The purpose of the project is to maintain and restore aspen communities. Aspen is an important forest community in the Interior West, supporting significant biological diversity and providing increased water yields and ecosystem resiliency to fire. Aspen ecosystems can support a wide array of plant and animal species due to their high productivity and structural diversity. Many consider it the most important deciduous forest type in western North America. In addition, aspen stands play an increasingly important role in the suppression and management of wildfires because they can act as natural fuel breaks. Many aspen populations across the west are declining due to drought, ungulate browsing, and lack of disturbance, particularly fire, requiring active restoration efforts to maintain and improve aspen forest health in the region. The primary method for aspen reproduction is suckering from the clonal root system. Therefore, any decline in aspen is concerning because the loss of aspen presence is not easily recovered and may be permanent. This project will help maintain and improve the health of aspen communities across the Logan and Ogden Ranger districts preventing further decline and will continue on 22,057 acres over the next 10 years. The treatment will additionally benefit ungulates (mule deer, elk, moose) providing more habitat and forage. After treatments, the area may open up more and see an increase in individuals moving through. This will also open up possible habitat for forest dwelling grouse, especially for breeding and provide protection from predators.

Treatment methods will include lop & scatter, cut, pile & burn, mastication, or other mechanical thinning. The objectives of the project are to move aspen forests closer to the desired future conditions and: 1. Increase aspen resilience and improve wildlife habitat by increasing the age-class diversity of aspen on the landscape. Restoring and maintaining self-replacing aspen stands 2. Increase Forest resistance to uncharacteristically large and severe wildfires and increase opportunities for managing wildfires for natural resource objectives by expanding the extent of aspen on the landscape.

Currently there is an overabundance of mature to old aspen stands and late-seral conditions in which high densities of conifer are replacing aspen. These stands with a conifer component will continue through succession to a conifer dominated cover type and possible the long-term loss of the aspen clone if not treated or disturbed by natural events such as fire. The Swan Flat area is at high & very high risk for wildfire hazard potential according to the Utah Wildfire Risk Assessment Portal and implementing treatment in this area will benefit the town of Garden City by providing options for fire crews when a fire does occur. The 2003 Wasatch Cache National Forest plan estimates for the output of aspen vegetation treatments in a 10-year planning period are 32,000 acres for Aspen and mixed Aspen/Conifer however the current treatment acres are 21,500 for a ten-year period. This work will contribute to meeting that plan. Waiting to implement will result in more conifer dominated stands which is cost prohibitive and possible loss of aspen which will make restoration impossible.

