Project Details

This project is a landscape-scale watershed improvement project that involves many partners and landowners. It addresses multiple threats to the watershed and is designed to improve the health of the entire ecosystem, with an emphasis on supporting struggling mule deer populations. This project includes several different treatment types from seeding and seedling planting, pinyon, and juniper removal by lop and scatter and mastication, stream restoration by the construction of beaver dam analogs and rock check dams, and cultural surveys for future mastication work in higher elevation summer mule deer habitat on the Starvation WMA. See images for photos of wildlife tracker data showing mule deer and elk use in the project area.
Shrub Restoration-
In this project, we will be planting native forbs, grasses, and shrub seeds as well as planting shrub seedlings that provide essential food for many wildlife species and provide other essential ecosystem functions that will be described below. A major objective of this project is to improve the habitat for mule deer and other big game species. In the Sheep Creek area of the watershed, we have lost much of our shrub component to wildfire and invasive grasses, which is very important for big game species like mule deer, elk, and moose to survive the winters. This area has been identified by UDWR wildlife biologists as a crucial winter range for these species. We have substantial GPS collar data as well to support this (see wildlife tracker data in the images).
Other wildlife species are also greatly dependent on healthy shrub communities such as mountain cottontail rabbits, black-tailed jackrabbits, ruffed grouse, wild turkeys, ground squirrels, and many other small mammal species. 
Having a healthy shrub community will also have a cascading positive impact beyond those species that depend on shrubs and forbs directly for food and cover. Predators that prey upon these herbivores and granivores for food will also benefit as their populations increase. Birds of prey such as Golden Eagles, Owls,  and many other raptor species will benefit as the vegetation communities improve and benefit their prey species.

Pinyon and Juniper Thinning- 
On portions of the watershed, there is significant Phase 2 and 3 pinyon-juniper encroachment into areas that were formerly shrubland. These sites are crucial summer range for mule deer and the conversion of meadow habitats to woodland has led to poor range conditions. We will remove pinyon-juniper to restore shrublands for wildlife.

Juniper encroachment has been an ongoing problem on private land near Mill Fork. In 2007, approximately 350 acres were treated using a 2-way chaining and aerial seeding. In 2015 the project was lop and scattered. Treatments were successful in significantly reducing juniper cover and establishing native shrub, grass, and forb communities. Now, 10 years since the last treatment, maintenance via lop and scatter is needed to maintain the benefits of this project. Additionally, on another, higher elevation site within the same private property boundaries, there is a need to remove juniper that is encroaching into aspen stands. This area consists of approximately 65 acres of aspen/conifer, on which juniper cover appears to be increasing. Aspen provides valuable forage resources to mule deer, elk, and moose, and numerous other species. This property provides crucial winter/spring habitat for mule deer, crucial winter and substantial spring/fall habitat for elk, and substantial year-long habitat for moose. The area also provides crucial year-long habitat for dusky grouse and substantial year-long habitat for ruffed grouse.        
 
Stream Restoration-
As a result of long-term watershed degradation and the 2018 wildfires, both Dairy Fork Creek and Tie Fork have experienced significant incision, which leads to increased sediment in the water and loss of habitat. We will use low-tech, process-based restoration (BDAs) to re-connect the stream with its floodplain which will mitigate erosion. This will also create more diversity of stream and riparian habitats for the benefit of fish, amphibians, other wildlife, and livestock. In particular, bats such as the little brown myotis, Townsends big-eared bat, and long-legged myotis that are on the WAP species list will benefit from the increase in available drinking water and the increase in insects for food. Southern leatherside chubs have been found in recent surveys of Soldier Creek downstream from the project area. Preventing instream sediment plumes will benefit these fish.

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.

