Project Need
Need For Project:
This project is a landscape-scale watershed restoration initiative that encompasses the entire Twelve-mile Watershed, aiming to enhance ecosystem health in various ways. A primary objective is to improve summer and winter habitats for mule deer and other big game species, supporting the growth of these populations. In particular, deer and elk populations have declined on the southern end of the Manti unit, prompting significant investment from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) and sportsmen in efforts to increase these numbers. This project represents phase four of this ongoing effort.
The Watershed Restoration Initiative (WRI) program has heavily invested in previous phases, completing all necessary cultural and wildlife surveys for the NEPA permitting process, allowing work to commence. We now have the required NEPA approvals to implement various habitat improvement treatments. In this phase, we are requesting funding for hand cutting and piling, lopping and scattering, bullhog mastication, and the installation of beaver dam analogs (BDAs). Over the past few years, we have initiated on-the-ground treatments, and it is essential to continue funding this work to maximize the previous investments made by the WRI program and its partners.
The decline in mule deer populations can be attributed to poor habitat conditions, including conifers outcompeting aspen woodlands and pinyon-juniper encroachment into sagebrush communities. The project area covers the entire 12-mile watershed, which includes critical summer and winter habitats for mule deer. These crucial habitat areas have been identified by UDWR biologists, supported by collar data available on the wildlife tracker website.
During the summer, mule deer shift their diets to high-carbohydrate forage to build fat reserves for winter. The quality of forage available in the previous summer significantly impacts overwinter survival, pregnancy, and progeny survival rates (Bishop et al. 2005; Tollefson et al. 2010; Monteith et al. 2013a). As vegetation transitions from open meadows and aspen stands with diverse forb and grass communities to dense old-growth conifer stands with minimal understory, the availability and quality of food for deer and elk decline. Similarly, in winter ranges, pinyon and juniper encroachment reduces understory vegetation, further decreasing food sources.
As vegetation ages, the balance shifts toward woody material, which contains fewer dietary nutrients. Crude protein levels decline, impacting the nutrition of elk and deer (Wasley 2004). The digestibility and nutritional quality of forage are influenced by plant composition, with late-successional vegetation providing less digestible material due to reduced leader growth. To address these issues, all partners involved in this project recognize the need to promote a transition from late to early seral vegetative characteristics, increasing the abundance of forbs, grasses, and young shrubs essential for ungulates in the Twelve-mile watershed.
The UDWR has collared several deer and elk in the Twelve-mile Canyon, and data analysis (see wildlife tracker photos) indicates areas of summer range use, including some currently underused due to poor habitat quality.
Species such as dusky and ruffed grouse will benefit from the restoration of aspen and open meadow habitats, which provide greater food sources. Additionally, golden eagles, northern goshawks, boreal and flammulated owls, and other raptors will thrive as their prey--montane voles, squirrels, cottontail rabbits, and snowshoe hares--gain access to more nutrient-rich vegetation.
Beyond upland restoration, this project will also focus on enhancing the health of streams and adjacent riparian ecosystems, improving water quality and quantity while providing richer vegetation for mule deer, elk, moose, and other wildlife species. We plan to install post-assisted log structures (PALS) or BDAs in several watershed streams, increasing habitat diversity for fish and amphibians, such as Bonneville cutthroat trout. PALS will create pools and riffle habitats, benefiting other sport fish like rainbow and brook trout. Although no boreal toads are known in the area, improving ponding habitat will support other amphibians like northern leopard frogs and chorus frogs, providing essential breeding environments.
Bat species, such as the little-brown myotis, are expected to benefit from the stream restoration by creating larger open water areas that facilitate drinking and insect foraging.
The NRCS is collaborating with the local town of Mayfield on erosion control projects and the creation of a new reservoir. This aspect of the project is currently in the NEPA process, with hopes to commence soon.
Overall, this watershed project will not only benefit wildlife but also provide numerous watershed health advantages, including reduced wildfire risks, improved water quality and quantity, alignment with management goals, and sustainable use of natural resources. Further specifics on how this project will enhance watershed health will be detailed in the subsequent sections.
