Project Details

The Simpson Complex is composed of five individual fires (i.e., Sheep, Lion Peak, Flats, Lucky, and Black Fires) that were all started by lightning. The burned rangelands are on slight to steep slopes from 5,360 to 8,200 feet elevation in south-central Tooele County approximately 10 miles west of Vernon, Utah. The fires are south of the Pony Express Road near the Erickson Pass Road that divides the Sheeprock and the Simpson Mountains. The
Simpson Complex fires are located in T. 8-10 S., R. 6-8 W., SLM.

Fire intensity was extreme on the Lion Peak Fire, high on the Flats Fire, and moderate to high on the Sheep Fire; and those three fires are in need of ESR treatments. Much of the protective vegetative
cover and the seedbank were destroyed by these fires. Without seeding, those areas would be susceptible to soil losses, squarrose knapweed invasion, and cheatgrass invasion. Squarrose knapweed is a problematic noxious weed for this area with current infestations within all three fires that are proposed for ESR treatments. It also has a particularly strong presence in washes and along roadsides surrounding the burned areas.

The Simpson Complex fires burned in occupied sage grouse habitat and removed Wyoming big sagebrush from the lower and mid-elevations. Nearly all of the BLM acres (i.e., 3,513 of 3,592 BLM acres) of the Simpson Complex burned in preliminary priority brood-rearing GRSG habitat.

The soils in this area are also highly susceptible to water and wind erosion.  It will be important to re-establish perennial vegetation and to build erosion control structures (ECS) to help prevent or slow down the rate of erosion in the burned area.

The other challenge associated with this project is the wild horses and domestic grazing that occurs in the area.  In order to have a successful seeding and allow the plants to establish the area will need to be fenced to protect the area.

Provide evidence about the nature of the problem and the need to address it. Identify the significance of the problem using a variety of data sources. For example, if a habitat restoration project is being proposed to benefit greater sage-grouse, describe the existing plant community characteristics that limit habitat value for greater sage-grouse and identify the changes needed for habitat improvement.

Provide an overall goal for the project and then provide clear, specific and measurable objectives (outcomes) to be accomplished by the proposed actions. If possible, tie to one or more of the public benefits UWRI is providing.

LOCATION: Justify the proposed location of this project over other areas, include publicly scrutinized planning/recovery documents that list this area as a priority, remote sensing modeling that show this area is a good candidate for restoration, wildlife migration information and other data that help justify this project's location.

TIMING: Justify why this project should be implemented at this time. For example, Is the project area at risk of crossing an ecological or other threshold wherein future restoration would become more difficult, cost prohibitive, or even impossible.

List management plans where this project will address an objective or strategy in the plan. Describe how the project area overlaps the objective or strategy in the plan and the relevance of the project to the successful implementation of those plans. It is best to provide this information in a list format with the description immediately following the plan objective or strategy.

If applicable, detail how the proposed project will significantly reduce the risk of fuel loading and/or continuity of hazardous fuels including the use of fire-wise species in re-seeding operations. Describe the value of any features being protected by reducing the risk of fire. Values may include; communities at risk, permanent infrastructure, municipal watersheds, campgrounds, critical wildlife habitat, etc. Include the size of the area where fuels are being reduced and the distance from the feature(s) at risk.

Describe how the project has the potential to improve water quality and/or increase water quantity, both over the short and long term. Address run-off, erosion, soil infiltration, and flooding, if applicable.

Description of efforts, both completed and planned, to bring the proposed action into compliance with any and all cultural resource, NEPA, ESA, etc. requirements. If compliance is not required enter "not applicable" and explain why not it is not required.

Describe the actions, activities, tasks to be implemented as part of the proposed project; how these activities will be carried out, equipment to be used, when, and by whom.

Describe plans to monitor for project success and achievement of stated objectives. Include details on type of monitoring (vegetation, wildlife, etc.), schedule, assignments and how the results of these monitoring efforts will be reported and/or uploaded to this project page. If needed, upload detailed plans in the "attachments" section.

List any and all partners (agencies, organizations, NGO's, private landowners) that support the proposal and/or have been contacted and included in the planning and design of the proposed project. Describe efforts to gather input and include these agencies, landowners, permitees, sportsman groups, researchers, etc. that may be interested/affected by the proposed project. Partners do not have to provide funding or in-kind services to a project to be listed.

Detail future methods or techniques (including administrative actions) that will be implemented to help in accomplishing the stated objectives and to insure the long term success/stability of the proposed project. This may include: post-treatment grazing rest and/or management plans/changes, wildlife herd/species management plan changes, ranch plans, conservation easements or other permanent protection plans, resource management plans, forest plans, etc.

Potential for the proposed action to improve quality or quantity of sustainable uses such as grazing, timber harvest, biomass utilization, recreation, etc. Grazing improvements may include actions to improve forage availability and/or distribution of livestock.