Completion Form

2024

We did multiple treatments on this project to improve the entire health of the watershed. 
We first did the cut and pile work in the high elevations to improve mule deer summer range habitat which started in August of 2023 and was completed in September of 2023. We cut and piled 751 acres of thick conifer stands in the higher elevations to improve mule deer summer range. The USFS also went in and burned the 403 acres of piles from 2022 and approximately 300 of the acres that were cut and piled in 2023. The remaining acres of piles will be burned in the winter of 2024. By the summer of 2024 we are already seeing a massive amount of aspen saplings that are being regenerated within the areas that were cut piled and burned.
As part of this project we also completed 1,563 acres of cultural surveys to allow us to thin out pinyon and juniper woodlands with a bullhog masticator in the fall of 2024. That work is currently being solicited for contracts and will begin by October of 2024.
The USFS also utilized an in-house feller buncher, bullhog, and USFS personnel to cut and pile large conifer trees within approximately 287 acres of high-elevation conifer and aspen stands. These piles will be burned in the winter of 2024. This work greatly opened up the tree canopy and reduced the conifer competition with the aspen trees and other understory vegetation. This will greatly increase the amount of forage available for mule deer and livestock.
The NRCS and Jones Demille Engineering continued to work on the NEPA document to allow for major improvements to the watershed and even a new reservoir. WRI gave the Sanpete Water District $5,000 to add a watershed health component to their NEPA document; that will allow us to gain up to $5,000,000 in future NRCS funding for forest health projects. 
Lastly, we built approximately 60 post-assisted log structures near the Pinchot Pond area to reduce erosion of the stream channels and to improve the water storage capacity of the watershed to provide more water to users downstream.

