Project Details

Multiple native Utah insect pollinator species are being considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), including two butterfly species and three bumble bee species. When making listing decisions, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) considers critical habitats for insects at the species distribution level, as well as any efforts being made by states to protect the species. If any of these five insects were to be listed under ESA, significant areas of Utah associated with these species ranges would likely be subject to regulatory burdens associated with critical habitat that would likely affect current resource use and development in the state (see attached distribution maps for species on the USFWS listing workplan). Ongoing efforts to establish species occurrence in Utah are vital to inform land management decisions that support the recovery of these insect populations and prevent these potential listings in the near future.
 
The monarch butterfly was announced as a candidate species under the ESA in 2020. While USFWS determined the monarch as warranted for listing, it was precluded by higher priority listing decisions, and will face annual reviews until a follow-up listing decision is made in FY24. The western population of the monarch butterfly has declined to less than 1% of its population size since overwintering counts began in the early 1980's, prompting widespread action to understand the threats and habitat needs of this iconic insect across its range. The most recent Pacific coast overwintering counts suggest this population rose to 300,000 individuals from a near-collapse at 1,900 in 2020. Although the large increase in the western population is encouraging, the number is still well below the recovery goal of an averaged 500,000 overwintering monarchs for 5 years, and thus remains a concern. Data collection through Utah Pollinator Pursuit has reinforced that Utah plays a very important role in the western monarch population with abundant and successful summer breeding grounds. 
 
The Nokomis silverspot butterfly (previously the Great Basin silverspot) was proposed for a threatened listing rule in FY22, with a final rule scheduled in 2023. This fritillary subspecies relies on limited, high-altitude wetland and riparian habitat, has disappeared from many of its known historical population sites, and is currently only known to occur in five major populations, including sites in Grand and San Juan counties in southeastern Utah. With the ongoing fragmentation of this critical riparian habitat, the impacts from drought, and the isolation of Nokomis silverspot populations, the resulting subspecies face an increased risk of extinction. 
 
Several bumble bee species native to Utah are also experiencing alarming declines. The western bumble bee has an expected listing decision in FY24. This bumble bee was once the most common species of bumble bee in western North America, yet has fallen in reported sightings by more than 87%, with few records across most of its central range in the last decade. Data collected between 2020 and 2022 by Utah Pollinator Pursuit volunteers indicates that western bumble bee populations still occur in multiple locations in northern Utah and in higher elevations of southern Utah. 
 
A positive 90-day finding has been reported by USFWS for the American and Sonoran bumble bees (considered to be a single species). The American bumble bee, formerly common in grasslands across North America, has an estimated relative decline of 78% across its range. Its historical range includes central eastern Utah, and that of the Sonoran bumble bee subspecies, with a range that extends into southwestern Utah. With the inclusion of the American/Sonoran bumble bee in Utah Pollinator Pursuit's 2022 data collection form, volunteers submitted late-summer observations of American bumble bees from Grand County, and Sonoran bumble bees from Washington County. 
 
An additional five bumble bee species face similar concern over their declines in Utah and neighboring states. The white-shouldered bumble bee, yellow bumble bee, Morrison's bumble bee, mixed bumble bee, and indiscriminate cuckoo bumble bee are considered rare and deemed conservation targets by several Western state wildlife agencies, the BLM, and the USFS. There is a strong likelihood of listing petitions for these species in the near future, and current distribution records are extremely important for all land management agencies concerned. Community science data has been essential in detecting these bumble bee species and providing information on their seasonal activity and life histories.

Experts attribute the decline of many insects/pollinators to a number of factors: climate change, pollution, pesticides/herbicides, loss of floral resources, fragmented breeding and overwintering habitat, and other unknown causes. The Utah Pollinator Pursuit has been successful in detecting the presence of these disappearing insect populations in Utah, but serious data gaps remain for their distribution, abundance, and habitat use, especially in less populated areas of the state. Such evidence is vital to inform management decisions and project opportunities that protect, enhance, and create essential pollinator habitat.
 
