Completion Form

2019

In July and August 2018 UCC removed 12 acres of fire fuels at two high priority sites in collaboration with the School District and City of Moab.  In March 2019 Team Rubicon returned to Moab and used a sawyer training operation to clear 2.5 dense acres of russian olive at high priority sites.  In June 2019 UCC returned and performed follow up herbicide treatment on olive resprouts in these areas and removed an added 1.5 acres of russian olive near a high density residential area in town.

Initial removal in 2018: The removal of trees was priorities for burned trees that were certified to not grow back (Fremont Cottonwoods) and the total removal of all invasives wood plants in the drainage to improve native plant propagation as well to remove excessive fuel loading near structures and homes.  All invasive plants were cut down, treated with herbicide and the material was chipped or hauled away.

The cinema court fire area was treated to the boundaries indicated in the attached document.

The treatment of the grand county school site was performed in part for the restoration of a heavy infested section of pack creek as well as for fire mitigation of vital infrastructure (school bus port).  The site contained 80-90% thickets of Russian Olive and Tamarisk, and future follow up planting and treatment will happen with funding from Grand County School District.

ADDITIONAL WORK BY Rim to Rim and Team Rubicon performed in Spring 2019: Team Rubicon removed russian olive on 2 acres of fire fuels removed, within 200 m of the hospital, 50 homes, and about 150 m south of Grand Oasis one of the highest density neighborhoods in Moab (approx 250 homes on 35 acres).  1/2 acre was on private land  as a part of a training operation.  In addition, UCC performed follow up work in June 2019 at the Team Rubicon Site and also at the Bus Shed site and the Cinema Courts Fire site.

Backcountry.com provided approximately 400 volunteer hours fire lining firewood out of the creek bottom and a school group from Idaho provided 20 students for 2 hours to spread the wood chips from the Team Rubicon work.

In July and August 2018: UCC provided a four-person hand crew has been working to remove both the fuel loading, burned trees and invasive trees along the Pack Creek area near the Cinema Court fire area and behind the Grand County Highschool Bus Shed. The project has included five 40 hour weeks of work, and herbicide weeks of match work including volunteers, the city of Moab and Grand County roads department.   The area has been cleaned up of dead burnt trees, which were cut and chipped.  And any invasive wood plants were cut and treated with herbicide. The area that burned was the remaining area along pack creek that was not treated in previous projects along the creek.

Both areas are now considered a high priority for riparian restoration and a Pack Creek Fire Community has been formed with the help of a local collaborator, FFSL and the City of Moab along with others.  
 
A total of 12 acres of treatment and fire clean up was performed between both sites, along with 4 acres of retreatment of the site near the Grand County High School was performed on a previous treatment polygon.

In addition, Team Rubicon provided a work crew to clear approximately 2.5 additional areas at 500 W and a few out of area volunteer groups assisted with clean up from that effort.

In June 2018 UCC provided another crew for 2 weeks to clear an additional acreage behind the Bartlett Subdivision as well as treat any olive resprouts at other sites.

Below is a break down in the work that was accomplished by the Utah Conservation Corps Crews:

7/2/2018	-4 person Crew Removed RO and other Invasives on Grand County School Site behind Busport
7/3/2018	-4 person Crew Removed RO and other Invasives on Grand County School Site behind Busport
7/4/2018	-4 person Crew Removed RO and other Invasives on Grand County School Site behind Bus port
7/5/2018	-4 person Crew Removed RO and other Invasives on Grand County School Site behind Bus port
7/6/2018	-4 person Crew Removed RO and other Invasives on Grand County School Site behind Bus port
7/7/2018	-Crew of 4 worked with 30 Team Rubicon Volunteers to remove 2 acres of burned trees and debris near La Sal Ave 
7/8/2018	-Crew of 4 worked with 30 Team Rubicon Volunteers to remove 2 acres of burned trees and debris near La Sal Ave 
7/9/2018	-Crew of 4 removed .5 acres of invasive trees including RO and Elm
7/10/2018 -City of Moab cleared dead trees and debris from Grand County School site with heavy Equipment 
7/16/2018 -City of Moab cleared dead trees and debris from Grand County School site with heavy Equipment 
7/17/2018 -4 person Crew Removed RO and other Invasives on Grand County School Site behind Bus port and chipped and sprayed stumps
7/18/2018 -4 person Crew Removed RO and other Invasives on Grand County School Site behind Bus port and chipped and sprayed stumps
7/19/2018 -4 person Crew Removed RO and other Invasives on Grand County School Site behind Bus port and chipped and sprayed stumps
7/20/2018 -4 person Crew Removed RO and other Invasives on Grand County School Site behind Bus port and chipped and sprayed stumps
7/21/2018 -4 Person Crew Treated from Bridge at La Sal Ave down to Cinema Court as Per Prescription (See attached Docs)
7/22/2018 -4 Person Crew Treated from Bridge at La Sal Ave down to Cinema Court as Per Prescription (See attached Docs)
7/23/2018 -4 Person Crew Treated from Bridge at La Sal Ave down to Cinema Court as Per Prescription (See attached Docs)
7/24/2018 -4 Person Crew Treated from Bridge at La Sal Ave down to Cinema Court as Per Prescription (See attached Docs)
7/29/2018 -4 Person Crew Treated From Cinema Court to Edge of the Burn site on Pack Creek
7/30/2018 -4 Person Crew Treated From Cinema Court to Edge of the Burn site on Pack Creek
7/31/2018 -4 Person Crew Treated From Cinema Court to Edge of the Burn site on Pack Creek
8/1/2018	-4 Person Crew Treated From Cinema Court to Edge of the Burn site on Pack Creek
8/29/2018- 8/30/2018- A 6 person crew removed the remaining standing trees on the Cinema Court Fire site for no cost as a volunteer effort to keep the standing dead trees from later falling on the business

At the end of this project collaboration between Moab City, Grand County, Moab Valley Fire District and Rim to Rim Restoration has been solidified and will continue into 2020 and beyond.  In 2020 plans include organizing neighborhoods by creek reaches to not only better identify areas in need of fire fuels removal and riparian vegetation regeneration, but also to ensure long term follow up maintains a fire resilient riparian area with a low fire hazard for the community.

The section of Pack Creek near the Cinema Court fire will be part of the future DWQ project, and plantings, as well as seeding, will be necessary for the restoration of the section. Additionally, the public awareness from this project has sparked the future management of sites owned by the Southeast Housing authority to pay for private treatment of invasive plants along their sections of the creek.   As well as the aforementioned committee will focus on this site as well as other sites along the creek that could benefit from invasive plant management in conjunction with fuels loading mitigation near the riparian/urban interface.

The site by the Grand Country High School bus shed will have more treatments performed next year, along with a followup retreatment of the Russian Olive, Elm and Tamarisk resprout. Seeding and plantings will also be considered for the area that was heavily removed. Additionally a transect of the site and the adjacent site that was treated next it to will be performed as a side by side comparison of heavy equipment used to clean up cut debris and only hand crew thinning.

The sites will also be included in future WRI and other Mill Creek/ Pack Creek projects to continue the restoration process and follow treatments needed to provide long-lasting success of the initial implementation.

Kara Dohrenwend

08/27/2019 14:40:07