Forest Plan of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest: Forest wide Goal 2-Watershed Health-Maintain and/or restore overall watershed health (proper functioning of physical, biological and chemical conditions). Provide for long-term soil productivity. Watershed health should be addressed across administrative and political boundaries. Subgoal 2a. Identify areas not in properly functioning condition. Improve plant species composition, ground cover and age class diversity in these areas. Forest wide Goal 3-Biodiversity & Viability- Provide for sustained diversity of species at the genetic, populations, community, and ecosystem levels. Maintain communities within their historic range of variation that sustains habitats for viable populations of species. Restore or maintain hydrologic functions. Reduce potential for uncharacteristic high-intensity wildfires, and insect epidemics. To achieve sustainable ecosystems, meet properly functioning condition criteria for all vegetation types that occur in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. Focus on approximating natural disturbances and processes by restoring composition, age class diversity, patch sizes, and patterns for all vegetation types. Subgoal 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. Subgoal 3e. Maintain or restore as mature and old age classes 40% of total conifer and 30% of total aspen cover types, well distributed across the landscape. Subgoal 3f. Maintain or restore species composition, such that the species that occupy any given site are predominantly native species in the kind and amount that were historically distributed across the landscapes. Forest wide Goal 4-Fire and Fuels Management- Wildland fire use and prescribed fire provide for ecosystem maintenance and restoration consistent with land uses and historic fire regimes. Fire suppression provides for public and firefighter safety and protection of other federal, state and private property and natural resources. Fuels are managed to reduce risk of property damage and uncharacteristic fires. Subgoal 4d. Reduce hazardous fuels (prescribed fire, silvicultural and mechanical treatments) with emphasis on interface communities (wildland/urban) and increase proactive participation of communities at risk. Forest wide Goal 9-Heritage Resources- Inventory, evaluate, protect and enhance heritage sites and landscapes. Goal 9b. Fully integrate the Heritage Program into land and resource management. The project is consistent with the following Forest Plan Objective: 3.b. Stimulate aspen regeneration and reduce other encroaching woody species in aspen by treating approximately 3,200 acres average annually for a 10-year total of 32,000 acres. GRSG-GRSGH-O-026-Objective -- Every 10 years for the next 50 years, improve greater sage- grouse habitat by removing invading conifers and other undesirable species based upon the number of acres shown in Table GRSG-GRSGH-O-026 (Amendment #13 September 16, 2015). Forestwide Standards and Guidelines: (S12) Prohibit Forest vegetation treatments within active northern goshawk nest areas (approximately 30 acres) during the active nesting period. (G24) Management activities that negatively affect pollinators (e.g. insecticide, herbicide application and prescribed burns) should not be conducted during the flowering period of any known Threatened, Endangered, and Sensitive plant populations in the application area. An exception to this guideline is the application of Bacillus thuringiensis. DEER HERD UNIT MANAGEMENT PLAN Deer Herd Unit # 2 (Cache) Summer range habitat concerns are mainly the loss of aspen stands due to conifer encroachment. It is recommended that work to reduce conifer encroachment (bullhog, chaining, lop and scatter, etc. and prescribed fire in aspen) continue or begin in these communities-Aspen regeneration prescribed fire in Card Canyon, near Old Ephraim's Grave, Tony Grove, and Franklin Basin. ELK HERD UNIT MANAGEMENT PLAN Elk Herd Unit # 2 (Cache): Habitat objective: Maintain and/or enhance forage production through direct range improvements throughout the unit on winter range to achieve population management objectives. Pay special attention to WMA's and areas were holding elk could alleviate pressure on private landowners experiencing damage by wintering elk. Work with private and federal agencies to maintain and protect critical and existing winter range from future losses. Utah Statewide Elk Management Plan (2022): B. Habitat Management Goal: Conserve and improve elk habitat throughout the state. Habitat Objective 1: Maintain sufficient habitat to support elk herds at population objectives and reduce competition for forage between elk and livestock. Strategy A, B and C. Utah Mule Deer Statewide Management Plan (2019): Habitat Objective 1: Maintain mule deer habitat throughout the state by protecting and enhancing existing crucial habitats and mitigating for losses due to natural and human impacts Strategy B. Habitat Objective 2: Improve the quality and quantity of vegetation for mule deer on a minimum of 500,000 acres of crucial range by 2024. Strategy A. Utah Moose Statewide Management Plan (2017): D. Habitat - The primary limiting factor for moose in Utah and across their range is the availability of suitable habitat. - Moose have done well in drier habitats in northern Utah which are dominated by mountain mahogany, Gambel oak, serviceberry, quaking aspen, and burned over coniferous forests A. Habitat Degradation or Loss. - The single biggest influence on moose populations in Utah is the quantity and quality of available habitat. Habitat can be degraded, fragmented, or lost to a variety of causes including human development and plant succession. Habitat Management Goal B: Assure sufficient habitat is available to sustain healthy and productive moose populations. Strategies A, C, and E. Utah Sage grouse Management Plan 4c. Using Utah's Watershed Restoration Initiative (WRI), remove conifer as appropriate in areas protected in 4(b) to ensure that existing functional habitats remain intact. 4d. Using the WRI, maintain existing sage-grouse habitats by offsetting the impacts identified in 1(f) by creating additional habitat within or adjacent to occupied habitats at an equal rate each year--or 25,000 acres each year--whichever is greater. 4e. Increase sage-grouse habitats by using the WRI--and other state, federal and private partnerships--to restore or create 50,000 acres of habitat within or adjacent to occupied habitats each year, in addition to those acres identified in 4(d).