This project's objectives are to: 
1. Improve and restore shrubland habitat for wildlife such as mule deer and other wildlife species by increasing cover of shrubland vegetation; and decreasing cover of bare soil, crested wheatgrass, Phase 2 and 3 pinyon-juniper, and cheatgrass. 
2. On sites burned by wildfire, use seeds and plantings to establish cover of native and desirable plant species to reduce the establishment of noxious and invasive plant species. 
3. Use low-tech, process-based methods to increase stream connectivity with the floodplain and reduce stream incision. 
4. Increase cover of plant species that are desirable for wildlife and livestock to improve animal health.  
5. Reduce stream and soil erosion in order to protect road infrastructure from being displaced or repaired. 
6. Maintain PJ treatments by treating approximately 350 acres via lop and scatter.
7. Improve approximately 65 acres of aspen habitat by bullhogging encroaching conifer.
8. Improve habitat for SGCN species. 
9. Improve fish and amphibian habitat. 
10. Reduce future wildfire risks.
11. Improve water quality and quantity.
12. Enhance and preserve sustainable uses of the land.

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.

Each year without action, the health of the watershed will degrade further from eroding streams to encroaching pinyon and juniper. The costs of delaying action and treating these damages in the future will be much higher. 
 Non-native grasses and pinyon-juniper vegetation continue to increase their abundance which threatens shrublands that wildlife rely on. The changing vegetation community increases the risk of larger, more intense wildfires. Areas burned by intense wildfires further the spread of non-native plants. Without immediate action, the risk of crossing ecological thresholds increases the costs of future treatments, and the effectiveness of actions is reduced. For example, reviving existing shrub communities before they are completely gone (burned, outcompeted) is more successful and cost-effective. The continued loss of shrubland habitat also increases the pressure on remaining plants by herbivores (e.g. deer and elk) thus decreasing the health of remaining plants. The continued delay of not treating this area can ultimately result in poorer food availability for ungulates like mule deer and elk. This can lead to death for these species during severe winters. Rebounding these animal populations will take years and the cost to the UDWR in the reduction of tags will be significant. To prevent complete loss of thermal cover for mule deer and elk and crucial habitat for PJ obligate species we will leave areas for cover and habitat for species like pinyon jays. The threats to the habitat, wildlife, to the community, and the health of the watershed as a whole are much greater if no action is taken to remove PJ trees. If we do not do this project we will continue to lose more of our sagebrush habitats and potentially lose all ecological function of these habitats. By not responding to the erosion concerns post-fire we will continue to see flooding and damage to streams and nearby roads.  By not repairing the incised stream channels with BDAs we will continue to see more erosion and loss of habitat.

The owner of the private land near Millfork has applied for NRCS funding through the Range-IRA fund pool to lop and scatter previously treated areas and remove encroaching conifer from aspen stands. This provides a unique opportunity to partner with a private landowner, ranch manager, and NRCS, and share in the monetary cost of implementing this project. Additionally, it has been 10 years since the area was maintained, and without treatment soon, the cost of maintaining the project will rise and the likelihood of success will decrease. Acting now, rather than later, will maximize the economic and ecological opportunities available.

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.

New 2025 Statewide Mule Deer Management Plan
1. Habitat Objective 2: Improve the quality and quantity of vegetation for mule deer on a minimum of 600,000 acres of crucial range by 2030
- We will help achieve this objective by improving 2,947 acres with just this project.

State Wildlife Action Plan
The pinyon-juniper and big sagebrush areas lie within the sagebrush steppe type which is one of the key habitats identified in the WAP. We will be addressing the threats of native problematic species (PJ) and inappropriate fire frequencies that have resulted in a build-up of fuels.

Mule Deer Herd Unit 16 C and 17 C Plan 
The proposed projects will address some of the habitat management strategies outlined in the deer management plans including: Continue to improve and restore sagebrush steppe habitats critical to deer according to DWRs Habitat Initiative. Maintain habitat quantity and quality at a level adequate to support the stated population objectives while at the same time not resulting in an overall downward trend in range condition and watershed quality. Work cooperatively with land management agencies and private landowners to plan and implement improvement projects for the purpose of enhancing wildlife habitat and range resources in general.

The Division of Wildlife Resources Strategic Management Plan:
Resource Goal: expand wildlife populations and conserve sensitive species by protecting and improving wildlife habitat.
Objective 1: protect existing wildlife habitat and improve 500,000 acres of critical habitats and watersheds throughout the state.
Objective 3: conserve sensitive species to prevent them from becoming listed as threatened or endangered. Constituency Goal: Achieve broad-based support for Division programs and budgets by demonstrating the value of wildlife to all citizens of Utah.