In 2020, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources recognized that big game populations in the 12-mile canyon area were below objectives. Therefore, the UDWR, USFS, and sportsman organizations joined forces to begin efforts to improve the deer and elk populations in the 12-mile canyon area. Predator control methods were implemented to reduce mortality rates, but the major concern was that if the habitat was not also improved populations could spike and then crash. Therefore, with predator control efforts underway it became all the more important to ensure that habitat loss and degradation were not the limiting factors as populations began to rebound. Sportsman groups donated significant funding to jump-start the permitting and NEPA process so we could begin the on-the-ground work as soon as possible. Once that funding was received, DWR and USFS staff sprang into action and began contracting cultural and biological surveys and planning treatment areas. The USFS staff worked diligently to complete the NEPA process in a responsible and efficient manner.  We went above and beyond to ensure that critical resources would not be negatively impacted by this project, and ensure that this work would be a benefit to the watershed health.  The NEPA was signed and finalized in the summer of 2022 and the first phases of work to thin overgrown conifers in aspen stands began in the fall of 2022. (See Documents Section for NEPA and SHPO Concurrence Documents) We cut and piled over 400 acres in the first phase of this project in 2022. This funding and NEPA effort was an impressive example of collaboration that can happen through Utah's Watershed Restoration Initiative. Thanks to these efforts we now have thousands of acres approved for treatments to improve watershed health. 
The big game and other wildlife species' habitat in this area is currently in poor condition for several reasons. First, the winter range is not as good as it could be because of fire suppression, which has allowed the encroachment of pinyon and juniper trees into shrub-steppe habitat zones.  Because of this PJ encroachment, we have lost most of our understory vegetation which is important for big game to survive the winter. This encroachment is especially bad on the Twelve Mile wildlife management area (See Photos). This property's primary role is to benefit wildlife and should be a shining example of optimal habitat, but there is much work to be done to get to that point still.  
Second, conifer encroachment in the high-elevation aspen zones has diminished the amount and quality of this important habitat type for big game in the summer. Instead of thick and dying conifer stands that cover the landscape, we should have a patchwork or mosaic pattern of different tree and understory vegetation types. The conifer stands can provide shelter and cover but most wildlife species do not get their food from conifer species; they instead depend on the food found in the aspen and the understory vegetation in open meadows, and riparian zones along streams and ponds. When conifer stands out-compete these other vegetation types, there is a loss of food for wildlife that results in smaller population numbers and lower diversity. The key to optimal watershed health is to maximize vegetation diversity across the landscape. That is the objective of this project. We have collared multiple mule deer with GPS collars in the 12-mile through the wildlife migration initiative and we can see that most of the deer are not utilizing these thick conifer areas in the 12-mile canyon. Attached in the images/documents section is a video I made from the wildlife tracker system that shows a mule deer utilizing the edges of one of these thick conifer areas, but it seems to avoid it and stay in the more open aspen areas. This is most likely because of a lack of food located within the conifer stand. This project will reduce the thickness of these conifer stands to increase the available food and habitat for big game.    
Lastly, because of the historic over-trapping of beavers and continued poaching of beavers to this day, we have lost most of our beaver populations which has resulted in a degradation of high-quality riparian habitats that beavers create with their dams. Big game, fish, amphibians, birds, etc. all key into beaver pond areas as a high-quality habitat zone. As I have been working in this watershed planning and implementing projects over the last few years I consistently have noticed that near beaver ponds there is a concentration of wildlife. Especially during the fawning period in early June and July, I find doe deer within close proximity of these historic beaver ponds. Sadly, many of these old beaver ponds are draining and going dry  because the beavers have been removed. Also, many of the streams are eroding and channelizing because the beaver dams are no longer there to slow the water down. In this project, we installed man-made beaver dams called PALS or post assisted log structures to mimic what beavers would do until we can get beaver populations back to where they were historically.
Beyond the need to improve big game species populations, many other fish and wildlife species need help in this area that will be benefited from these habitat restoration efforts. A lot of focus is given to the importance of old-growth trees for the nesting of goshawks and other raptor species, but that is just one component of their habitat needs. These raptor species also need open aspen stands, open meadows, and riparian and aquatic zones for their hunting grounds. The rodents, lagomorphs, and upland game birds that provide a large part of their diets depend on these other habitat types for food and cover. By working to reduce juniper cover in the sagebrush areas and conifers in the high-elevation aspen zones we will increase the prey species population numbers which will in turn provide more food for vulnerable raptor species as well.  This project will help provide this diversity of habitat and benefit raptors as well as their prey. 