This project will address the long-term lack of fire in this fire-adapted ecosystem. Aspen trees are shade intolerant and without regular disturbance, conifers eventually shade them out and reduce the ecological services that aspen stands provide. Removing conifers using the different treatment methods for this project will provide the disturbance to achieve similar benefits to fire and will reduce the overall structure of the fuels. This project will increase Forest resilience to uncharacteristically large and severe wildfires and increase opportunities for managing wildfires for natural resource objectives by expanding the extent of aspen on the landscape. Values at risk include Garden City and surrounding cabins in the Bear Lake area some of which are within 1 mile of the project area. This will reduce the smoke to the community and mitigate intensity and severity of future wildfires, protecting public health and safety.

Treatments will reduce hazardous fuel loads and change the structure of the vegetation, preparing for the next fire and reducing future fire behavior. Some stands of trees within the project area are currently susceptible to high intensity crown fire which could result in high levels of soil erosion, habitat loss and flooding. Water quantity may increase with the change in vegetation class from late seral to a variety of age classes, and a reduction of conifers competing for available ground water. This watershed flows eventually flow into the Great Salt Lake.

Near completion on NEPA and should be completed sometime this spring. Archeological surveys but will be complete for the proposed treatment in Fall of 2024.

1-Hand cut, pile & burn: Cut and pile will be performed by hand and will occur on 161 acres. Piles will be burned at least one year after treatment. 2-Machine cut, pile & burn: Cut and pile will be performed by a skid-steer mounted tree cutter and will occur on 489 acres. Piles will be burned at least one year after treatment. 3- Lop & scatter: Lop & scatter will be performed by hand and will occur on 603 acres. This will change the arrangement of the fuels and reduce fire behavior from the canopy to a surface fire.

Monitoring protocols will be designed and collected before, during and after any implementation of this project. Protocols will likely include photo points, understory aspen regeneration/recruitment, ungulate browsing pressure on aspen, fuel loading and invasive and noxious weeds to assess whether objectives are being met. Timber plots and photopoints have been conducted for this phase of the project and photos will be uploaded to the WRI database.

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and Mule Deer Foundation- Have assisted in the selection of areas to be treated. Utah Division of Forestry Fire and State Lands- Worked with WUI coordinator and Northern Area manager to identify any areas of cross-boundary work, however none were found for this particular project. Also contacted the Forester to do cross-boundary work near Beaver Creek turnoff. SITLA- Contacted representative to conduct cross-boundary work near Beaver Mountain Ski resort, this may be a possibility on future phases of this project. US Forest Service- Fuels specialist and technicians identified treatment areas and completed NEPA for this project. Caribou Targhee National Forest- Contacted fuels specialist about doing cross boundary work. They are currently implementing a project on the Idaho side of the project area.

Future phases will include the implementation of the restoration efforts, which include lop and scatter, cut, pile and burn and other mechanical treatments. Annual grazing plans will be modified to accommodate various treatment methods or facilitate post-treatment establishment of aspen and will be coordinated with the grazing permitee. Invasive and noxious weeds will be treated where needed. Big game winter range is present within the area and disruptive management activities will be avoided from November 15th-April 30th. Treatments were selected for each stand based on site specific conditions. Treatments will be implemented using the most effective treatment and be followed by post-treatment monitoring. Based on the monitoring results, additional management actions may be implemented to achieve restoration objectives.

Vegetation and fuels treatments will be designed to increase the species and age class diversity of forested lands within the project area. Natural disturbances like fire and insects help keep forests healthy. However, the increase in disturbance extent and severity threatens forest sustainability. These treatments will increase forest health, improving resistance and resilience to future insects and diseases while mitigating intensity and severity of future wildfires. Future wildfires and smoke could hamper forest recreation, hunting and fishing. Some biomass will be utilized for firewood collection with a permit.