Conservation strategies for Western states that support the recovery of monarchs and other native pollinator species are valuable resources that emphasize the importance of community science data collection. The Western Monarch Conservation Plan 2019-2069, finalized by the Western Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA), offers comprehensive guidelines for Western states to maintain a healthy, viable western monarch population. This Plan is presently serving as a model for the development of conservation strategies for other at-risk, wide-ranging native pollinators. Implementation of such programs relies heavily on thorough and regular statewide data collection, and utilizes the contributions of volunteer community scientists to carry out the work required to locate and identify butterfly and bumble bee species. It is also necessary to engage community members to support habitat restoration and conservation throughout the state, thereby enhancing ecosystem services and the benefit to other species of conservation need.
 
Thanks to ESMF support, Utah Pollinator Pursuit state-wide surveys for monarch activity and habitat have been conducted each growing season from 2019 to 2022. Enlisting hundreds of volunteers to visit sites and record observations has allowed for rapid and valuable data collection within a short period of time. While volunteer participation has continued to increase, the number of monarch observations reported each year has increased dramatically--notably in 2022, 177 volunteer submissions indicate that 375 eggs, 225 caterpillars, 7 pupae, and 925 adults were detected. Key insights from these seasons include the presence of likely suitable monarch breeding habitat across the northern half of the state, that monarch breeding activity corresponds to certain milkweed species in wetter habitats, that milkweed alone was not a predictor of monarch activity, and that precipitation and soil moisture play a major role in habitat quality. It remains unclear what combination of factors influence the presence of monarchs, in part due to the incomplete habitat suitability data for southern Utah's wetlands that are largely on private land. Continued efforts to engage private landowners to host or conduct pollinator surveys on their land will help address existing data gaps for habitat availability for migratory monarchs, while educating more people about monarch conservation.

In three field seasons (2020, 2021, and 2022) of bumble bee data collection, the Utah Pollinator Pursuit has received nearly 1,800 observations, and detected 17 species of bumble bees, including at least 15 observations for western bumble bees, 2 sightings of Sonoran bumble bees, and 4 American bumble bees. Further, During the 2021 and 2022 field seasons, BLM and FS biologists from regional offices and National Forests agreed to conduct monthly surveys for bumble bees in nearby areas representing data gaps and identified as high priority by a US Geological Survey habitat model. These agency volunteers were trained for their first survey, and then collected repeat bumble bee community data through the Survey123 app, as well as more than 90 species voucher specimens from at least 14 sites around Utah, representing 14 bumble bee species. Combined, these data provide insight into the distribution of and habitat quality needed to support target species, and while western bumble bees are observed infrequently, this effort demonstrates that they are distributed widely across high-elevation habitats in Utah. 
 
To inform listing decisions, data for monarchs and bumble bees will be reported to USFWS, as well as to other appropriate regional databases. Monarch and host plant data will continue to be reported to the Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper (WMMM), a Xerces-operated project that compiles data for the Western U.S. on monarch distribution and phenology and enables a more comprehensive assessment of conservation status by USFWS and state agencies. The USFWS western bumble bee species status assessment (WBB SSA) is currently being developed and will be ongoing until a listing decision is made in FY24. Bumble bee community data collected at the high-priority sites in Utah will be used by USFWS to develop the occupancy model for western bumble bees across their range.
 
Volunteer participation has grown successfully even as COVD-19 safety restrictions have required project leads to adapt the Utah Pollinator Pursuit to a format that enables virtual recruitment, interactive webinar events, and safe equipment pick-up options. Community science data contributions in southern Utah increased despite the lack of in-person events. This project has generated a following of several hundred participants, and is poised to continue engaging a motivated community in collecting much-needed at-risk species distribution data throughout habitats in Utah. As additional butterfly and bumble bee species are considered for federal listing, the existing format for submitting observations can be easily expanded to enable data collection through the Utah Pollinator Pursuit project.

