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.

Inappropriate Fire Frequency and Intensity - The more immediate threat is the loss of habitat that could occur in the event of a large fire. There is also the potential to increase fire frequency from the limited amount of cheatgrass that has been documented along Atchee Ridge. Most of the vegetation along the Atchee Ridge area is at a higher elevation which receives higher amounts of precipitation.

Drought - The area has suffered drought conditions which can slow vegetation recovery processes. Also with the potential to increase cheatgrass there would also be a threat of increasing fire frequency. Areas will burn more often leading to more unplanned fire events. The more the area burns the more difficult it is for vegetation to recover. The project area is comprised of mountain sagebrush, an unplanned fire event would result in the long term loss of mountain sagebrush, and the habitat values associated with this type of vegetation.

Invasive Plant Species -If the fire frequency increases and the increase of unplanned wildfires is to occur, there will be a loss of desirable shurbs, forbs and grasses. Over time the area could be converted to a cheatgrass resulting in a long term loss of sagebrush habitat and sagebrush obligate species. Over the past few years fire we are seeing longer fire seasons with larger fires. The fuel break should help mitigate the threats and risks that come with large fires by providing suppression resources access points to slow the fire or stop the fire.

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.

The proposed project will meet multiple objectives found within different plans;

The project area is directly adjacent to crucial elk winter habitat. 
UTAH STATEWIDE ELK MANAGEMENT PLAN encourages coordination 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. This project supports objectives and strategies in this plan to project elk habitat and mitigate loss, habitat improvement projects that increase forage for both big game and livestock, maintains elk habitat throughout the state by identifying and protecting existing crucial elk habitat and mitigating for losses due to human impacts.

The UNIT #10 ELK HERD MANAGEMENT PLAN lists barriers to achieving management objectives as:
-Limited summer range on the unit
-Habitat fragmentation
-Pinyon and juniper invasion into sagebrush, mountain browse, and aspen communities.
-The maturation of conifer forests resulting in closed canopies, which reduces perennial
understory vegetation, and limits forage availability and diversity.
Actions to remove habitat barriers include:
-Continuation of aggressive juniper, pinyon, and other conifer treatment projects that target areas of invasion into these habitats.
-Cooperate with land management agencies to establish natural fire intervals.
-Develop projects to improve vegetative diversity and perennial understory health in
closed canopy pinion and juniper forests.

The 2025 UTAH MULE DEER STATEWIDE MANAGEMENT PLAN identifies one of the major problems facing mule deer populations in Utah is many of the crucial deer ranges are in late successional plant community stages dominated by mature stands of pinyon-juniper or other conifer trees, and old even-aged stands of shrubs such as sagebrush. Habitat restoration projects are designed to move communities to earlier successional states. Ideally, restoration projects that benefit mule deer should be large in scale, include mosaic patterns to increase patchiness and edge effects, and be conducted in areas with high potential for success. Habitat treatments vary by site but may include chaining, bullhog, and pinyon-juniper lop and scatter on winter range. The plan encourages collaboration of land management agencies and private landowners to identify and properly manage crucial mule deer habitats, especially fawning and wintering areas, and will improve the quality and quantity of vegetation for mule deer. Atchee Ridge is within a habitat restoration priority area identified by the Plan.

The BOOK CLIFFS DEER HERD UNIT MANAGEMENT PLAN (Unit #10) habitat Management Objectives include:
-Maintain and/or enhance forage production through direct range improvements to support and maintain herd population management objectives.
-Work with private landowners and federal, state, local and tribal governments to maintain and protect critical and existing ranges from future losses and degradation.

Habitat management strategies include "Work cooperatively to utilize grazing, prescribed burning and other recognized vegetative manipulation techniques to enhance deer forage quantity and quality."

Vernal RMP ROD: the project will help manage the vegetation to attain the ecological stage that will benefit wildlife in crucial habitat and livestock grazing, and manage vegetation in remaining areas that result in high vegetation species diversity, allow mechanical, fire, biological, cultural or chemical methods for vegetation manipulation, using the type of manipulation appropriate to and consistent with the other land use objectives, and incorporating standard option procedures and BMPs, as applicable, to protect other resources, manage the vegetation to attain the ecological stage that will; ensure sustainability, meet authorized use allocations (wildlife, livestock), ensure species diversity, restore or rehabilitate up to 200,000 acres of sagebrush-steppe habitat over the life of the plan.

Vernal BLM Fire Management Plan; the project will help achieve the desired mix of seral stages for all major vegetative types, remove PJ and Douglas Fir encroachment from the Wy sagebrush, mountain big sagebrush, aspen, and mountain browse types, create fuel breaks n Wyoming and mountain big sage types to reduce the risk of large unplanned fires, and reduce fuel loads, chemical treatments would be utilized in conjunction with prescribed fire and mechanical treatments to achieve desired  objectives, and to also control invasive species.

The UTAH WILDLIFE ACTION PLAN (WAP) identifies Mountain sagebrush and Lowland sagebrush as key habitats with conifer encroachment as a threat to each of these sagebrush habitats. Strategies for improving the condition of these habitats include "Promoting and funding restoration that reduces the Uncharacteristic class, including cutting/mulching/chaining of invading pinyon and juniper trees", herbicide or mechanical treatment of non-native invasive species such as cheatgrass and smooth brome, and establishing fuel breaks in locations that are susceptible to large or intense fires. See the Threats and Risks section for how this project addresses the WAP.

The UTAH STATE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN has several applicable objectives and policies.
-Pursue opportunities to conduct and assist other partners with fuel reduction work including mechanical treatments and prescribed fire.
-Support the use of mechanical removal, chemical removal, or fire to alter or perpetuate forests and increase herbaceous yield where timber harvest is impractical or demand does not exist.
-Improve vegetative health on public and private lands through range improvements, prescribed fire, vegetation treatments, and active management of invasive plants and noxious weeds.

The UINTAH COUNTY RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN contains the following relevant policies:
7.4.2 Encourage management of 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.
10.4.1 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."
10.4.2 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.

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.

Pinyon and juniper trees consume substantial amounts of water, up to 30 gallons per mature tree per day. Removal reduces this water loss leading to higher groundwater levels and availability for other desirable plant species. This contributes to long-term hydrological resilience in arid rangelands, especially in dry years.
     Dense pinyon-juniper stands can increase erosion by outcompeting ground cover, leading to increased runoff. Removal or thinning of these stands promotes regrowth of native grasses, shrubs, and forbs which stabilize soils and reduce overland erosion, benefiting overall ecosystem health.
     If a fire was to occur, the loss of understory vegetation would increase the amount of bare soil, which can lead to an increase in runoff, soil loss and erosion. Erosion can lead to a reduction in soil productivity and can also increase non-point source water pollution, thus having the potential to affect water quality within a watershed over time (Thurow and Hester 2015). The impacts from a fire would be at a local site level. If cheatgrass was to invade the area and increase the fire frequency, the area could be more prone to soil loss and erosion. While this project covers a relatively small area, it intersects numerous past and planned fuels/habitat treatments, contributing to water quality and quantity across the watershed.

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.