Objectives:
1. Reduce overgrown and decadent conifer stands to promote aspen regeneration and understory establishment for the benefit of big game, water quality, fire risk reduction, sustainable uses, and other wildlife species. 2. Reduce pinyon and juniper tree cover to protect surviving understory vegetation and promote the growth of new vegetation to reduce the risk of PJ crown fire, increase water quantity, and improve and protect wildlife habitat. 3. Improve the riparian zones and the health of ponds and streams throughout the watershed with the use of BDAs or PALS, for the benefit of increased food and water for big game and other fish and wildlife species, additional water quality and quantity, fire risk reduction, enhanced sustainable uses, such as fishing. 4. Partner with the NRCS, USFS, and the community of Mayfield with their work to build infrastructure to address their water erosion, mudslides, and poor water quality concerns. 5. Showcase how partnering among different government agencies and landownership boundaries; the WRI program can achieve great success at improving the overall health and value of the 12-mile watershed. 6. Help keep the 12-mile canyon watershed from crossing ecological thresholds, defined as "boundaries in time and space between two states that are not reversible on a practical time scale without management intervention" (Friedel 1991). 7. Help achieve the strategies and objectives that are outlined in a variety of management plans that pertain to this 12-mile watershed. 8. Reduce significantly the risk of catastrophic wildfire from additional fuel loading and/or continuity of hazardous fuels to the community of Mayfield and Sterling and all other infrastructure and significant watershed values. 9. Address through multiple ways the threats to water quality and work to increase the water quantity in the watershed. 10. Utilize the wildlife surveys, cultural clearances, and NEPA that has been funded with the previous phases of this project to meet all necessary compliance challenges and continue returning value for that work that has been completed in the form of on-the-ground watershed improvements. 11. Monitor the effectiveness of our treatments and learn how to improve them moving forward into the future for other treatments. Also, be able to identify where we did not meet our objectives as outlined above, through effective monitoring. Utilize new technology and data such as the wildlife tracker, photo points, and drones to monitor and determine project success and help to showcase that success. 12. Where objectives are not met or are lacking establish a way to ensure that future management continues to build upon the gains that were achieved through this project. 13. Improve the quality or quantity of sustainable uses such as grazing, hunting, fishing, recreation, etc.
Project Location/Timing Justification (Why Here? Why Now?):
This project is located in the Twelve Mile Canyon area. The project is being done on public lands managed by the USFS and UDWR. The USFS and the UDWR have an obligation to manage their lands responsibly. There are serious concerns about the health of the land here and so we need to address these issues to ensure that the land is being managed properly. One of the main purposes of this project is to increase the struggling deer and elk herds in this area. The UDWR in recent years has focused on reducing the predators to allow populations to return to a level that can handle predation pressure. A key component of this is to ensure that habitat quality and quantity do not become the limiting factor to healthy populations. Therefore, now is the most critical time to implement these projects as the populations begin to rebound after predator control. We do not want the populations to get so big that they begin to starve to death from the lack of quality habitat. Also, we have recently invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to complete all the cultural and wildlife surveys necessary to complete the NEPA. If we do not continue to fund the on-the-ground work we will be wasting the investment that we made to get the NEPA completed. As identified in objective number six, we want to ensure that ecological thresholds are not crossed in the Twelve-Mile Canyon watershed. NEPA has been completed for all acres within the project area making it a shovel-ready project with multiple years of planning. The high elevation conifer treatments planned for this year are structurally classified as VSS 4 and with a stand index classified as closed or greater than or equal to 60% cover. These numbers indicate mature conifer stands with canopy cover exceeding desired hiding cover and forest floor sunlight ratios which greatly reduces the understory productivity. The preferred treatment would be to lop and scatter all dead and down conifer with a DBH of 12" or less to encourage activity fuels. This phase includes the preparation of a landscape burn planned on the Order mountain acreage scheduled for introduction in FY27. This acreage is classified as high elevation summer habitat with downslope winter habitat in which big game utilize during key winter months for survival. The pinyon and juniper mastication work done in the lower elevations is important to do now rather than later because it is essential that we thin the trees to help create a fire break that will allow us to do prescribed burn in the future on the Order Mountain. The continued erosion and degradation of streams that have partly resulted from the removal of beavers will continue unless we install BDAs. Every year the cost and time to restore these stream systems increase. Also, our fish populations are dropping lower and lower every year that we do not restore these beaver dam structures to help provide the habitat necessary for survival. The work that the NRCS is planning will help stop the continued mudslides and massive erosion that if not addressed can lead to crossing an extreme ecological threshold.