This program has continued to grow annually and in the 2022 field season our biologists, community scientists and interns reported a contribution of more than 1,200 field hours to surveying, monitoring, and habitat data collection. 
Additionally, this program has allowed hundreds of Utahns to take part in local conservation on their public lands, connected families and children with Utah native pollinator insect and plant species, increased transparency in wildlife work conducted by state land managers, as well as increased access to the field of conservation biology through experience and skills gained.

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.

The goal of this project is to continue building the informational baseline required to address the needs of these species in an effort to prevent listings. The objectives are to fill data gaps for species distribution and habitat use throughout the state that are necessary for strategic planning for future conservation efforts.
 
A primary objective for this work is to improve understanding of monarch habitat quality and distribution in Utah. This will be accomplished through checking statewide for monarch presence in suitable habitat locations throughout the breeding season, particularly in urban pollinator gardens, and rural areas where limited habitat data exist. The second major objective is to obtain more thorough bumble bee distribution and habitat association data throughout the state. The enrollment of community scientists, voluntary participation from land management agency employees, and monarch and bumble bee experts will be essential to gather the data needed to start to fill landscape level data gaps regarding monarch, milkweed and bumble bee occurrences across the State of Utah.
 
Task 1 - Geographic Expansion of Community Science Volunteer Participation
Volunteer recruitment in the first three years of this project has been successful by directly engaging with a motivated and informed community. Existing channels of communication with potential volunteers have included public presentations, outreach newsletters, mailing lists, and social media announcements by UDWR, Sageland Collaborative, Red Butte Gardens, Hogle Zoo, Utah Natural History Museum, The Nature Conservancy, Butterfly Biosphere at Thanksgiving Point, Utah Native Plant Society, local monarch and enthusiast groups, Utah State University and Southern Utah University, and agency partners including Natural Resource Conservation District, the Bureau of Land Management, US Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the Conservation Districts of Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. To date, participation has expanded into central and southern Utah, though the majority of volunteers and submitted pollinator observations are from northern Utah and the Wasatch Front.  
 
This year will continue to focus on engaging and educating more rural communities on actions that will support pollinators on private lands, and encourage participation in habitat surveys. In 2022, we leveraged existing projects and opportunities to further establish community relationships. First, we promoted Utah Pollinator Pursuit whenever sharing information about the Pollinator Habitat Improvement Program funded by the HB 224 Pollinator Bill, aimed at increasing native pollinator habitat on private lands. This included funding for the development of educational materials such as native seed packets and detailed information regarding pollinator-friendly species, informative brochures shared with seed packets at outreach events, and the program website that connects applicants with many other resources to help support local pollinators. Additionally, we increased our press coverage of Utah Pollinator Pursuit, resulting in observations submitted by new volunteers (including 2022's only sighting of a Sonoran bumble bee). We will pursue more of these public engagement opportunities in 2023 to reach new communities in Utah.
 
Additionally, we will continue coordinating with the outreach efforts of the Utah Monarch Advocates group to make contacts with interested entities to distribute seasonally appropriate monarch butterfly information, promote public awareness through community newsletters and advertising, and offer rewards for monarch sightings by county. 
 
Further, we will make improvements as needed to the data collection format and training materials for the 'Utah Pollinator Pursuit' Survey123 app to encourage more participation and increase the ease of data submission by volunteers and agency partners. Training events will enable the recruitment of community science volunteers and allow those interested to sign up for sites needing habitat assessment efforts, to reduce redundancy and direct efforts where they are most valuable. This task also involves providing education and training on recognizing target species at various life stages (i.e. milkweed, floral resources, monarch butterflies, and bumble bees). These training events will be held in several locations around Utah to encourage interest from local community members, and will allow us to incorporate local knowledge from partners to address the greatest data gap needs and target regions effectively. All updated training materials and resources will be available on the Utah Pollinator Pursuit website for access at any time. 
 
