Project Details

Utah Lake has roughly 75 miles of shoreline, much of which is utilized for sports, recreation, and wetland habitats. Utilizing 2006 aerial photos of Utah Lake, the Utah County Weed Supervisor as directed by the Utah County Weed board estimated there was over 5,800 acres of phragmites infestation. Its existence creates an invasive monoculture along the Utah Lake shoreline.  Large numbers of tamarisk and Russian olive around the lake are also a problem.  Their removal and establishment of desirable plant species greatly benefits the watershed.  Phragmites proliferation has the potential to choke out valuable wetlands found around the lake.  It continues to intrude upon the habitat area of several endangered or threatened species, as well as species of concern.  These are listed in the "Species" section of this grant proposal and were identified as species that would benefit from this project by UDWR biologists.

Phragmites is difficult to eradicate without an aggressive vegetation management program. Phragmites is capable of surviving the harshest conditions including fire, frost, high pH and flood. It is tolerant of low water, storm water discharge, road salts and pollution.  It spreads by rhizomes and forms a dense mat that out competes and eliminates native vegetation and destroys valuable wetlands. It was added to the Utah County list of noxious weeds by the Utah County Commission in 2008.

Stands of phragmites grow up to 14 feet tall and create an impenetrable insecticide buffer which allows breeding mosquitos to thrive. Mosquitoes around Utah Lake and the County have tested positive for West Nile Virus.

Each year when the phragmites dies back and dries out, lake shore residential developments, parks, bridges and other structures face the risk of extreme fire danger. In 2007 the Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands was court ordered to create a 30-foot firebreak as a safety measure to protect the homes in case of a fire.

The Utah Lake Commission has coordinated the creation of a long-term shoreline restoration program with local municipal governments, Utah County, and concerned state and federal agencies as well as private land owners to remove phragmites and other invasive plant species such as tamarisk and Russian olive from the shoreline of Utah Lake and to restore native vegetation where beneficial.  It is a multiple section removal effort which requires yearly dedicated funding to ensure its success.

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.

(Management Plans and objectives are named and then numbered in brackets or parenthesis)

This project will continue the process needed to help several agencies accomplish their goals and objectives. The agencies, the plans and objectives are listed below.

The Utah Lake Commission [1,2 (two objectives)] and Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands [3,4 (two objectives] adopted the Utah Lake Master Plan in June 2009.  It specifically lists removal of phragmites around Utah Lake as a high-priority goal.  The Master Plan also lists the importance of insect control to benefit public health--a direct result of this removal effort.
  
The Utah County Commission (5) has identified phragmites as a noxious weed at the recommendation of the Utah County Weed Board.  This board meets regularly to strategize treatment of numerous types of noxious weeds in Utah County.  This is outlined in the 2013 County Resource Assessment. Restoration of the shoreline of Utah Lake is a high priority of this board.  The Utah County Mosquito Abatement (6) district has identified phragmites removal as a priority as well.

Listed as a noxious weed that needs to be controlled in the 2013 Alpine Conservation District Resource Assessment (7) and the 2013 Timp Nebo Conservation District Resource Assessment (8)

Removal of phragmites also helps the Division of Wildlife Resources (9) reclaim valuable habitat for wildlife. It is also a priority of several municipalities, including the City of Saratoga Springs (10) and Provo City (11), Lehi City (12) to have this invasive species controlled as it grows closer to existing homes and planned developments.

The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (13) has identified phragmites as one of their top priorities for invasive species control, within the new Invasive Species Mitigation program, which is a partner in this grant.

The June sucker Recovery Implementation Program (14) has identified phragmites at Utah Lake to be detrimental to habitat and has been supporting efforts to remove phragmites around the lake.

This project lies within the wetland type which is one of the key habitats identified in the WAP. This area supports a variety of wildlife species including many that are listed in the WAP such as fish, neotropical birds, raptors, and wading and shorebirds. June sucker, an endangered fish endemic to Utah Lake, may also receive benefit from a long-term phragmites removal effort of which this project is the first step.  Other species of concern, as identified by UDWR include, fish such as the Utah sucker, channel catfish, bullhead catfish, panfish including bluegill and crappie, and large-mouth bass; birds, including the Avocet, Stilt, Caspian Tern, Plover, and Long-billed Curlew.

