Completion Form

2024

Bald Knoll and Red Canyon were put out in two separate arch contracts. Both contracts were finished by October 15, 2024. Bald Knoll was aerially seeded on Oct 16, 2024 by fixed wing aircraft. The bullhog contractor started the same day. Mulching was finished on March 17, 2024. The contractors did a excellent job and finished two weeks early. The bullhog on private land near Koosharem Reservoir was completed through state purchasing with a seeding and mastication contract. Contractors did an excellent job.

No work was completed on USFS due to lack of funding.

WHY:

Ground surveys and site visits have allowed us to see the lack of understory plants in the PJ complex in the Lost Creek area. Forage productivity has diminished greatly over the past century and the PJ encroachment continues on a yearly basis into the more productive sage/grass/forb communities. Some areas within the project have lost a majority of the understory sage/grasses/forbs, but other areas have not completely lost the understory. One of the biggest threats realized in this area is if left untreated these areas with some understory of sagebrush/grasses/forbs left will eventually be gone as well. This will continue to be "poor" habitat and range for ungulate animals.

The area serves as transition range and winter range for big game and because it is in poor condition animals fail to remain in this zone for the season of use that should be normal. Just under half (~4,000 acres) of the PJ in the project is in phase II but is about to cross the threshold into phase III dominated PJ and lose the remaining understory. The other portion (~2,000 acres) of this project is in phase I with portions about to cross the threshold into phase II. If left untreated these areas with productive sage/grass/forb communities will degrade in productivity and treatment costs in the future will go up dramatically. As PJ has become dominate on the landscape and the loss of understory vegetation increases, big game and small game animals are experiencing a loss of foraging habitat.

This entire area is at risk of large catastrophic wildfires that could adversely affect entire watersheds. This project will reduce the ecological risk of: 
1) Current sediment transfer and associated increasing TDS and 2) Potential catastrophic impacts of increased sediment transfer and degradation of Southern leatherside chub habitat and population in the event of a wildfire. As Lost Creek and its tributaries are improved and potential catastrophic ecological impacts in the event of a wildfire are reduced, sediment transfer into Lost Creek and subsequent Sevier River will likely be reduced as well.  Restoring uplands will reduce impacts from future wildfires by reducing risk of future impairment.

This project reduces the threat to sensitive riparian ecosystems located in Lost Creek and Little Lost Creek that hold the Southern leatherside chub fish species. Refer to the "Water Quality/Quantity" section for more detail.

Although it was determined by the USFWS that listing under the ESA was not warranted for Greater sage grouse there is an impending review to see if further action or protection is needed. Continuing to do work as identified in the Statewide Sage Grouse Management Plan to conserve sage grouse will support a continued "not warranted" status.

The threat of development is at an all time high in this area as the private land would be ideal for high value cabin or camper lots.  This area has extremely high visitation for outdoor recreation.  Every Thursday night through Sunday night the two lane highway to the fishlake forest is packed with people coming to recreate for weekend in the area.  Plainly stated, development is an immediate threat to the ecology of this landscape.   Helping private land ag producers remain profitable as a livestock operation and from outdoor recreation (primarily hunting) here is important to reduce the risk of landowners selling the lands for development.

This project focuses on juniper removal as a means to mitigate threats to critical Mule deer summer/winter range, elk winter range.

Sagebrush habitat is at risk of being lost due to excessive pinyon and juniper, wildfire, and high potential for invasive vegetation. High severity wildfire could lead to an Increase in cheatgrass and loss of perennial native species. This project will decrease the risk of high severity wildfire by reducing fuel loading and promoting the growth of perennial understory species which are critical to maintaining ecosystem resilience.

This project will increase the availability of a diverse suite of vegetational communities.  As stated earlier the dominant vegetational state is pinyon and juniper woodland.  A healthy landscape has a diversity of vegetational states.  A diverse landscape benefits a larger community of wildlife and people.  A diverse landscape is also more resistance and resilient to disturbance.  By allowing this landscape to continue to move further into a dominant PJ woodland it increases the risk of its resistance to disturbance and its resilience to bounce back and heal after a disturbance.