Finally, we will work with local NRCS and UDAF Conservation District offices who have established relationships with landowners in their respective regions and can promote the importance of pollinator habitat. The passage of the 2021 Pollinator Bill housed at UDAF creates a new collaborative opportunity to offer additional assistance to landowners who are interested in enhancing pollinator-friendly habitat on their properties. Assistance for pollinator habitat assessments can be offered both through this program and through the Utah Association of Conservation Districts, and landowners who are interested can apply to receive regionally-appropriate seedlings and seeds for pollinator habitat enhancements. Combining efforts for the Utah Pollinator Pursuit and the Pollinator Habitat Improvement Program will continue to expand public awareness and participation in both projects. 
 
Task 2 - Prioritizing Field Sites Across Utah According to Previous Field Efforts and Existing Data Gaps
Recruiting regional participation - 
As public awareness and involvement in Utah Pollinator Pursuit has increased, there has been a growing interest from agency personnel and community members to contribute their knowledge and expertise to assessing monarch and bumble bee presence and habitat. As mentioned in Task 1, we will continue to find ways to improve communication with rural community members, and also leverage existing relationships between agency personnel (local NRCS offices, Conservation Districts, and USFWS partners program) and local landowners to encourage habitat assessments using the Utah Pollinator Pursuit app on private lands. The goal is to recruit and train private property owners to use the Survey123 app to evaluate their own properties for these target species, or welcome Conservation District Planners for assistance or UPP leads and volunteers to assist them. We hope to emphasize involvement from communities outside of Utah's urban centers.
 
Monarchs - 
Based on monarch data collected by UPP volunteers since 2019, a habitat suitability model is being developed by NatureServe in collaboration with the rare insect and native plant conservation programs, and the Utah Natural Heritage Program. This model is projected for completion in Summer 2023, and will serve to inform habitat-level projects that benefit breeding monarchs as well as other wildlife in Utah. A database of habitat quality and monarch use data collected by UPP volunteer assessors in prior field seasons has also been compiled for use in future projects and analysis.
 
Bumble bees - 
Prior to data collected for UPP, bumble bee sightings in Utah have primarily been through deliberate surveys of subalpine insect communities.  Based on data submitted to UPP from 2020 to 2022, 17 bumble bee species have been detected throughout Utah, including extremely rare species such as the western and Sonoran bumble bees. In southern Utah, bumble bees were often found at high altitudes or during the cooler or later months of the growing season, while in northern Utah, bumble bees were seen throughout the year at varying elevations.
 
Continuing with the successful format for bumble bee data collection, volunteers will be encouraged to take any opportunistic photographs of any bumble bees encountered from spring through fall, and outreach efforts will continue to target engagement from volunteers in central and southern Utah. These photos will be analyzed by bumble bee experts for species identification to start to fill data gaps regarding the presence, habitat associations, and phenological activity of bumble bees in Utah.
 
Task 3 - Redefining Field Protocols and Additional Field Efforts
The past four years of engaging community scientists with the assistance of ESMF funding have highlighted ways that our project can improve, including how to extend the usefulness of our collected data to a broader pollinator-focused professional community. For example, other initiatives have developed pollinator habitat assessments with protocols that serve as examples for our improved data collection forms, where appropriate. Additionally, as new information arises regarding species of concern, we are working to modify our data collection format to allow for flexibility in the future. 
 
As in previous years, our goal is to recruit as many community science volunteers as possible, and provide a format that is both engaging and safe for participants with respect to comfort, abilities, and COVID-19 guidelines. Participants submitting opportunistic photos of butterflies or bumble bees will use a collection form for the Utah Pollinator Pursuit on their downloaded Survey123 app. The form requests details such as georeferenced location, habitat type and details, species information with identification guides, and information about nectar resources available on site. Drop-down lists will be provided to ensure data quality control, and submissions will require an attached pollinator photograph to be completed. Additional options for species observations will include identification guides for butterfly and bumble bee species not included in previous years' survey forms. 
 
Bumble bee survey methods at target sites for agency partner biologists will employ protocols developed for the Pacific Northwest Bumble Bee Atlas community science project operated through a joint partnership among the Xerces Society, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Agency partners performing bumble bee surveys will be asked to provide details about voucher specimen collection as part of their data submission. These bumble bee community survey data will be reported to the regional bumble bee database managed by Xerces, as well as to the US Geological Survey and Western Bumble Bee Species Status Assessment technical team led by the USFWS.
 