The Dairy Fork and Starvation Wildlife Management Area Plans to reach their potential as critical big game winter range, browse communities need to be enhanced and improved.  The Division will employ a variety of methods to achieve this including prescribed grazing, prescribed burning, reseeding and seedling transplants, and mechanical treatments.  Priority areas will include sagebrush-steppe and mountain browse communities.

The Spanish Fork River Coordinated Resource Management plan including: To reduce sediment coming from uplands by over 5,000 tons/year by applying BMP&apos;s on 16,000 acres of rangelands.

The Utah Smoke Management Plan (1999, 2006 revision). By using mechanical mastication this plan will accomplish Goal #5, Use of alternative methods to burning for disposing of or reducing the amount of wildland fuels on lands in the State (p3).

State of Utah Hazard Mitigation Plan (March 2011) this plan accomplishes statewide goals including 1) Protection of natural resources and the environment, when considering mitigation measures and 2) Minimize the risk of wildfire (p12).

State of Utah Catastrophic Wildfire Reduction Strategy: State of Utah's Catastrophic Wildfire Reduction Strategy. The project reduces the risk of a catastrophic wildfire occurrence negatively affecting property, air quality and water systems.

Utah State Elk Management Plan 1. Increase forage production by annually treating a minimum of 40,000 acres of elk habitat. 2. Maintain sufficient habitat to support elk herds at population objectives and reduce competition for forage between elk and livestock.

State of Utah Forest Action Plan: The project addresses all three of the key goals laid out in the Forest Action Plan: conserve and manage working forest landscapes for multiple values and uses, protect forests from threats and enhance public benefits from trees and forests. .

Livestock grazing on public land should be managed and regulated by county, state, and federal agencies so as to maintain and enhance desired plant communities for the benefit of watershed, wildlife, water quality, recreation, and livestock grazing as required by the applicable land use plans. Such management should be developed specifically and individually for each public land grazing allotment in order to achieve the desired result throughout the county. Encourage livestock use on public lands to be compatible with recreation use. Locate structural and design non-structural improvements to meet visual quality objectives.

Statewide Turkey Managment Plan III. ISSUES AND CONCERNS High Priority: Urgent and Important Issue H2. Insufficient Winter Habitat Concern A. Starvation during severe weather. Concern B. Winter overutilization of urban and agricultural areas Objective 1.Stabilize populations that are declining outside of natural population fluctuations; especially through catastrophic events (i.e. following fires, severe winters, etc.). Strategy c: Conduct habitat projects to address limiting factors. Objective 2.Increase wild turkey habitat, quality and quantity, by 40,000 acres statewide by 2020.Strategy d:Conduct habitat improvement projects in limiting habitat(s). Objective 1.Decrease the number of chronic material damage complaints per turkeys by 25% by 2020. Strategy Improve habitat to draw wild turkey populations away from conflict.

Utah Beaver Management Plan This project will address the following objective of the Utah Beaver Management Plan a. Facilitate and promote beaver assisted restoration activities and expansion of existing beaver populations in areas that beaver are already present, habitat exists to already support them and human beaver conflict is low and or easily mitigate.

2003 Forest Plan Uinta NF:
1)  Sub-goal-2-1(G-2-1) The fuel management aspect of the fire management program is emphasized through application of hazard reduction activities.
2)Sub-goal-2-8 (G-2-8) Ecosystem resilience is maintained by providing for a full range of seral stages and age classes (by cover type) that achieve a mosaic of habitat conditions and diversity to meet a variety of desired resource management objectives. Recruitment and sustainability of some early seral species and vegetation communities in the landscape are necessary to maintain ecosystem resilience to perturbations.
3)Sub-goal-2-25 (G-2-25) Maintain stable and upward conditions in big game winter range habitats and improve downward trend sites.
4)Objective-2-17 (O-2-17) By 2018, complete 1,000 acres of big game winter range habitat improvements to reach desired future conditions.

USFS WRAP, Tie Fork: 
1) Sub-goal (1) (9) Watersheds and their associated stream processes, channel stability, riparian resources, and aquatic habitats are maintained or restored to a functional condition.

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.

