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Cold Springs Cable-Felling Summer 2022
Region: Southeastern
ID: 6201
Project Status: Cancelled
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Project Details
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Need for Project
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) is acquiring services to promote aspen regeneration on the Cold Spring Wildlife Management Area (WMA) to contribute to long-term wildlife habitat management objectives, while also reducing fuels.
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.
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Objectives
Vegetation treatments on the Cold Spring WMA are designed to promote aspen regeneration, provide diverse mixed-age plant communities, diversify wildlife habitats, and reduce fuels.
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.
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Project Location/Timing Justification (Why Here? Why Now?)
This project will complement past aspen regeneration projects on the property and disperse browsing pressure on young aspen communities. Care should be taken during treatment to maintain diverse age-stands, provide mature trees and snags for wildlife habitat, and to reduce the risk of spread of bark beetles to heavy conifer communities. Project design will consider slope to reduce risk from erosion. Forest communities will be identified to the extent possible to ensure transition for forest communities to range communities does not occur.
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.
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Relation to Management Plans
Cold Spring Habitat Management Plan Cold Spring Forest Stewardship Plan Utah Wildlife Action Plan-- aspen habitat, olive-sided flycatcher Deer Herd Unit Management Plan- Nine-Mile Unit 11 Elk Herd Unit Management Plan- Nine Mile Unit 11
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.
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Fire/Fuels
There are private lands adjacent to the Cold Springs WMA that have cabins and other structures within less than a mile of the property boundary. This project will create diversity in fuel types and help create fuel breaks. Treatments would be implemented to effectively restore resilient, fire-adapted aspen ecosystems on a landscape-scale by moving the stands toward properly functioning condition in terms of composition (species diversity) and density (crown spacing and fuel loading). In addition the treatments would improve structural diversity, promote aspen regeneration and recruitment, reduce the hazardous fuel loading, and reduce the continuity of fuels. The project will also promote a diverse herbaceous plant community that will also prevent fire movement. The Forestry Fire and State Lands Wildfire Risk Assessment Portal rates the project area as high to moderate wildfire risk, moderate threat, high to very high effects and a production rate of 56 to 74%.
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.
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Water Quality/Quantity
Research has indicated that for every 1,000 acres of conifer encroachment into aspen there is a loss of 250 to 500 acre-feet of water that is transpired into the atmosphere. Project treatments will result in short to moderate term impacts to water quality, but project design features will prevent long-term degradation. Project treatments will decrease the risk of catastrophic, large-scale, high severity fires that could result in long-term watershed degradation. By maintaining watershed function, long-term water quality will be maintained or enhanced. By removing conifer it is anticipated that water quantity will be enhanced (seeps, springs, bogs are improved). Aspen forests are a valuable watershed component with a beneficial relationship to surface water and groundwater sources, providing a sustained, high-quality water yield and watershed protection. A study in northern Utah (Burke and Kasahara 2011 in Hydrol. Process. 25:1407-1417) found that conifer canopy reduced the snow-water equivalent on a site by 10-40% compared to aspen. Numerous other studies have documented the wide-ranging benefits of aspen communities to watershed health (USFS Gen Tech Report RMRS-GTR-178, 2006). Due to leaf litter, soils under aspen tend to have high amounts of organic matter, ground cover and water-holding capacity. Soils under aspen are less susceptible to erosion due to the high percentages of ground and herbaceous vegetation cover and high rates of infiltration. With lower rates of evapo-transpiration, there is a significant improvement in water yield from aspen forests compared to conifer types. Aspen forests also protect the watershed by being resilient to wildfire, often acting as a buffer to slow fire and reduce adverse impacts to the watershed from catastrophic fire. Therefore, actions to sustain aspen forests on the landscape have a beneficial effect on water quality and quantity.
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.
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Compliance
Cultural surveys have been completed and SHPO concurrence will be complete prior to implementation.
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.
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Methods
Treatment will focus on promoting aspen regeneration in small patches throughout the WMA. This project is part of a pilot for 106 reforestation. Their cable-felling technique will be used to accomplish project goals. Patches of trees will be retained including snags for wildlife habitat. Half-acre pockets of aspen will be retained. Douglas-fir and spruce will be retained when encountered, particularly douglas-fir greater than 5" DBH. Felled aspen will be machine-piled into slash piles for future burning. Existing piles from past treatment will be burned as part of this phase of the project. Five to ten tons of slash will be retained on the ground including at least 4 trees/acre that are 20 feet long and 20 inches in diameter. Buffers will be placed around drainages, roads, and nests (which will be surveyed prior to project implementation).
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.
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Monitoring
DWR Range Trend has monitoring sites on past projects. One or more new transects may be implemented for future research. Ongoing research on this methodology is occurring through Utah State University.
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.
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Partners
Forestry, Fire, and State Lands has been collaborating with the DWR on treatment design and contracting details. Forestry, Fire, and State Lands will be implementing pile burns on the property with assistance from DWR personnel who are red card certified.
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.
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Future Management
The Cold Spring WMA as had approximately 425 acres treated in the last several years using a variety of methods including mechanical treatments and prescribed fire. Future projects will be prioritized to preserve spruce and Douglas fir stands and promote aspen regeneration. Future treatments should not occur for an additional 5-10 years to maintain a variety of aspen forest stand age classes on the property. Future forest management will follow the Forest Stewardship Plan and consultation with Forestry, Fire, and State lands.
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.
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Sustainable Uses of Natural Resources
This project would increase herbaceous vegetation which would benefit wildlife by increasing forage on the landscape. The WMA is a small portion of public land containing mule deer and elk summer range on the Nine-Mile management unit, which is primarily comprised of private property. Having the ability for the public to access and recreate on the WMA is a great benefit to the community. Increasing the availability and palatability of wildlife forage will encourage a greater number and diversity of wildlife to reside on the land and make them available for public use, rather it be consumptive or non-consumptive viewing. Previous treatments in the area have provided quality hunting opportunities and sportsmen have submitted letters commending the work done on the property to increase hunting opportunity.
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.
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