This project lies within a wetland/lake conservation focus area as determined by the Central Region UPCD team

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.

Lakeside developments are springing up around a majority of the north half of Utah Lake along with municipal infrastructure to support the growth. As phragmites invades the shoreline, it creates a substantial fuel load and hazard to residential neighborhoods, golf courses (Talons Cove, East Bay, Sleepy Ridge), parks, campgrounds, commercial structures and associated infrastructure that all border the lake. Both Provo Bay and the Powell Slough which make up the 2257 acre project border residential and commercial properties.

East Bay Golf course and the Provo Airport along with many neighboring residential developments could be impacted and at risk as a result of a large fire in Provo Bay where we have proposed to treat 1375 acres.

A fire in the Powell Slough would put commercial properties and Sleepy Ridge Golf Course at risk. This portion of the project hasn't been treated in many years and has substantial fire fuels throughout the proposed 822 acres in this specific portion of the project.

A lawsuit between Saratoga Springs and the Utah Division of Forestry Fire and State Lands highlighted the reality of this fire risk after which the State was ordered to create fire barriers by removing the phragmites vegetation.

Our multi-year project reduces the fuel loading around the lake and prevents the risk of Catastrophic Fires.

Reducing the fuels along the shoreline also prevents the negative impacts of large fires to the Air quality along the Wasatch Front which is uniquely susceptible to poor air quality.

*See attached photos from previous fire that damaged roadside fences at the Saratoga Springs Marina

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.

By treating and removing Phragmites and allowing native vegetation to take hold, we see positive impacts to the water quality in Utah Lake.  Replacing Phragmites with other native species provides better uptake from those natives species of pollutants of concern, whether nutrients or E. coli, for example.  Removing Phragmites also creates good habitat for riparian species, which in turn can increase and improve shading depending on the native vegetation in the area, and this can have a positive effect on temperature.  Removal efforts of Phragmites also creates a more complex riparian root system that is better habitat for juvenile fish and other species.

Utah Lake is a priority on the current Utah County Resource Assessment Plan created in 2013. It points out that the lake provides water not only to its county residents but also to Salt Lake County. As the third largest freshwater lake in the western United States, Utah Lake contains ~902,400 acre feet of water when full.  As such, it is a very important part of the watershed both in quantity and for its quality. This project along with many others are contributing to improving the value of this resource.

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.

Following a similar plan that the DWR has been using in northern Utah and which has been used for the past several years on Utah Lake, we have developed a plan to control and contain phragmites, other invasive plants, and to reestablish desirable vegetation in appropriate locations. The plan involves a three-year, four-step process, with monitoring and a management strategy to prevent spread and re-invasion. Each year new sites will begin the process and previous years' treatment sites will fall along the process spectrum as identified in our long-term removal plan.

Methods for Treatment:
Year 1
1) Fuel breaks will be constructed and treated with AquaNeat where needed. 
2) A contracted helicopter will be used to treat the project area with AquaNeat in late summer. 
3) Contractors will be used to remove and treat stumps with AquaNeat of tamarisk and Russian olive from strategic areas in the Fall/Winter.
4) Utah County crews will smash or contract the smashing for much of the biomass in the treated area during the winter.
5) Utah County weed crew will spot treat regrowth of phragmites in the project area with AquaNeat in accessible areas in the spring.

Year 2
1) Regrowth of phragmites will be spot treated with AquaNeat by Utah County crews in the fall (10-20% regrowth is expected). 
2) Tree stumps of tamarisk and Russian olive will be retreated with AquaNeat in summer.
3) Regrowth will be smashed mechanically during the winter.
4) Continual monitoring of regrowth and treatment as needed will be done during the year.
5) Revegetation of strategic areas are considered based on the public use, need, and expected success rate of the project.

Year 3, 4, 5...
1) Continual maintenance will occur
2) Spot treatment of any regrowth along the shoreline will continue.
3) Smashing will occur if the lake is low enough and is needed.

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.