Completion Form

2021

1.  Obtained a source for Narrowleaf cottonwood cuttings from a similar habitat within the Wasatch Front (no nurseries currently had enough stock).  Total 2,600 rooted Narrowleaf cottonwoods.

The U.S. Forest Service provided a use permit for collection of Narrowleaf cottonwood from approved sites with the agreement that all biomass will be used exclusively for the designated project.

2.  Planted cottonwoods while dormant from mid-October 2019 to March 2020.  The planting locations encompass a total of approximately 13 acres within the lower Diamond Fork area.  Cottonwoods were planted to a depth to allow roots access to summer water table (anticipated depth of 3 ft).  Planting densities averaged approximately every 16 ft (based on a triangle grid) or approximately 196/acre in grove areas.

3.  Monitoring cottonwood survivorship within a subsample of plots for 2 years following planting and utilize photopoints for long term monitoring.

4. Installed 11 post assisted log structures (PALS) in an approximate 1 mile reach below Diamond Fork Campground in the Fall of 2020.  PALS are logs structures secured with untreated wood posts. Logs were placed with tracked equipment, then posts were driven into streambeds with portable hydraulic post pounders, posts are placed to hold the logs in place.  When placed PALS gather woody debris which become "jams", creating roughness in channel, gather sediment and rearrange bed materials; resulting in channel complexity and holding wildfire mobilized materials higher in the drainage.

During the summer/fall of 2018 the Bald Mountain/Pole Canyon fire burned approximately 125,000 acres within the Central Region.  Significant portions of both the Lower and Middle Diamond Fork drainage, and their associated upland and riparian vegetation, were impacted (nearly 13,000 acres) including mature Narrowleaf Cottonwood stands.  Diamond Fork land management agencies proposed to revegetate approximately 13 acres of historic cottonwood galleries through the planting of approximately 2,600 rooted cuttings and capture sediment and debris as it enters water courses maintaining aquatic organism habitat and reducing downstream "loading" of sediments. Loss of large cottonwood galleries leads to decreased shading, increasing stream temperature, loss of LWD recruitment and loss of streambank stability. Increased sediment transport causes downstream loading issues and filling of instream habitat and loss of heterogeneity.

The project was completed predominantly as proposed in the "Project Details" page except we installed fewer Post Assisted Log structures than originally planned.   The same reach location/length received the PALS but some concerns with Utes Ladies Tress reduced the density of PALS.  Nonetheless we are very pleased with the installation and learned several techniques that will be utilized in the installation of PALS in other locations within Diamond Fork in the fall of 2021.

For more detailed information please see the "Project Details" portion of the proposal on the UWRI website https://wri.utah.gov/wri/project/justification.html?id=4932

Chris Crockett

08/31/2021 11:55:29