Project Details

The existing treatment areas being proposed for maintenance are important for both livestock and many wildlife species, including wintering elk and deer, sage grouse, several sagebrush obligate birds, and pygmy rabbits.  Most of the areas within the proposed area for treatment are prior WRI treatments (2547, 3014, 2890, 1487, 1155, and 3170) and 3 of them are prior to WRI existence.  These dixie-harrow, chaining, and mastication treatments occurred from 1999 through 2014 and represent over $1.4 million dollars of work already put into maintaining/restoring the health of this watershed.  Projects have protected and enhanced the sagebrush biome in Grass Valley and our hope is to ensure those projects will continue to do so for many more years.
Although those projects spanned 15 years of implementation PJ encroachment is only in Phase I in each of these areas.  Eliminating the encroaching trees at this early phase ensures the following:
1. minimizes loss of herbaceous understory
2. protection/prolongment of the initial investment of $1.4 million.
3. minimizes the cost of treatment:  Phase 1 removal by hand now (~$50/ac=$250,000) vs phase II removal by mechanical later on(~300/ac=$1,500,000).  No seed needed now ($0/ac) vs possible need for seed in some of the areas later on ($50/ac).

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.

SAGE GROUSE MANAGEMENT PLAN goals and objectives (Parker Mountain-Emery):
#1) Protection of habitat that provides year round use.
#3) Enhance or Improve sage grouse habitat. Proposed project will increase forbs/grass in brood rearing habitat. 
#4) Protect 10,000 acres on SITLA through habitat restoration practices.  Proposed project protects 280 ac. SITLA.
#5) Enhance 25,000 acres annually within a SGMA. Proposed project will preserve forbs/grass in brood rearing and year long habitat.

RICHFIELD FIELD OFFICE RMP (2008):
- pg 78 Vegetation Objectives - A. Manage for a mix of vegetative types, structural stages, and provide for native plant, fish, and wildlife habitats.  B. Sustain or reestablish the integrity of the sagebrush biome to provide the amount, continuity, and quality of habitat that is necessary to maintain sustainable populations of Greater sage-grouse and other sagebrush-dependent wildlife species.
- Management actions - VEG-1. Treat areas determined to need reseeding with a variety of plant species that are desirable for wildlife habitat, livestock, watershed management, and other resource values while maintaining vegetation species diversity.  VEG-3.  Maintain existing vegetative treatments to provide suitable habitats for wildlife and adequate forage for livestock.  VEG-4.  Implement additional vegetation treatments to achieve Standards for Rangeland Health and desired vegetation condition.  Vegetation treatments could be conducted up to 1,472,000 acres over the life of the plan.  These acreage figures include all vegetation and fire fuels treatments.
-Special Status Species Goals and Objectives - A. Manage, minimize, and mitigate impacts to plant, fish, and animal species and habitats so the need to list any of these species as threatened or endangered does not become necessary.
- Mgmt Actions -SSS-1. For listed species that do not have designated critical habitat, cooperate with the USFWS and other agencies, such as the UDWR, in managing the species and their habitat. SSS-6. Maintain the integrity of SSS habitat to provide the quantity, continuity, and quality of habitat necessary to maintain SSS populations.
- pg 92 Fish and Wildlife goals and objectives - A. Maintain, restore, protect, and enhance habitats to support healthy populations of diverse fish and wildlife species, recognizing crucial habitats as management priorities.  B. Manage habitat to prevent additional listings of species under the federal ESA, or the State of Utah's Species of Concern List.

CENTRAL UTAH FIRE MANAGEMENT PLAN (FMP):
- greater use of vegetation management to meet resource management objectives
- hazardous fuels treatments will be used to restore ecosystems; protect human, natural and cultural resources; and reduce the threat of wildfire to communities
- sagebrush steppe communities will be a high priority for ESR and fuel reduction to avoid catastrophic fires in these areas

The PJ and Wyoming sagebrush lie within the Lowland Sagebrush Steppe Habitat type which is one of the key habitats identified in the 2015 WAP.

The proposed projects will address some of the habitat management objectives and strategies outlined in the deer and elk management plans for herd unit 25C (Plateau Boulder) including:
OBJECTIVES: 
-Maintain mule deer habitat throughout the unit by protecting and enhancing existing crucial habitats and mitigating for losses due to natural and human impacts. 
-Encourage vegetation manipulation projects and seeding to increase the availability, abundance and nutritional content of browse, grass, and forb species.  
-Seek cooperative projects and programs to encourage and improve the quality and quantity of deer habitat, with public and private land managers to maintain a stable or upward trend in vegetative composition. 
-Provide improved habitat security and escapement opportunities for mule deer keeping habitat restoration projects a priority for habitat.
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES:
-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 projects.
- Continue to improve and restore sagebrush steppe habitats critical to deer according to DWRs Habitat Initiative.
- Maintain habitat quantity and quality at a level adequate to support the stated population objectives while at the same time not resulting in an overall downward trend in range condition and watershed quality.
- Work cooperatively with land management agencies and private land owners to implement improvement projects for the purpose of enhancing wildlife habitat and range resources in general.