Task 4 - Collaboration with Agency Partners to Survey Habitat Sites Statewide
Partnerships with local offices for federal agencies throughout Utah have enabled better access to public land and more thorough data collection, as well as improved communication with landowners and community members.
 
Monarchs -
Because much of the ideal monarch habitat in Utah (wet meadows, stream corridors) are privately owned, our partnership with local NRCS offices, USFWS partners program, and UDAF conservation districts make it possible for this program to expand to private property with landowner consent. Contact with private property owners and Tribal Communities will be facilitated by the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Conservation Districts for educational purposes and possible access to highly suitable habitat for additional survey plots. NRCS employees as well as Conservation District planners often have the relationships necessary with private landowners who may be interested in allowing volunteers on their property and/or having additional information regarding pollinator presence and diversity. By continuing to rely on these partnerships, we hope to build a more complete understanding of monarch habitat availability on privately-owned lands around Utah.
 
Bumble bees -
Through a collaborative effort in 2021 with Wild Bee Project (WBP) and the State rare insect conservation coordinator, we recruited and enrolled specialists and field technicians from BLM field offices and National Forests to conduct monthly bumble bee surveys and high priority focal sites on public lands. Many of these offices were interested in continuing bumble bee surveys in 2022, and may also choose to participate again during the 2023 field season. BLM biologists, in particular, are urged by the state leads to dedicate time to sensitive bumble bee species on BLM lands. Agency volunteers will be trained in the field by the rare insect coordinator, so that the hands-on demonstration will also serve as the initial survey for a site. These agency partners have agreed to visit each focal site three times to conduct bumble bee surveys, and will submit data collected through the Survey123 app.
 
Task 5 - USU Student Internship
To extend the capacity of field biologist training efforts, and the collection, processing, and management of bumble bee and butterfly data, we will hire a student intern through the Utah State University Quinney College of Natural Resources internship program.  The intern will assist the native insect conservation project leader with efforts including training agency biologists to perform bumble bee surveys, conducting field work and pollinator survey efforts state-wide, and performing quality assurance on the observation data submitted by community scientists as it is generated throughout the field season. The intern will also assist with entering vetted insect occurrence data into the State's natural heritage database, which is essential for updating the state ranking for many of these rare species.
 
Through this full-time, 12-week internship, USU will cover half the cost to support the position to ensure that the student gains professional experience with a natural resources agency. The position will begin in mid-May and conclude in mid-August, in accordance with the academic calendar. This internship provides a cost-effective expansion of the rare insect conservation program and enables timely processing of valuable data during the busy field season.
 
Task 6 - Reporting
Technicians and USU/DWR staff will compile and organize the data in order to incorporate all information into a written report. Continued communication with WAFWA and WMMM will assure data reported are in a suitable format for incorporation into the regional population monitoring model. Bumble bee photographs and data submitted to the national bumble bee database managed by the Xerces Society will both improve national distribution maps and assist with species identification. Further, systematically-collected bumble bee survey data will be reported to the USFWS to improve their habitat modeling efforts and development of a Western Bumble Bee Species Status Assessment.
 
Project partners will coordinate with Utah's Natural Heritage Database staff to ensure that Utah Pollinator Pursuit data can be delivered in a format that is most useful and streamlined for incorporation into existing database management and maintenance practices. Additionally, the presence of the five pollinator species of concern and associated potentially suitable pollinator habitats, signs of breeding and collection of habitat data (including parameters such as milkweed, flowering plant diversity, and disturbance) using the standardized Survey123 application/field form will continue by partner biologists and community scientists. These data will be collated at the end of the season. Project partners will disseminate data to each regional biologist in a spreadsheet, as well as to the Utah Heritage Program, for ease of reporting and the management of the Natural Heritage database.