Dense stands of PJ are a concern for greater fire severity and promoting crown fires that can be more destructive.  Thinning sections of trees and creating a mosaic of open meadows interspersed between PJ patches will help to slow down potential crown fire spread and heat, and help to prevent invasive species like cheat-grass from establishing post-fire. This project will decrease the risk of high severity wildfire by reducing fuel loading, reduce soil erosion, and promoting the growth of understory native vegetation, which are critical to maintaining ecosystem resilience. Fuels in their current state pose a hazard to fire personnel, private property, structures and infrastructure, such as highway 6. 
The habitat type has been identified in the 2015-2025 Utah Wildlife Action Plan that lowland sagebrush is a key habitat and the threats associated with this key habitat are inappropriate fire frequency and intensity. This project will help to achieve these goals. The removal of trees would create a break in the tree canopy where firefighters could begin to manage the fire.   The practice of removing PJ with mechanical methods has been proven to be a successful technique to restore the health of the watershed.  It has been observed that by cutting down PJ, that the understory vegetation will grow back in greater amounts than in those areas that are not cut (Bates et al. 2000). Therefore, in areas where natural processes such as fire are not possible or no longer effective, it is essential for current management and restoration projects to utilize other methods to remove PJ and allow for understory to return, such as a bullhog.
The construction of BDAs and the subsequent increase in riparian and wet meadow vegetation will help to serve as a fire break to slow down the spread of wildfire and provide a refuge for wildlife to escape to. Also, BDAs provide resilience for the stream by reducing post wildfire erosion and downcutting. The dams will help to catch sediments and ash which should improve the ater quality and help to prevent fish kills from ash flows.

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.

BDAs and the stream restoration will help to improve water quality by decreasing the amount of sediments in the water column. BDAs also help to slow down spring run-off and allow for water to be used longer throughout the summer by downstream water users. 
This project will help to establish vegetation that will stabilize the soil and help to reduce the amount of sediment that will enter streams and washes. This will help to improve the water quality of the watershed.  This project will help establish vegetation that will hold more moisture in the system and allow for it to soak into the soil and enter under ground water storage.  Another negative impact on the watershed from PJ encroachment is soil erosion (Farmer 1995).  Removing PJ will allow for the current grasses and forbs to return and stabilize the soil and decrease the speed of water flow and the size of soil particles that can be moved downstream and therefore reduce erosion.  This project will help to protect this from happening in the future and save the ecosystem from irreversible losses to the soil.   In water-limited systems, an added benefit to PJ removal can be the potential to increase water savings.  PJ has been shown to intercept about 10-20 percent of precipitation (Skau 1964).  Also, where PJ encroachment has resulted in large bare ground areas it has been shown that these systems can have greater precipitation runoff (Farmer 1995).  Results of the Great Basin Landscape Conservation Cooperative study in Nevada (Desatoya Mt.) found that by removing (lop and scatter) P/J (130 trees/acre) there is the potential to increase water recharge yields 4% on wet years. On wet years this will increase recharge, but does not increase stream flow. Wet meadows and upland plants benefit by utilizing the increase soil moisture, providing for better resiliency during drought years. This provides for an increase in water quantity for herbaceous plants on sites where p/j is removed.

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.

Lop and Scatter- We will hire a contractor with a chainsaw cutting crew to lop and scatter phase 1 juniper that is encroaching into old chaining areas. This will be in collaboration with the private landowner and NRCS. 
PJ Thinning- We will hire a contractor to bullhog junipers invading into aspen stands in collaboration with the private landowner and NRCS.  
Cultural Surveys for Mastication- This year we are asking for funding for doing cultural surveys on the Starvation WMA. This will allow us to do the work next year. 
BDAs- We will hire a contractor to construct BDAs in Dairy Fork. We will install 100 BDAs. 
Trout Unlimited will install BDAs on tie Fork. This will be done by pounding wood posts into the stream bed 2 feet apart. Then cutting natural woody vegetation onsite and weaving that vegetation between the wood posts. This will create a porous structure that will slow the flow of the water but not stop the flow. 
Shrub Planting- WE will use our shrub planter to till rows, to remove the grass competition, and plant the seed. Then we will plant seedlings in those rows 5 feet apart.

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.