Relation To Management Plan:
This project will help meet objectives and strategies from the following plans:
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 3,207 acres with just this project.
The San Pitch River Watershed, DWQ Water Quality Management Plan (See Documents) Objective a: Improve stability of the stream channel and tributaries to enhance the riparian corridor and buffer zones to proper functioning condition. Objective b: Obtain funding to implement BMPs for greatest improvement in the San Pitch River Watershed. Objective c: Improve and conserve wildlife habitat in the watershed.
The Utah Statewide Elk Management Plan: * Habitat Objective a. Maintain elk habitat throughout the state by identifying and protecting existing crucial elk habitat and mitigating for losses due to human impacts. * Habitat Objective b: Improve the quality and quantity of forage and cover on 250,000 acres of elk habitat with emphasis on calving habitat and upper elevation elk winter range by the end of this plan.
Mule Deer Management plan for herd unit 16 Central Mountains: HABITAT MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES - Deer Plan * a) Protect, maintain, and/or improve deer habitat through direct range improvements to support and maintain herd population management objectives. b) Continue to improve, protect, and restore sagebrush steppe habitats critical to deer. c) Cooperate with federal land management agencies and private landowners in carrying out habitat improvements such as pinion-juniper removal, reseedings, controlled burns, grazing management, water developments etc. on public and private lands. Habitat improvement projects will occur on both winter ranges as well as summer range.
Elk Management Plan for Central Mountains Manti Unit: a) Manage for a population of healthy animals capable of providing a broad range of recreational opportunities, including hunting and viewing. b) Maintain an elk population consistent with the available range resources and which is in balance with other range users such as domestic livestock, other big game and the need for watershed protection. c) Maintain and enhance existing elk habitat through vegetative manipulation, sound domestic grazing practices, and other management techniques that will meet habitat objectives
The Division of Wildlife Resources Strategic Management Plan: Resource Goal: a) Expand wildlife populations by protecting and improving wildlife habitat. b) Protect existing wildlife habitat and improve 500,000 acres of critical habitats and watersheds throughout the state.
South Sanpete County WMAs Habitat Management Plan: a) Improve browse communities. b) Maintain previous restoration projects.
The Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP), as amended, for the Forest recognizes the need to: a) Maintain or improve habitat capability through direct treatment of vegetation, soil and/or water b) Maintain fuel conditions which permit fire suppression forces to meet protection objectives for management units c) Use preplanned prescribed fire resulting from planned or unplanned ignitions to accomplish resource management objectives, such as reducing fuel load buildup, range or wildlife habitat improvement, etc.
Fire / Fuels:
Catastrophic wildfire is a major concern for this watershed. There are nearby cabin communities as well as the town of Mayfield that are at risk. Areas where we will be removing pinyon and juniper trees, are identified as a very high threat on the fire threat index. This threat is mainly to the town of Mayfield and the homes that are in the foothills on the edges of town. This project will help to reduce these direct fire risks by removing pinyon and juniper trees and thinning oakbrush and other shrubs which will reduce fire risk and make it easier for firefighters to protect homes. In addition to the direct threats of fire, there is extreme concern about post-fire flooding and mudslide potential, especially in the higher elevations. With the soils that are already eroding, there is an extreme risk of a major mudslide and flooding that would be devastating to infrastructure and threaten life and property if a wildfire were to burn across the entire watershed. Our project will work to remove fuel loads in these areas of concern little by little so that a large fire would not be able to travel as well and burn as large of areas. Our treatments will allow the USFS to feel more comfortable letting natural fires burn without the risk of catastrophic fire damages. The unnatural fuel loads and fire risk in the 12-mile canyon area have occurred because of more than 100 years of fire suppression. This has resulted in old, diseased, and dead stands of conifer forests throughout the project that are more prone to burn with greater intensity as well. This project will begin the process of thinning the forest and reducing the fuel loads to reduce the fire danger and make it safer for firefighters and communities. This project will also pave the way for future fire risk reduction efforts including possibly controlled burns through the USFS. The BDAs and stream restoration will also help increase riparian wet areas and green vegetation which will act as green strips or fire breaks to slow and stop catastrophic fire spread.
