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.

Some of the dead lodgepole pine trees in the project area have already begun to fall. If left untreated these trees will continue to fall at an accelerated rate. This will add to the surface fuel loading. The heavy fuel loading could contribute to a high intensity wildfire with undesirable ecological effects, including the reduction in quality and quantity of a municipal water supply. A large, high intensity wildfire could also be detrimental to some wildlife species, including mule deer and elk. The heavy down-dead in the area will also inhibit the movement of wildlife and livestock in the area. It will also have a negative impact on some recreational uses of the area. The high level of lodgepole pine dwarf mistletoe in the project area is a threat to seedlings that have established in response to the mountain pine beetle epidemic. If these young trees are infected with dwarf mistletoe, the likelihood of them developing into mature trees is greatly reduced. The risk of dwarf mistletoe infections increases significantly if mitigating treatments are delayed. This would have a detrimental impact to mature forest obligate wildlife species. Likewise, the dense young stands of lodgepole pine in the project area are likely to stagnate in the near future if the high stand densities are not mitigated by thinning. The time required to develop large trees would be prolong without thinning.

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 assist in accomplishing the following goals, objectives, and strategies as outlined in the following management plans and assessments. Note:  mule deer, elk, and northern goshawk are all Forest management indicator species and the northern goshawk is listed as a Forest sensitive species.
ASHLEY NATIONAL FOREST PLAN (pg IV-28, IV-30, IV-34) - Wildlife and Fish - Goal 1: Manage fish and wildlife habitat to maintain or improve diversity and productivity. (reduce sediment runoff) -Objective 1: Develop and Implement habitat management plan that will include key ecosystems and maintain habitat for supporting T&E or sensitive plants and animal species and management indicator species.(increasing stand structure) -Objective 3: Manage the habitat of all T&E or sensitive plant and animal species to maintain or enhance their status. (increasing stand structure). Timber - Goal 1: Optimize wood fiber pr0ductlon to meet public demands consistent with other resource objectives and environmental constraints.
ASHLEY NATIONAL FORESTPLAN AMENDMENT - Utah Northern Goshawk Project (page cc-1) - Goal 3: Restore or maintain forested landscapes in a properly functioning condition. (reducing stand densities) Functioning forested landscapes provide habitat for the northern goshawk and its prey to support a viable population of goshawks in. (Providing habitat for pray) Ashley's Land and Resource Management Plan.
CONSERVATION STRATEGY AND AGREEMENT FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF NORTHERN GOSHAWK HABITAT IN UTAH (page 6) - Goal: Provide habitat capable of sustaining viable populations of goshawk in the state of Utah. (increasing diversity in stand structure across the treatment area) -Objective 1: Design a proactive approach to habitat management that will result in the long-term conservation and management of habitat for goshawk, its prey and other associated species.( Thinned stands will develop into large mature trees providing nesting trees) Desired Habitat Condition(DHC) - 1) Diverse forest cover types with strong representation of early seral tree species dominate the landscape. (Thinning will reduce competition for resources favoring seral species) - 3) Forested landscapes have 40% of the area dominated by large trees, well distributed. (Thinning is necessary to reduce stand densities to achieve larger diameter trees).
UTAH STATEWIDE ELK MANAGEMENTPLAN (Sec. VI Pages 12-13) - Population Management Goal: Maintain healthy elk populations throughout the state that are managed within habitat capabilities and in consideration of other land uses. (enhancing habitat) -Population Objective 1: Seek opportunities to increase population objectives in individual elk unit management plans to attain a total statewide population objective of 80,000 elk, ensuring that any increases will be subject to an analysis of the impacts to habitat, landowners, livestock operators, and/or mule deer populations. Strategies: - c) Support objectives and strategies in this plan to protect elk habitat and mitigate losses. - d) Support habitat improvement projects that increase forage for both big game and livestock. 
UTAH STATEWIDE MANAGEMENT PLAN FORMULE DEER (Sec. VI Pages 10-11) - Population Management Goal: Expand and improve mule deer populations throughout the state within the carrying capacity of available habitats and in consideration of other land uses. - Population Objective: By 2013, increase the statewide mule deer population by 50,000 to an estimated postseason herd size of 350,000. Strategies: - b) Support all habitat objectives and strategies in this plan to protect and improve mule deer habitat including energy development mitigation in crucial mule deer habitat.
NORTH AMERICAN MULE DEER CONSERVATION PLAN(Pages 6-7) Habitat Goal: - Mule deer habitat potential is optimized for quality and quantity across mule deer range. Objective 2: Restore or improve mule deer habitat function throughout mule deer range. Strategy a: Proactively manage shrub communities to maintain mosaics of uneven aged stands to enhance habitat conditions for mule deer.
Golden Eagle Utah WAP states" Northern Great Basin and Book Cliffs nesting areas in Utah have been monitored for many years, with apparent breeding declines associated with fire, shrub loss and jackrabbit declines in the Great Basin area" According to https://dwrcdc.nr.utah.gov/rsgis2/Search/Map.asp?Id=154 this habitat is either Critical or High value for Golden Eagle.
UTAH BIGHORN SHEEP STATEWIDE MANAGEMENT PLAN - Specifically B. Habitat Goal Strategies -- d). Initiate vegetative treatment projects to improve bighorn habitat lost to natural succession or human impacts; and e). Under the correct circumstances, encourage land management agencies to allow fires to burn when such action improves bighorn sheep habitat.
DAGGETT COUNTY RESOUCE MANAGEMENT PLAN - Plan Use active and adaptive forest management to improve forest health and support multiple use and sustained yield with emphasis on employment, forest product production, open space, wildlife habitat, forage, recreation, and other social and economic benefits. Manage forest resources to reduce the risk of catastrophic fires, which cause unacceptable harm to resources and assets valued by society, including ecosystem and community health and resilience.
STATE OF UTAH RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN - Encourage timber harvesting to prevent fuel load and biomass buildup. The State will advocate for forest management practices that promote species diversity and overall ecosystem health.

