Completion Form

2018

RIM TO RIM RESTORATION WORK:
Monitoring data collection was completed at all Colorado River sites in summer 2017.  Fall 2017 and early spring 2018 were spent collating and organizing data, creating summary tables and graphs and generating an interim report on the 10 year data set.

Cottonwood seeds and Oak seeds were collected in 2017 and are growing.  Plants from past year's seed collection were provided for projects as needed in this grant cycle, and the plants started from 2017s seeds will be ready fall 2018 and later for planting in the region.

PLATEAU RESTORATION (PRI):
Restoration work continued at Jackson Bottom with weed removal, clearing of wildlife routes and transplanting native grasses.

Sites still lacking in native vegetation were selected for transplanting of Saltgrass and Alkali Sacaton collected from healthy stands in the site.  One area selected was in recently chain-sawed narrow swaths in mature tamarisk thickets near the river bank.  Kochia that had since invaded these swaths was cleared in September, 2017, before kochia dropped its seed.  Three other areas selected were more xeric sites where seeding had been unsuccessful.  Planting was done with volunteers in November and again in March.  Most transplants were watered once again in May and in June.

Volunteers also assisted with removing fallen Tamarisk from clearings where native vegetation had become established, in order to keep access routes open through the Tamarisk and to the river.  A total of 220 volunteer hours were contributed to Jackson Bottom work in FY 2018.

PRI staff identified areas of Russian Knapweed and coordinated with Grand County Weed Department to spray a half-acre with Milestone in early October, 2017.  Grand County was also contracted for basal bark spraying of Tamarisk resprouts with Triclopyr 4 herbicide in approximately 2.5 acres of the lower end of the site in February, 2018.  PRI staff sprayed Russian Thistle over approximately 1.5 acres with Escort herbicide in late May, 2018.

A monitoring summary was prepared and is attached as "Jackson Bottom Monitoring FY 2018.pdf".  All pictures in the document were taken in mid-August, 2018.

BLM Fire Crews worked on the Kane Creek side of the river from Kings Bottom towards the Matheson Preserve. Dying tamarisk was cut down and piled for burning. Near Kings Bottom crews utilized a chipper instead of burn piles. Piles of tamarisk were burned on May 20th by BLM Crews. Lone Peak Fire crews worked on the Pot Ash side of the river for three weeks thinning with chainsaws and stacking the slash into piles near the water for burning before high water. The crews cleared from MM13 to JC Park.

UCC/BLM Rec & Aquatics/FFSL: Work was outsourced to Utah Conservation Corps crews who worked in the fall along the mainstem from Hittle Bottom Recreation Area to the Moab Town Boat Ramp. Tamarisk was removed at selected sites using targeted methods of releasing native vegetation through incremental invasive reduction and the creation of fuel breaks. Material was either made into habitat piles for potential future burning as conditions warrant, for lopped and scattered in areas was recreational interest was unwanted. Follow-up treatments for White top, Knapweed, & Thistle were completed the following spring by FFSL/Grand Co. personnel.

RIM TO RIM RESTORATION WORK:
Rim to Rim helped to coordinate project work throughout the project period, assisting with consistency across jurisdictional boundaries and also assisting with technical oversight as needed.   Based on this success of this effort, a joint proposal was put together for FY 2019 that is underway now.

In addition to project management work RRR collected monitoring data at 15 Colorado River sites, and worked with FFSL and BLM towards a longer term geodatabase project to assist with long term tracking of project success/failure and lessons learned.

Rim to Rim continues to grow seed and plant materials from locally sourced seed and cuttings to be available for work in this area.  Varieties include cottonwood, black willow, coyote willow, yellow willow, three leaf sumac, new mexico privet, baccaris, four wing saltbush, and various locally occurring grasses and forbs.  In addition, RRR is testing several annual forbs at the Mayberry Native Plant Propagation Center for viability to produce for seeding at project sites as well as testing establishment methods.

PLATEAU RESTORATION:
The 67-acre Jackson Bottom on the Colorado River, near the Potash boat ramp, has been the target of tamarisk removal and restoration since 2010 by PRI and its partners, Grand County, Utah DNR, and USFWS.  PRI targets college students as volunteers for much of the labor, most of who are majoring in Natural Resources.  As one of the larger private land parcels on the Colorado River in Utah, this area has been set aside for wildlife habitat.

The site was initially bull-hogged to remove most tamarisk.  Clearings within remaining Tamarisk were either bull-hogged or chain-sawed to create wildlife routes to the river and create sheltered areas for re-establishment of native vegetation.  Seeding with saltgrass, alkali sacaton, saltbush,  beeplant, and sunflower has had good results especially within clearings in the Tamarisk.  Planting of grasses using Tamarisk to provide shade from the SW have been particularly successful.  Cottonwoods planted in the lower end of the site have now become established. Russian Knapweed and Perennial Pepperweed persist in the site but do not appear to be spreading.

Although continuation of work had been proposed at the Curtis Island Farm Fire on the Green River, a herd of cattle was staged in the site in Fall, 2017, causing significant damage to plantings and the irrigation system.  Our partner, FFSL decided to postpone further work at this site beyond FY 2018.

BLM Portion;
The Kane Creek and Pot Ash sides of the River had abundant native vegetation growing under dead stands of Tamarisk. Native plants began to flourish in spring after tamarisk was removed. Piles of slashed tamarisk were placed near the water line and were burned before the water levels rose. After the water rose in spring the remnant ash from the burned piles was washed away. Some piles that were higher on the bank started to spread fire through the adjacent vegetation. These locations will receive follow-up rehab after all piles are burned.

UCC/BLM Rec & Aquatics/FFSL: WRI 4009 was designed as an inter-agency collaboration to facilitate the most efficient use of combined resources to treat woody invasive plants within the Colorado River Watershed. 53 acres of invasive vegetation was removed or treated as part of this component of WRI 4009.

RIM TO RIM RESTORATION WORK:
A final Vegetation Response Monitoring report with information about every project site, summary graphs and some discussion of overall trends and lessons with encouragement for continued data collection will be generated in the winter of 2018/19 in conjunction with tamarisk beetle monitoring information.  Rim to Rim helped to coordinate project work throughout the project period, assisting with consistency across jurisdictional boundaries and also assisting with technical oversight as needed.   Based on this success of this effort, a joint proposal was put together for FY 2019 that is underway now.

PLATEAU RESTORATION:
PRI has an agreement with landowner, Intrepid Potash to work on this site through 2026.  Noxious weed control will be managed by Grand County Weed Department and Utah FFSL.  The land owner has pledged to leave the property undeveloped and has offered to rip the road in the center of the property when it is no longer needed for the project.

BLM;
Work will continue for retreatment of tamarisk sprouts and secondary weed evasion.

UCC/BLM Rec & Aquatics/FFSL: Restoration sites are continuing to be monitored. At present there is no evidence of Tamarisk regrowth. Although expected, knapweed recruitment is common and re-treatments are in process. Restoration sites are designed to be expanded upon as is appropriate given adequate native vegetation recruitment.

Jason Kirks

10/02/2018 14:41:49