Water Quality/Quantity:
We have been working for several years in partnership with the Sanpete Water Conservation District and the NRCS in the construction of a new reservoir at the mouth of 12-mile canyon and the forest health work higher up the canyon. The NEPA for this is still in progress. This project when completed will dramatically increase the amount of water that can be stored in the watershed before it drains down into the valley bottoms. The reservoir surface area will be 12- 15 acres and will hold 465-acre feet of water. This reservoir will be located at the bottom of all of our other efforts that will be upstream and will serve as the last catchment of water and sediments before it enters the culinary and irrigation systems of the community of Mayfield.
Erosion and poor water quality are major concerns for this watershed. There have been several large landslides in recent years and the ground continues to be unstable. The BDAs will be able to store additional water as well as catch sediments that would otherwise end up in the reservoir. Outside of the stream and riparian areas the work that WRI is funding in the uplands will also improve soil stability as additional grass and other understory vegetation's roots hold the soil in place better. The new pipeline portion of the project will help to improve the water quality that downstream users are getting. Also, it will allow us to better distribute water across the landscape for wildlife and livestock. This project will also significantly increase water quantity by preparing to remove juniper trees which can use around 32 liters of water per day. That savings in soil moisture can be used by other plants and recharge springs and aquafers. The reduction in tree cover will also reduce bare ground and allow for grass and forbs to stabilize the soil with their roots, which will result in a decrease in soil erosion potential and improve water quality.
Compliance:
All required NEPA has been completed in signed regarding treatment in the acres identified for treatments and BDA structures. All archaeological clearance has been completed at the original project locations. To enhance results and expand the treatment, additional acreage on property administered by the State of Utah will be incorporated into this proposal for additional archeological clearance. A current burn plan for the landscape RX is being completed and will be signed prior to implementation.
Methods:
This project involves various treatment types.
To enhance summer range in high elevation areas, we will lop(no scatter) conifer species less than 10" DBH within designated burn units. This will create activity fuels in regions primarily composed of aspen stands and less desirable big game species preference thus, increasing the ground fuels necessary for low-intensity burns and promoting mosaic burn patterns beneficial for big game post RX burning operations. The selected burn units have been identified as those that will most benefit from fire-related activities and will respond with the regeneration of aspen and fire-adapted forbs.
In adjacent winter habitats at slightly lower elevations, and on the Twelve-mile WMA administered by the State of Utah DWR we will conduct mastication of pinyon and juniper stands, as well as using a lop and scatter approach to facilitate fire movement into acreage deemed critical for regeneration. This will support low intensity burns and further encourage mosaic patterns. Additionally, we aim to rejuvenate old, decadent aspen stands by introducing young saplings that provide high nutritional value for wildlife. This strategy will enable targeted fires in areas critical for wildlife, ensuring their future sustainability. Plan to burn approximately 1,224 acres of piles previously cut in the project area.
Furthermore, we are also constructing approximately 100 PALS structures within the Beaver Creek drainage that is well documented for cutting stream banks and sediment delivery out of the watershed into the communities of Mayfield, Gunnison and Centerfield.
Monitoring:
The UDWR has established detailed range condition monitoring sites in the high-elevation conifer treatment areas with the range trend crew. UDWR will also request that this crew set up a monitoring site in the low-elevation pinyon and juniper treatment areas. For more information on the data collected through the range trend, please visit this link.
Additional monitoring will be conducted by USFS biologists, foresters, geologists, and UDWR habitat biologists, utilizing wildlife tracker data. We will primarily use photo points from representative sites within the treatment areas to compare conditions before and after treatment. Additionally, we will analyze collar data to assess any changes in the movements and behavior of collared mule deer.