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.

Fuel conditions and the projects watershed characteristics related to municipal drinking water supply create a need for treatment in the area. The intent of the project is to reduce hazardous fuels accumulation and reduce the ecological impacts that would occur as the result of a large wildfire. Analysis done on the forest in 2006 shows that much of the project area is currently classified as Fire Regime Condition Class 2. This indicates a moderate departure.  By reducing accumulations of both live and dead trees, the project will facilitate the return of the project area to a more natural fire regime. Other ecological benefits associated with this treatment will be realized in the event of a wildfire. Fire intensity should be moderated due to the reduced fuel loadings and forest stands with a lower canopy bulk density, which will be beneficial in terms of fire intensity, and soil disturbance. The thinning of young dense lodgepole pine stands will break up fuel continuity and reduce overall bulk density of the stand reducing the likelihood of these high-intensity stand replacing fires. This area receives high amounts of dispersed camping that would be negatively impacted if a large scale fire should occur. This project would also reduce the likelihood of critical wildlife habitat being lost from large scale fires by reducing fuel loading in the area. The anticipated treatments will reduce the threat of stand replacing fire which has negative environmental consequences related to soil erosion and sediment flows commonly associated with post fire landscapes.

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.

Monitoring will occur in the project area and will be utilized to change/alter management strategies if required to meet objectives. The Ashley National Forest has an extensive monitoring program which includes over twenty thousand vegetation monitoring plots scattered across the Forest. Data associated with these plots allow Ecologist and others to monitor vegetation changes over time. Data includes repeat photography, canopy cover, species composition and soil cover. There are 9 such study plots located within the project area. The data will be used to show the effect of the proposed project. These plots will be revisited on a short-term and long-term schedule and documented in the 2060 files located at the Supervisor's Office. Additional photo points will also be placed in the treatment areas to monitor changes over time. Monitoring of the timber stands will also determine when future timber harvests will occur in the project area. Stand level forest inventory data will be collected in conjunction with the silvicultural diagnosis phase of this project; this will be compared to post-treatment observations to assess treatment success. Also, 3rd and 5th year stocking surveys will be completed for timber stands after regeneration harvests to ensure they have adequately restock. Northern Goshawk territories occur in proximity to this project and nesting activities will be monitored. The Utah Department of Wildlife Resources completes annual monitoring of big game populations in the area. This includes completing aerial big game surveys and radio collaring of Big Horn Sheep.

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.