Completion Form

2022

FFSL: 
Russian olive, tamarisk, and elm removal work covered 8 sites through town from Spanish Valley down to the Matheson. All work was completed via cut/treat/chip methods. Herbicide applied to stumps were dependent on the site but were generally triclopyr based. As per previous year's treatments we left some elm and/or olive as shade trees where we thought that shading might be necessary and/or where we had dryer sites. During this year's work we hauled a lot more chips off site due to site logistics and areas to spray chips. Those were distributed to local non-profits and made available to the public when possible. This years work utilized a lot more volunteer help which will be explained in the project narrative.

BLM: CCYC conducted Russian Olive and Ravenna Grass treatments throughout Mill Ck Canyon, using chainsaws/ herbicide on Russian Olive (cut stump/ lop and scatter slash materials and frill cuts on larger trees) in fall in northern Steelbender Trail area in fall 2021, manually digging up Ravenna Grass throughout Mill Ck Canyon on BLM lands in fall 2021 and spring 2022, and using loppers/ herbicide on Russian Olive re-sprouts throughout Mill Ck Canyon on BLM lands in spring 2022.

BLM: Terra Sophia constructed multiple erosion control structures on the hiking trail in Mill Creek between the powerdam area and the confluence with the North Fork of Mill Creek in fall 2021.  Terra Sophia also collected/ planted 300 willow cuttings at the confluence with North Fork of Mill Creek to stabilize streambanks and to reduce social trails in late fall 2021.  Both  these treatments were very successful and effective.

BLM: Moab Solutions conducted daily trash collection, closed social trails with native materials, seeded disturbed areas and hosted multiple volunteer days to pull/ remove tumbleweeds and goatheads in heavy use areas between the BLM parking lot (powerdam) and the confluence with the North Fork of Mill Creek.

BLM: Grand County Weeds conducted assessments throughout Mill Creek Canyon, focusing on Ravenna Grass and Houndstongue, digging the plants up as time allowed.  They also supported the CCYC, providing plant ID and other education as well as guiding their work location and techniques as needed.

RRR: Rim to Rim Restoration, using Utah Conservation Corps crews, conducted fine fuels mowing, using brush mowers, resprout treatments, using hand tools, and herbicide and native planting and seeding along Mill and Pack Creeks on private, city and county land using seed, hand tools, a water pump and containerized plants.

USFS: Forest Service contracted the cut and pile work of the pinion, juniper, as well as mountain brush through DWR to complete that portion of the project. The Forest Service also completed pile burning on some of the work that had been completed. This was done to reduce the fuel loading in the bottoms of the drainages and adjacent to private property to slow fire should there be one.

FFSL: 
Riparian invasive removal work was completed via in-house crew, UCC crews, Grand County Weeds, Moab Valley Fire Department, Rim to Rim Restoration, BLM, and Team Rubicon. A lot of the work this year was completed through "Operation Slickrock". Operation Slickrock was built on years of collaboration with Team Rubicon who initially came into the community right after the Cinema Courts Fire in 2018 to help with tree felling. This year we had about 45 Team Rubicon volunteers for 8 days helping with cutting and swamping of Russian olive and elm in the creek bottom. We paired these volunteers with 3 chippers with chipper operators coming from FFSL (Moab and Richfield) and Moab Valley Fire Department. The BLM and Grand County Weed Department applied herbicides and low stumped. Rim to Rim Restoration, BLM staff, and FFSL staff managed work sites. We also had BLM fire staff, USFS fire staff, and Southern Baptist volunteers helping with cutting and swamping for this 8 day period. At the command center where Team Rubicon was staying we had Salvation Army and the Red Cross doing lodging and feeding. This was a huge show of support for the community and a huge lift that we would not have completed by ourselves. Over this 8 day period we cleared 9 acres of invasive trees, felled approximately 1700 trees, and chipped 205,000 cubic feet of debris. Through the rest of the year we cut at various sites with our in-house crew, fire staff, and UCC crews cutting and chipping Russian olive. It was overall a very successful year for removal work and definitely the best year that the Southeast WUI program has had in terms of removal work in Moab and Spanish Valley. Reveg will be tough in the coming years at a couple of these sites though due to the flooding that we have been receiving from the monsoons. At one site we have seen the channel move several times and 2' of mud and sand deposition on the site, so we expect that we will have to be careful with revegetation work moving forward.

Just to clarify our in-kind column and through other column here is what the breakdown was: Through Other is as follows: 
- $5,353 in Grand County Weed Department assistance for stump spraying and followup treatments for the Team Rubicon operation. 
- $47,931 from Landscape Scale Restoration grant that FFSL is managing for Mill and Pack Creeks Russian olive removal work.

In-Kind contributions are as follows: 
- $45,000 from Team Rubicon volunteer assistance totalling 1800 hours over 8 days. 
- $4,000 in Moab Valley Fire Department assistance with chipping during the Team Rubicon Operation
- $18,700 in In-kind FFSL chipper use valued at $1700 rental rate for BC1500 over 11 weeks.

BLM accomplished it's goals to improve watershed conditions by reducing invasive plant density, increasing native plant diversity and density, decreasing soil erosion and associated sediment loading to Mill Ck therefore improving water quality conditions and floodplain functionality.  These improvements helped the floodplain and riparian area to withstand a large flood event in Aug 2022, allowing overflow channels and a braided channel to form during this flood which reduced overall channel incision, downcutting and erosion.

In addition to the work conducted in association with FFSL WUI, RRR coordinated four rounds of fine fuels mowing in the Mill/Pack corridor with UCC, starting at Anonymous Park, treating the Taylor Property, and City property along Mill Creek through to the High School and the Middle School. These areas were also treated for Russian Olive resprouts. Rim to Rim also conducted containerized planting projects at Anonymous Park, the Taylor, Lewis, and Kopell properties, the bike skills park, the middle school, and the area near the high school bus shed.

USFS: The Forest Service contracted through DWR for the cut and pile. This ended up being two separate contracts. The first was completed in fall of 2021. After cutting in several of the units there was confusion on measuring the canopy cover and reduction of the contractor elected to not continue cutting into new units. The second round was completed in spring of 2022. This contractor was able to finish all of the units. The Forest Service was able to burn piles in the spring of 2022 including the piles burned in fall of 2021.

FFSL: 
We still have at least another couple of years of implementation under the LSR grant for Russian olive removal and several more years after that to continue to reduce the invasive woody species pressure on the riparian areas in Moab. We have had more interest in Russian olive removal work this year than any previous year which seems to be in part due to the flooding that we have seen along Pack Creek coming off of the Pack Creek Fire Burn Area. We will be carrying that momentum forward to clear a majority of the Russian olive from the creek in the next 3-5 years.

BLM will continue to treat Mill Creek Canyon with invasive plant control, erosion control and trail maintenance over the next several years or more to ensure improvements to watershed health, water quality, riparian condition and floodplain functionality.  Funding ($68K) has been approved by the UDWQ non-point source program to continue this work for the next couple of years.

Rim to Rim will continue to support projects along Mill and Pack Creeks, providing project coordination, support, and native plant materials. Funding has been secured for an EPA 319 grant along Mill and Pack Creek in addition to another year of WRI funding. The massive monsoon floods that have recently affected Moab will shape a large part of upcoming work.

USFS: The Forest Service will burn the remining piles when conditions allow. There was discussion with DWR about contracting this to allow more piles to be burned in a shorter window if more help could be solicited. This method will be explored moving forward.

TJ Cook

08/30/2022 13:57:58