Project Details

In 2002, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) excavated and constructed the one-acre Gigliotti Pond.  The pond is located on private property just off Highway 6 in Helper City.  The landowner and the DWR signed a 30-year memorandum of understanding to create and maintain Gigliotti Pond as a community fishery.  Shortly after filling the pond, DWR personnel observed water levels dropping continuously.  In 2004, a pond liner was installed to prevent further leaking.  The Habitat Council helped fund the construction of the pond in 2002 and the purchase of the pond liner in 2004.  The DWR and Helper City signed a 30-year memorandum of understanding that defines maintenance responsibilities of the facility.  Helper City cleans the restrooms and picks up the garbage at the ponds, and the DWR is responsible to pay for any repairs to the bathroom, waterlines and maintenance of the pond.

Gigliotti Pond is now 15 years old.  The pond has become a very popular angling destination for Carbon County residents.  The DWR helps the U.S. Forest Service annually host a kids fishing event for special need kids at the pond.  The ponds' ADA accessible fishing piers and walkway provides a perfect place to host this event.  The shoreline and pond depth has changed over the past decade.  The shoreline use to be free of vegetation and were covered with rocks.  Granted some vegetation is needed for a productive pond, but the aging pond is now being choked out by cattails.  The almost the entire shoreline is covered with a thick layer of cattails.  During the summer months, moss and algae will grow from the bottom of the pond to the water surface.  This has made angling very difficult over the majority of the pond.  The use of herbicides and algaecides are prohibited in and around the pond by the landowner.  Much of the shoreline has sloughed off into the pond exposing the pond liner.  The liner is now susceptible to being punctured or torn.  The goals of this project is improving angler access by removing vegetation and stabilizing the shoreline to prevent further erosion.

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.