Numerous projects have been implemented in the area with more planned to be implemented in the near future. The combination of all these projects is in effort to increase the pace and scale of implementation to help disperse browse pressure for both wild and domestic ungulates.

Valley Mountain northwestern portion of project. 
Species Threats:
This area has been identified as priority for restoration of CRUCIAL mule deer habitat under the Statewide Mule Deer Management Plan. "Crucial" means the areas habitat is necessary to sustain the areas mule deer herd.  Allowing the area to move into phase 2 and 3 pinyon and juniper encroachment will mean less quality habitat to meet mule deer objectives.

Elk and Mule Deer: The Lone Cedar area of the Valley Mountain range is very important for mule deer and elk.  From higher to lower elevations elk and deer depend on the habitat with it's available forage and cover to complete their life cycle requirements.  This project will greatly improve available forage for elk and deer populations. Treatments patterns will play an important role within the treatment implementation. One of the primary objectives of this project is to improve habitat for elk and deer. Winter range improvements from this project will benefit elk and deer populations for decades to come.  Future monitoring and maintenance of the project will be essential to prolong the integrity of the treatment and health of big game populations. It has been said by land managers, biologist, and researchers familiar with the project area that this area is very important because Mule Deer are space limited here, meaning available habitat and water seem to be the limiting factor for population growth.  As habitat is made available by doing this project, we are addressing an immediate threat to one of the primary limiting factors for this population.

Ferruginous Hawk:
Decreasing populations are commonly attributed to loss of habitat, and lack of secondary prey species. Ferruginous hawk is closely associated with open landscapes offering good visibility and prey resources In Utah, these conditions are often provided by lowland sagebrush, mountain sagebrush, and desert grassland habitats (UDWR 2015). Drought conditions over the past two decades have contributed to sagebrush die-offs, increased fire intensity and frequency, and increased invasive plants. These in turn lead to habitat fragmentation, decreased plant community vitality and decreased prey populations. This project will offer good visibility for foraging and nesting with a mosaic pattern and limit the risk of high intensity wildfire with increased invasive plants. The project will open foraging opportunities for prey such as lagomorphs, ground squirrels, birds and reptiles. Breeding success and population status have been tied to prey abundance and cycling. 
 
Wild Turkey: Newly treated areas through fire or mechanical means will attract use by wild turkey. Insects and new growth will be readily available to support turkey populations. This project will provide more foraging opportunities for wild turkey as grasses and forbs provide insects and seed.

The project area also provides important recreational hunting for the local communities and people travel from all over the state (and from other states) to hunt here for elk, and mule deer.  The highly sought-after hunting opportunities within the project areas provide a financial boost to local economies in several ways.  Continuing to do work to maintain the habitat in this area will help to perpetuate the recreational and economic benefits.

Financial thresholds need consideration when funding habitat conservation.  The type of pro-active work we are proposing reduces future cost from becoming prohibitive.

Resting from grazing in the masticated and seeded areas is being incorporated into the annual operating plan for associated allotments.  Planning future treatments on both BLM, private and USFS land in Phase 3 and 4 of this projects.  Future planned treatments will include seeding and mastication along with more hand thinning as well in Phase 1 PJ areas. Overall future management in these areas is to increase overall fooprint of treatments at a more landscape level with the use of prescribed fire in conjunction with needed mechanical treatments in the lower elevations around values at risk.

The landowner is also committed to resting the seeded area on private for at least 2 growing seasons.  Kendall Bagley will ride his horse and chase cows out if needed.

The private landowners have a history of working with conservation partners and future projects are being discussed and planned as mentioned above.

The private landowners have a 10-year agreement with USFWS Partners Program to leave restored habitat in place.  During this time USFWS will periodically check on the project and communicate with the landowner on future needs.

Clint Wirick

08/30/2024 13:42:52