Data that will continue to be presented at state meetings include number of community scientists, field hours contributed over the season, pollinator presence, life stage, breeding, and habitat attributes. Under development is a story map that shows monarch distribution across Utah throughout the breeding season, based on community science data, which will ultimately be publicly available while protecting data location privacy. Agency partners will receive reports and summaries of their survey data contributions and our improved understanding of rare butterfly and bumble bee species distribution. Project outcomes and aforementioned data will also be presented to active and potential future community scientist groups to maintain and improve engagement in Utah Pollinator Pursuit data gathering efforts.
 
Finally, efforts that fulfill conservation strategies outlined in the Western Monarch Conservation Plan will be reported through the state partner portal on WAFWA's Monarch Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool (CHAT). Education and outreach activities that benefit monarchs and native pollinators, habitat restoration activities, community scientist training events, and the development of pollinator-friendly best practices will all be reflected as Utah's efforts to fulfill its commitment to the Plan.
 
Task 7- Local seed Collection for Regionally-Adapted Late-Season Nectar Resources
The availability of regionally-adapted native nectar resources is highlighted as a major priority for many conservation strategies focused on supporting pollinators in the West. WAFWA's Western Monarch Conservation Plan, Xerces Society's bumble bee conservation guidelines, and the recently-drafted Pollinator and Monarch Strategy by the Bureau of Land Management all emphasize that nectar availability is a limiting factor for and growing threat to pollinator success, particularly in the late growing season in the arid West. Presently, a majority of the late-season, nectar-providing species for the Colorado Plateau and Great Basin regions are not commercially available. 
 
To address this issue in Utah, the rare plant conservation program is taking steps to establish a network of available regionally-adapted nectar plant materials and promote their incorporation into habitat restoration and enhancement projects. The program's botany team is knowledgeable of the location, abundance and time of seed production of many of these species. In 2022, seed for nearly two dozen nectar resource species was collected and distributed to a variety of experienced growers to produce seedlings meant to be incorporated into such future projects. The botany team will continue to collect important nectar resource seed for both seeding and propagation efforts with input from the Great Basin Research Center in Ephraim and other seed increase programs. 
 
This task will also be supported by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, as the Pollinator Habitat Improvement Program is also aiming to make pollinator-friendly plants more widely available for habitat projects by both public and government entities. Regional growers have been contracted to produce seedlings that will be planted in strategic areas and become a future seed source for some of these difficult to find species. These contracts and some additional seed collection and cleaning will be made possible through funding from the Pollinator Habitat Improvement Bill passed in FY2021. As we learn more about the capacity and willingness of these greenhouses and growers to grow out nectar species, their experience with these difficult to find species will be shared with other growers and seed producers as potential species for further research/ grow out trials to determine whether and how easily seed could be produced on a larger scale.
 
Task 8 - Maintaining Utah Pollinator Pursuit Website
The Utah Pollinator Pursuit website will continue to provide information for participating in community science efforts, educational resources for understanding and supporting pollinator needs, and direct links to partners and collaborators. The UPP page will also continue to serve as a community resource hub in an effort to recognize and improve coordination with the many projects aimed at pollinator conservation in Utah, including resources for landowners to create pollinator habitat, a calendar of related events, and coverage in the press. The UPP page will reflect support from a growing number of nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, and community groups. These partners currently include University of Utah, Southern Utah University, Red Butte Garden, the Natural History Museum of Utah, Tracy Aviary, The Hogle Zoo, The Nature Conservancy, Hollowtree Honey Foundation, Wild Bee Project, Utah Lepidopterist Society, the Butterfly Biosphere at Thanksgiving Point, and local enthusiast groups such as Utah Friends of Monarchs, Monarchs of Bridgerland, Western Monarch Pollinator Pathways, Utah Butterfly Field Trips, and Salt Lake Bug Lovers.

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.

The Western Monarch Conservation Plan 2019-2069 outlines several areas in which to assist with recovery actions. Strategies are explained for different types of lands including natural, developed, urban, and agricultural. Further, outreach and education is a key part of the strategies for each land type.

