wildfire containment operations. Thinning along trails should also improve the recreational experience through the diversity of vegetation and improved viewshed. Hand crews will also lop and scatter outside of those linear fuel breaks within the project area, aiming to reduce recent conifer encroachment in portions of the nearby meadows. Livestock grazing the Burnt Fork Allotment will be fitted with virtual fence e-collars for the second year in a three-year trial phase looking at effectiveness for stock management and cost-benefit analysis compared to a new installation of nearly 40 miles of physical fencing. Refer to the Documents section for more information.

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.

Conifer removal and aspen regeneration open the forest canopy and increase the richness and diversity of understory plant species. Studies within the project area and across the district indicate successful aspen regeneration and sustainability concurrent with permitted livestock grazing and wild ungulates following disturbances such as fire, timber harvest, fuel reduction treatments, etc. The project has the potential to provide and improve sustainable hunting, fishing, and recreational use.

This project also improves habitat for the following species creating sustainable opportunities for public hunting, fishing, birding, and wildlife watching. 
American Beaver - The project will help promote aspen regeneration through prescribed burns and hand treatments. The aspen will not only be a food source but will also be a resource for them to construct dams and lodges
Black Bear - Black bears live in a variety of habitat types. The project would create more diverse habitat that could be used for foraging, from forbs to big game.
 Elk - Project would improve summer calving habitat and forage. Aspen regeneration would create forage for big game.
Moose - Project would improve summer calving habitat and year-round forage habitat, particularly shrubs in wet meadow, riparian and overstory thinnings. First naturally established resident moose population documented in UT on the North Slope from early 1900's to 1947. (pg. 2 UT Statewide Moose Plan) Natural and transplanted populations remain relatively low across the state, staying around 2500-3000 per 2017 estimates, meaning improved habitat and forage availability is important in this area.
Mule Deer - Project would improve summer habitat. Aspen regeneration would create forage for big game.
Rocky Mt. Bighorn Sheep - Collar data shows usage along West Fork Beaver Creek primarily as a transition/migration zone between the Gilbert Peak area and the lower elevation Hole-in-the-Rock ridge about 10 miles to the northeast. Timing of movements don't indicate a clear seasonal pattern (ie. summer to winter range), but periodic ~1-3 day movements between both areas throughout the year. Thinning of overstory can increase herbaceous forage conditions along the route and provide improved horizontal visibility, a factor often noted as important for bighorn predator avoidance and resource selection.

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.