Project Details

This is a multiyear project, projected for five consecutive years (FY20-FY25). The project is located in very difficult terrain for forest management, requiring technical execution of resources for project success. Conservation easements, steep slopes and nearby homes limit the tools available for management and greatly increase the cost associated with project implementation. The project site is a federally designated Forest Legacy Parcel and is home to an abundance of wildlife. It resides within a high-risk wildland urban interface as documented by the office of the State of Utah Forestry Fire and State Lands.  The restoration will focus primarily on improving forest health and reducing wildfire risk by the removal of trees from overly dense forested areas. Selective cutting will guide a thinning operation to open the canopy, while under-story fuels reduction will remove brush and reduce fuel load risk. Improved riparian health will enhance natural riparian fuel breaks along Toll Canyon Creek.  
This project is just one of several projects in the area that is addressing the need for forest health and fuels reduction.  The adjacent residents of Pinebrook and Summit Park (a recognized Firewise community) neighborhoods have recently adapted plans to collaborate with the District to implement forest health and fuels reduction work alongside the proposed work herein. Together, our collective efforts, can make significant impact on the health of our public protect recreational open space forests and the safety of Summit County residents that live near them. 
If the conditions are left untreated, the area will be vulnerable to a catastrophic fire event, and decreased forest vigor leading to increased forest health concerns.

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.

Project complies with guidance outlined in the following: 
1.	Snyderville Basin Special Recreation Open Space Management Guidelines 2019
2.	Summit Park Forest Stewardship Plan 2018:  Manage forest resources in the best interest of forest health, which should minimize losses associated with injurious insects and diseases. Detection and monitoring will be key components in minimizing forest pest impacts. Maintain or enhance wildlife use and habitat. Maintain favorable aesthetics by means of preventing large scale tree mortality. Adhere to the Forest Legacy Deed of Conservation Easement parameters. Actively manage to reduce the control/spread of noxious weeds, found throughout the property.
3.	Snyderville Basin Special Recreation Trails Master Plan 2019: (3) Provide and support a diversity of trail experiences:  Objective 3C: Beyond the types of trail uses accommodated, consider a variety of user objectives in the planning, design, and construction of new trails. Objectives could include: Nature-viewing, Escape, Solitude, Challenge, Risk, Fun, Play, Exercise, Connectivity, Socializing. (4) Develop a sustainable trail system in an environmentally responsible way:  Objective 4A: Secure and budget sufficient, dependable annual maintenance funding for the community-wide trail system.  Seek out partnerships with other organizations to share and leverage trail maintenance resources.

4.	Summit County Code: 10-4-3: Critical Lands, 10-4-7 (A): Fire Protection Fuel Breaks/Vegetation Manipulation: Hazardous fuels in the form of native vegetation will be cleared around structures and around the perimeter of the development to assist in wildfire prevention measures. This fuel break is not intended as a complete vegetation clearing firebreak.

5.	Summit County Snyderville Basin General Plan:  Goals: (1) Preservation of open space, view corridors and scenic mountainsides, (2) preservation of Critical Lands (as defined in Section 10-4-3 of the Code) natural resources and the environment, including clean air and water.   Community Vision: (1) Open Space, (2) Recreation, (4) Wildlife, (6) Critical Land Protection, (7) Water Conservation and (11) Natural Resource Preservation. Policy 5.22: Wildfire Management.  Policy 5.23: Wildlife

6.	Utah Administrative Code R68-9 (Utah's Noxious Weed Act):   Utah Noxious Weed Act and the Summit County Code, Title 4, Chapter 4. The Act states that local governments are directed to take the necessary steps to manage the noxious weeds within their jurisdiction and provides specific authorization for local enforcement.

7.	Utah Forest Action Plan 2016:  Distribute materials to community members, individual landowners, public officials, interagency partners and media for further dissemination and outreach. Increase participation in state and national programs including Utah Living with Fire, Ready, Set, Go!, Firewise USA and Fire-Adaptive Communities. Use all available management tools, including forest industry, to restore and maintain healthy ecosystems.

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.

Improvements due to forest thinning: Toll Canyon Creek and the greater Summit Park area all drain into the East Canyon Creek (Weber watershed). Reduction of conifers should increase available water within the stand and may increase ephemeral water flow. 
Improvements due to improved riparian corridors:  The impacts of wildfire on riparian habitats is varied, but there is evidence that healthy riparian corridors can serve to halt the spread of wildfires. In-tact, healthy riparian corridors are more resilient to wildfires because riparian vegetation such as willows and cottonwoods thrive after disturbance. In-tact root systems in riparian corridors stabilize streambanks and are more resilient to flooding (i.e., down-cutting and incision), if and when post-fire rains erode into waterways. Conversely, degraded riparian corridors are not resilient to wildfire; they will require extensive efforts to restore vegetation and hydrologic function (i.e., deep incision and down-cutting). Riparian habitats can be resilient to wildfire and generally do not require extensive restoration (Halofsky and Hibbs 2009).

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.

The project area will be treated over a five-year period (FY20-FY24) and the treatment areas is approximate 300 acres of protected forested open space. Snyderville Basin Special Recreation District in partnership with Utah Forestry, Fire and State Lands has assessed the current condition and has formulated a forest management prescription that achieves the desired future conditions, Forest Stewardship Plan Management intent, and management goals and objectives within the project area. The District's Open Space Supervisor and UFFSL State Forrester will provide overall project oversight. Utah Forestry, Fire and State Lands will mark "leave trees" within the treatment area. Due to steep slopes, and lack of assessable roads, the thinning project will be done via hand-crew and helicopter removal.  The project area will be treated over five years and the treatment areas is approximate 300 acres.  Thinning treatment will be applied to approximately 60 acres of forest per year, to be completed in five years or sooner. Due to presents of pine beetle in the area, mature Douglas Fir trees OVER 10-inch diameter will need to be remove from property or treated with plastic covers. Due to steep slopes and the lack of accessible roads, timbers will need to be flown out via helicopter to a nearby staging area. Trees UNDER 10-inch diameter will be left onsite and prepared in burn piles, 8-10 foot high. The lop and scatter treatment method will be used for small limbs and needles. Piles will be burned by UFFSL crews each following year.  Beaver Dam Analog's (BDA) will be installed along Toll Canyon Creek under the guidance of Trout Unlimited, UDWR, USDA and Wild Utah Project. BDAs are a cost-effective restoration tools that efficiently achieves the environmental benefits of beaver such as creating aquatic habitat, reducing erosion, and improving hydrological connectivity. BDAs are built from wooden fence posts that are driven into the streambed with a hydraulic post pounder. The posts will extend approximately 1 meter above the channel bed and be spaced approximately 0.5 - 0.8 meters apart. Vegetation such as willow will be woven between the posts to create a structure that mimics a beaver dam. We will utilize volunteers to support the construction of BDAs.  The dams encourage sediment to aggrade behind the dam, riparian and emergent vegetation to grow and stream channel flooding. Dams will be placed about 30 - 100m apart, depending on factors such as gradient and degree of incision. One year after BDAs installation, conditions will be assessed and the stream will be monitored using the RSRA method (see Monitoring, below).

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.