In response to the exceptionally low overwintering count for the western monarch in the winters of 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 Xerces Society published a 5-point rapid-response action plan for monarch recovery. In that rapid response plan, point #4 is to "Protect, manage, and restore summer breeding and fall migration monarch habitat outside California."

Participation by BLM biologists in this project contributes to the goals, objectives, and actions outlined in the 2022 Bureau of Land Management Strategic Plan for Pollinator Conservation--specifically Goals 1 and 2, "Inventory BLM-managed lands and identify management needs for pollinators," and "Implement proactive efforts to conserve and restore pollinator habitats," respectively. The work accomplished by this proposed project, and the resulting monarch habitat suitability model generated by NatureServe this year, will help pinpoint where restoration efforts will be most effective in Utah. Additionally, BLM and NatureServe are collaborating on a model of monarch migratory routes, based in part on datasets such as the Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper, which includes 4 previous years of Utah Pollinator Pursuit monarch data.

In the near term, the data submitted through Utah Pollinator Pursuit are reported to the natural heritage database, will provide the most current records to inform updated state rankings for at least 18 species, and will help inform the revision process for the 2025 Utah Wildlife Action Plan.

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.

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.

Opportunistic Sightings for Rare Butterflies (Including Monarchs)-
In 2022, we piloted an expansion to our butterfly data collection form that includes requests for all observations of monarchs at all life stages, as well as three additional at-risk and potentially recognizable butterfly species (with photo voucher requested for species verification). The monarch survey form continued to be successful, particularly for opportunistic sightings, resulting in 375 eggs, 225 caterpillars, 7 pupae, and 952 adult monarchs observed across the state. Fewer than 20 total observations were submitted for the other three butterfly species, but their ranges are more restricted and having a survey form for direct submission of field observations may prove more valuable for deliberate survey efforts during the 2023 field season.
 
Survey Methods for Bumble Bees -
Since piloting bumble data collection with UPP in 2020, volunteers have submitted more than 1,800 sightings of 17 confirmed bumble bee species encountered across the state. The 2022 field season continued the deliberate, repeated site surveys by agency volunteers, and resulted in the collection of 42 bumble bee specimens representing at least 10 species, including target species such as the western bumble bee. The UPP data collection form was designed to request information for both opportunistic and site survey submissions, and offered species identification guides. These details include bumble bee behavior, flowers visited, habitat quality, nectar plant identification, with associated photo uploads. We have augmented the species identification guide with new information, and will again ask community science and agency volunteers to submit bumble bee data through the UPP data collection form on Survey123. The form requests details per individual bee including behavior, flowers visited, habitat quality, and suggested species identification, along with photo uploads for species verification. Thanks to the detection of western bumble bees by community scientists and agency field biologists in the Wasatch Mountains, Cache County, the Uinta Basin, and Manti-La Sal and Dixie National Forests, we have improved information on potential rare bumble bee habitat and the threats facing these landscapes. 
 
The State's rare insect conservation coordinator will offer training refreshers upon request for agency volunteers to conduct bumble bee surveys at focal sites across the state. Agency volunteers will visit a survey site once a month for at least three consecutive months, beginning as early as May in southwestern Utah, or as late as August in southeastern Utah, as target species in different regions fly earlier or later in the year. Biologists visiting a survey site will first record numbers of participating observers, relative cloud cover, habitat type and quality, and plant species in bloom at their site. Volunteers will be asked to spend 45 person-minutes (45 minutes/ # people) searching within an area of 2.5 acres with abundant floral resources, to locate and record any bumble bees present. If bumble bees are detected, volunteers will take photographs of the bees and note their behavior (foraging on flowers, resting on flowers/stems, or walking/digging in soil). Photos of bumble bees, nectar resources, and habitat will be submitted through the UPP Survey123 app.
 
Submitted data (including georeferenced photographs) will be evaluated by trained bumble bee experts and assessed for quality control and species identification. No information on bumble bees will be accepted without an accompanying photo.

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.