State mule deer mgmt. plan section IV Habitat Goal:  Conserve and improve mule deer habitat throughout the state with emphasis on crucial ranges.

Project will address following goals and objectives in DWR 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 habitat and watershed throughout the state.

UDWR SR critical big game winter range are important browse communities that  need to be enhanced and improved.  The Division will employ a variety of methods to achieve this including prescribed grazing, prescribed burning, reseeding and seedling transplants, also mechanical treatments.  Priority areas will include sagebrush steppe and mountain browse communities.  Falls within the rangeland focus area for WRI wildlife species for mule deer and elk.
Sevier County Resource Plan Objectives:
#5. Upon project completion, fuels projects should be managed and monitored to ensure long-term success, including persistence of seeded species and/or other treatment components, such as implementing maintenance actions and control invasive vegetation post-treatment.
#13. Hazardous fuels reduction treatments should be used to restore ecosystems, protect human, natural, and cultural resources, and reduce the threat of wildfire to communities.

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.

As Pinyon and Juniper trees continue to encroach in these areas, live fuel loading and canopy cover will increase.  This increase in live fuel loading and a closed canopy will increase the likelihood of an unwanted wildfire and its negative effects.  Reducing the number of smaller diameter trees on the landscape now will in turn keep the live fuel loading and amount of canopy cover at a minimum for many years to come.  This modification in vegetation allows initial attack firefighting crews more options to safely and effectively suppress unwanted wildfires and limits the negative effects. 
In addition to modifying fire behavior, treating the vegetation in these areas will result in multiple benefits, which include but are not limited to, improving and protecting current habitat for wildlife dependent upon these various ecosystems, maintaining native species diversity, preventing hazardous fuel accumulations and maintaining the dis-continuity of pinion/juniper that currently exists. This treatment will promote a fire resilient environment that reduces the risk for large scale, intense, unwanted wildland fires, with less risk to public and firefighter safety.  Existing wildfire risk index in the project areas ranges from moderate-high to very low. Fire modeling results show an unwanted wildfire in these areas at the 97th percentile weather would quickly spread into high risk areas and threaten multiple watersheds, private lands and numerous other values such as structures, summer homes, culinary water systems, utility corridors, etc.
The majority of the areas in this project are within fire regime III -- 35-100+ year frequency and mixed severity (less than 75% of the dominant overstory vegetation replaced); The Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC) is estimated to be both moderate (FRCC 2) and high (FRCC 3) departure from the central tendency of the natural (historical) regime. The central tendency is a composite estimate of vegetation characteristics (species composition, structural stages, stand age, canopy closure, and mosaic pattern); fuel composition; fire frequency, severity, and pattern; and other associated natural disturbances. The majority of this project would be in FRCC 3. This project will improve the fire regime condition class to FRCC 1 and FRCC 2.
This project will manipulate the vegetation in a manner that will modify fire behavior such that fire suppression personnel can safely initial attack unwanted wildfires in the area.  These treatments will provide anchor points, safety zones, and buffer zones for values at risk such as powerlines, communities, range improvements.  Instead of a crown fire that is wind driven with flame lengths of 30+ feet in Pinyon and Juniper requiring aerial resources to initial attach, this treatment will reduce the flame lengths to those that are easily managed with engines and hand crews.

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.

This project area falls within portions of Oak Springs, Hatch Canyon, North Narrows, and South Narrows grazing allotments, all of which are currently meeting BLM's rangeland health standards.  Roughly half of the proposed treatment area currently receives very little livestock use.  The portions that receive typical levels of livestock use are mostly fall/winter use and are also in great condition.  Because no seed is being applied and this is a maintenance project there will be no need for a rest period following treatment.
Vegetation will continue to be monitored for utilization, cover and trend.  If needed, grazing adjustments would be made in Grazing Allotment Plans and through the grazing permit renewal process.  Future maintenance projects to protect investments made by UWRI/BLM have been addressed and allowed through the project planning document (NEPA).  Adaptive management has been allowed for in the NEPA documents.  Many tools have been analyzed in the NEPA planning process to allow other methods in the future.

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.