Project Details

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.

This project will help address the following goals, objectives and strategies of the mule deer and elk management plans:
Statewide Deer Plan
Habitat Goal: Conserve, improve, and restore mule deer habitat throughout the state with
emphasis on crucial ranges.
Habitat Objective 1: Maintain mule deer habitat throughout the state by protecting and
enhancing existing crucial habitats and mitigating for losses due to natural and human impacts.
Strategies
c. Work with local, state and federal land management agencies via land management
plans and with private landowners to identify and properly manage crucial mule deer
habitats, especially fawning, wintering and migration areas.
Habitat Objective 2: Improve the quality and quantity of vegetation for mule deer on a
minimum of 500,000 acres of crucial range by 2019.
Strategies
d. Initiate broad scale vegetative treatment projects to improve mule deer habitat with
emphasis on drought or fire damaged sagebrush winter ranges, ranges that have been
taken over by invasive annual grass species, and ranges being diminished by
encroachment of conifers into sagebrush or aspen habitats, ensuring that seed mixes
contain sufficient forbs and browse species.
Statewide Elk Plan
B. Habitat Management Goal: Conserve and improve elk habitat throughout the state.
Habitat Objective 1: Maintain sufficient habitat to support elk herds at population objectives and reduce competition for forage between elk and livestock.
Strategies:
C. Watershed Restoration Initiative
a) Increase forage production by annually treating a minimum of 40,000 acres of elk habitat.
b) Coordinate with land management agencies, conservation organizations, private landowners, and local leaders through the regional Watershed Restoration Initiative working groups to identify and prioritize elk habitats that are in need of enhancement or restoration.
Wildlife Management Unit 17 Plans
Deer plan
Habitat Improvement
Reduce expansion of Pinyon-Juniper woodlands into sagebrush habitats and improve habitats
dominated by Pinyon-Juniper woodlands by completing habitat restoration projects like lop & scatter, bullhog and chaining.
o Future habitat work should be concentrated on the following areas.
o North side of hwy 6 in the Sheep Creek drainage.
Elk Plan
Habitat
Actions to Remove Habitat Barriers
- Cooperate with USFS, BLM, & Ute Tribe to increase vegetative under story and reduce Pinyon/Juniper invasion of the sagebrush step zone to increase winter forage to reduce depredation on private property.
-The proposed project will address the following goals and objectives of the Division of Wildlife Resources most recent strategic management plan:
-Resource Goal: expand wildlife populations and conserve sensitive species by protecting and improving wildlife habitat.
-Objective 1: protect existing wildlife habitat and improve 500,000 acres of critical habitats and watersheds throughout the state.
-Objective 3: conserve sensitive species to prevent them from becoming listed as threatened or endangered.
-The Soldier Creek Watershed Assessment states: 1)Remove juniper to increase sagebrush habitat and forb and grass cover.
-The Upper Spanish Fork Management Area as defined by the 2003 Land and Resource Management Plan for the Uinta NF has the following sub-goals of the Forest Plan:
-Sub-goal 2-8: "Ecosystem resilience is maintained by providing for a full range of seral stages and age classes (by cover type) that achieve a mosaic of habitat conditions.
-Sub-goal-2-23 Areas identified as being of special concern for habitat such as big game winter range, big game Management Areas are maintained and, where potential exists, improved or expanded.

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.