Big game biologists will continue to monitor populations in the 12-Mile area, reporting any increases in relation to our project. Goshawk surveys have been completed, with no nests detected in the treatment areas, and the USFS will monitor for the creation of new nests.
USFS staff will also assess whether we are increasing soil moisture and how our actions affect soil stability. Photo points will be taken at the BDAs to document progress over time in stream aggradation and the reduction of downcutting.
Partners:
We have several partners involved in this project. The NRCS has secured a PL 566 watershed planning grant, receiving $500,000 for NEPA and 30% design. The goal is to obtain an additional $3 million for design and $25 million for the total construction of the reservoir and landslide prevention pipeline and infrastructure. Jacob Hall, our NRCS/DWR biologist, is facilitating collaboration between NRCS and DWR.
Jones and DeMille Engineering has been contracted by the NRCS to handle the NEPA process and design, and we are closely coordinating our efforts with them. The USFS is the primary landowner for all BDA and higher elevation conifer removal work. DWR habitat biologists have held multiple meetings with the USFS over the past few years to plan necessary surveys, permitting, NEPA compliance, and treatment areas and techniques on USFS lands. Dru Crane from the USFS, along with other specialists and District Ranger Johnny Collin, is working diligently to complete the NEPA process.
Sportsman groups have shown strong interest in this project, providing significant funding for its first phase, and we expect them to contribute again for the next phase of on-the-ground treatments. The community of Mayfield has also been actively collaborating with NRCS and Jones and DeMille Engineering on their portion of the project. We have reached out to all landowners within the watershed and are working across boundaries to implement a landscape-scale watershed restoration project.
Future Management:
The 12-Mile WMA is included in the South Sanpete WMAs Habitat Management Plan and will continue to focus on wildlife management, particularly for mule deer and elk winter/spring habitats. This commitment is supported by funding and manpower from the UDWR, ensuring active management for the project's success and future investments as needed to meet the WMA's goals. Additionally, our collaboration with the USFS guarantees that funding and personnel are available for monitoring efforts, which are crucial for achieving multi-use management objectives on their lands. As noted earlier, extensive monitoring will guide us in determining any necessary future actions.
Sustainable Uses of Natural Resources:
In Utah, we aim for sustainable use of our natural lands and watersheds, and one of the goals of the WRI is to support this objective. Responsible livestock grazing on public lands is a sustainable practice that can provide additional income for low-income families, particularly in rural areas. However, this livelihood is threatened by the degradation of watersheds and landscapes due to pinyon-juniper and conifer encroachment, which leads to a loss of forage. This project aims to address these challenges by removing encroaching species and increasing available forage for livestock.
Restoring beaver processes through the construction of Beaver Dam Analogues (BDAs) will help distribute water across the landscape, enhancing both the quantity and quality of forage for livestock. The pipeline designed to divert water from high-risk erosion areas will also include troughs to further distribute water.
Hunting and fishing are also vital sustainable uses of our natural resources. The implementation of BDAs and the restoration of beaver populations will enhance hunting and fishing opportunities. By improving summer ranges, big game species will transition to their winter habitats in better condition, which is crucial for their survival. Enhanced winter ranges will help maintain body fat levels, reducing the risk of fetal loss and increasing the chances of twin births. Healthier fawns and calves will contribute to population growth, providing ample food for predators and opportunities for hunters. This will also improve the quality of mule deer and elk, resulting in larger antlers and more meat. Additionally, the UDWR may consider releasing more moose into the area, increasing hunting opportunities for this sought-after species. Ponds created by BDAs and potential future beaver releases will provide habitats for fish stocking, enhancing opportunities for anglers. The construction of a reservoir will further expand recreational activities, including non-motorized boating.
This project will also facilitate timber harvests by targeting less desirable areas and trees, improving access to those suitable for harvesting. We will begin with treatments in lower elevations, using a bullhog mastication machine to manage juniper, pinyon, and oakbrush. A contractor will be hired to specifically remove juniper trees in the designated treatment area on the 12-Mile WMA, while preserving pinyon pine trees. Approximately 25 to 30% of the Gambel oakbrush will also be treated to enhance stand diversity.