 Thick stands of continuous PJ is also problematic for even those species that are obligate or prefer these habitat types, such as pinyon jays. Pinyon jays utilize pinyon pine for their nuts and junipers for their berries and are typically found in this habitat type. However, not all of their food comes from pinyon pine nuts or juniper berries, and we need to consider all of the spatial and temporal dietary needs of pinyon jays throughout the year. For example, it is known that they will eat berries from shrubs, other seeds from grasses and forbs, and even insects, lizards, snakes, nestling birds, and small mammals. These food sources will be increased through PJ removal or thinning treatments. Edge habitat and transitional zones have also been identified as preferred habitat by pinyon jays. In a recent publication, it states pinyon Jays used a distinct subset of available pinyon-juniper woodland habitat, which suggests that Pinyon Jays used different but overlapping habitats for seed caching, foraging, and nesting. Caching was concentrated in low-elevation, relatively flat areas with low tree cover.  This paper also stated that foraging occurred at slightly higher elevations with generally moderate but variable tree cover. This treatment will also create this habitat, as we thin and remove juniper but leave dispersed pinyon pine throughout the treatment area. Nesting was concentrated in slightly higher areas with high tree and vegetation cover, which we will leave as part of this project the trees in the higher elevation areas naturally because of the steepness of those slopes and ruggedness of that terrain, which makes it impossible for equipment to access. All three of these Pinyon Jay behavior types were highly concentrated within the lower-elevation band of pinyon-juniper woodland close to the woodland-shrub land ecotone, which is where we will be working. (Boone et al. 2021) Through our project, we helped to create the diversity of these other habitat types that are essential to pinyon jays for caching and foraging as well as increase the proximity of these areas to their nesting habitat types, with increased edge and transitional zones throughout the landscape. This project has the potential to benefit this PJ obligate species as well as their food sources and prey species.
UDWR aquatics biologists have identified multiple ponds in this watershed that are draining and drying up because of the removal of beavers. In addition, the streams are blowing out and eroding deeper and deeper channels each year because the water is not slowed down from beaver ponds that would naturally be ubiquitous across all streams. Historically, it is estimated that beaver populations were in the 100s of millions and that every stream and water body across Utah would have had beavers in it. Beaver dams and their ponds create a diversity of habitat structures in streams where there is slower moving water, plunge pools, and riffles. The loss of these habitats and the draining of historic ponds result in fish die-offs and a loss of potential areas where additional fish populations can be established for native and sportfish species by the UDWR. This means fewer places where the public can enjoy fishing or see wildlife that rely on fish for food. These ponds also provide essential habitats for native amphibian species like tiger salamanders or boreal toads that are extremely rare already and can be at risk of extinction in the near future. These amphibian species rely on slow-moving or stable water that has aquatic vegetation where they can lay eggs and escape from predators. Many rare and struggling bat species also depend on these beaver pond habitats for a place where they can fly down and grab water in their mouths or where they can find concentrations of insects for food. Waterfowl and shorebirds also depend on these beaver ponds for food, protection from predators, and nesting habitat. Many important or rare plant species are also dependent on the increased soil moisture that beaver dams and ponds create. These plants, such as cottonwoods, aspens, willows, birch, elderberry, chokecherry, golden currants, etc. provide food and nesting habitat for many bird species. Wild turkeys utilize these tall cottonwoods that are increased by beaver pond activity to roost in. As we continue to build PALS and work to restore beavers to this landscape we will help fish and these other species have the habitats types which they need. 
Erosion and poor water quality are major concerns for this watershed. There have been several large landslides in recent years and the ground continues to be unstable. The town of Mayfield and other neighboring communities depend on the water from this watershed for culinary use and irrigation. The continued erosion and stream-down cutting result in poor water quality issues, which are causing problems for these water systems and users. We partnered with the NRCS, the USFS, and the community of Mayfield to develop a NEPA project to address these erosion issues. As part of the NRCS project, there will be seeding and other erosion control structures to help reduce the erosion and mudslides. This WRI grant complements these other efforts by the NRCS. This project will also improve soil stability as additional grass and other understory vegetation roots hold the soil in place better.  
Catastrophic wildfire is a major concern for this watershed. There are nearby cabin communities as well as the town of Mayfield that are at risk. Areas, where PJ will be removed, are identified as a very high threat on the fire threat index. This threat is mainly to the town of Mayfield and the homes that are in the foothills on the edges of town. This project will help to reduce these direct fire risks. In addition to the direct threats of fire, there is extreme concern about post-fire flooding and mudslides. With the soils that are, already eroding, there is an extreme risk of a major mudslide and flooding that would be devastating to infrastructure and threaten life and property if a wildfire were to burn across the entire watershed. Our project helped to remove fuel loads in these areas of concern so that a large fire would not be able to travel as well and burn large areas. Our treatments will allow the forest to let natural fires burn without the risk of catastrophic fire damages.
In Utah, we strive to have sustainable uses of our natural lands and watersheds. One of the goals of WRI is to help achieve this goal. Responsible livestock grazing on our public lands is one of these sustainable uses of our public lands that can help provide additional funding revenue for low-income families, especially in rural Utah. This livelihood is threatened as our watersheds are degraded and available feed for livestock is lost. This project helped to address these threats by removing encroaching conifer and PJ which will increase the feed on the landscape. Through the BDAs and other water developments, we will increase water availability and disperse it across the landscape. By doing the treatments we will also increase the resiliency of the habitat to cattle grazing so that there will not be as much damage from livestock that can give ammunition to critics of grazing on public lands. This project will help demonstrate that ranchers and livestock practices can coexist with wildlife and still have healthy watersheds through restoration efforts and proper management. This will hopefully help ensure that livestock grazing on public lands can continue for many years to come in the future. As mentioned previously the big game and sportfish populations are diminishing in this watershed which results in a loss of hunting and fishing opportunities. One of the goals of WRI is to increase and preserve the sustainable practice of hunting and fishing on our landscapes. This project will help increase hunting and fishing opportunities and preserve this sustainable use. 
In conclusion, there are many reasons why we needed to do this project and this has been a well-planned and coordinated project that has addressed a wide variety of watershed health needs.

Robert Edgel

08/15/2024 15:03:58