Project Details

In 2019, the Neck wildfire burned important habitat for Utah prairie dog (UPD) (9,499 acres), Greater Sage-grouse (brood rearing (9,331 acres), (summer (9,331 acres) and (winter (16,422 acres), mule deer (crucial winter (11,420 acres), pronghorn (year-round (8,586 acres) and livestock grazing lands.  Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation (ES&R) was completed throughout the area in 2019 and 2020; however, there are some areas that are dominated by warm season grass and/or cheatgrass.  The project will focus on re-establishing wildlife habitats; specifically, for Utah prairie dog and Sage Grouse throughout the wildfire area.

As discussed, the two primary species that were impacted by the fire were the Utah Prairie Dog and the sage grouse.  A portion of the project area is located in the Adams Well Utah Prairie Dog Management Unit. This area has been identified as critical for the recovery of the Utah Prairie Dog. ES&R efforts are expected to help provide additional Utah prairie dog habitat to ensure that the Utah Prairie Dog Management Unit Plan Path to Recovery is attainable in the short-term and long-term.  The wildfire also occurred within a portion of the Bald Hills Sage Grouse Priority Habitat Management Area (PHMA).  Past sage grouse telemetry data indicates that a considerable portion of the wildfire perimeter has been utilized by sage grouse.  The ES&R project will be designed to benefit all wildlife species that are present in the area.

To control cheatgrass that is present in some of the area plateau will be applied prior to drill seeding.  Through ESR plateau was sprayed on approximately 2,500 acres.  This area is dominated by warm season grass (galleta grass).  A portion of the area that was sprayed with plateau is within the Monument Pasture (900 acres) that would be drill seeded in Fall 2023.  The West Native Pasture in the Minersville 3 Allotment is dominated by cheatgrass.  Plateau would be flown on this area (500 acres) to reduce cheatgrass competition and it would be drilled seeded in Fall 2023.  The project would provide a more conducive vegetative community for sage grouse and UPDs consisting of a cool season grass and forb mix.  Plateau will also be flow on approximately 2,000 acres in Fall 2023 so that another area will be available for drill seeding in Fall 2024.  The project will have multiple phases based on funding as identified below.  
Multiple treatments have been identified in the wildfire perimeter as follows:
1. Year 1 (Fall 2022) - Drill Seeding (Grass Forb) - 2,500 acres (Completed - Spring 2023)
2. Year 2 (Fall 2022) - Drill Seeding (Grass Forb) - 1,600 acres
3.  Year 2 (Fall 2022) - Plateau Treatment - 2,500 acres
4. Year 3 (Fall 2022) - Drill Seeding (Grass Forb) - 2,500 acres
5.  Year 3 (Fall 2022) - Plateau Treatment - 2,500 acres
Note:  Cultural Clearances have been completed in all areas that have been identified for treatment.

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.

Cheatgrass has high probability of returning and re-establishing before other plant species due to the nature of this annual grass. As this happens, other plant species struggle to re-establish, which results in the landscape being dominated by cheatgrass.  There are areas within the Neck Fire that were not succesfully rehabilitated due to the persistence of cheatgrass and the lack of precipitation.  This project is expected to allow for the establishment of more desirable species by limiting cheatgrass persistence through plateau treatments followed by drill seeding.  The proposed treatment is expected to increase the likelihood of desirable plant species (perennial grasses, forbs and shrubs) to re-establish. A more diverse and fire resistant vegetative community would provide desirable wildlife habitat.

Annual precipitation fluctuations may affect the germination and establishment of seeds that are planted.  The last several years have been extremely dry within this area.  Typically, rangelands in this area receive adequate precipitation to promote vegetative growth and viability in the short-term and long-term.

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 project is consistent with the following BLM land use plans and associated decisions:
*	Cedar Beaver Garfield Antimony Resource Management Plan Resource Management Plan (1986).
*	Utah Greater Sage-Grouse Approved Approved Resource Management Plans as Amended (ARMPAs 2015 and 2019)
*	Southwest Utah Support Area Fire Management Plan (May, 2006)
*	The project is in conformance with the Normal Year Fire Stabilization and Rehabilitation Plan Environmental Assessment (EA UT-0040-03-28).  
The project is in conformance with the applicable land use plans because it is provided for in the following land use plan decisions:

Record of Decision and Approved Utah Greater Sage-Grouse Resource Management Plan Amendments (2015 and 2019)

Goal SSS-1:  Maintain and/or increase GRSG abundance and distribution by conserving, enhancing, or restoring the sagebrush ecosystem upon which populations depend in collaboration with other conservation partners

Special Status Species (SSS): Objectives SSS-1, SSS-2, SSS-3, SSS-4, and SSS-5; Management Actions (MA) MA-SSS-1, MA-SSS-3, and MA-SSS-4, MA-SSS-7.
Vegetation (VEG): Objective VEG-1; MA-VEG-1, MA-VEG-2, MA-VEG-3, MA-VEG-4, MA-VEG-5, MA-VEG-6, MA-VEG-10, MA-VEG-11, MA-VEG-12, MA-VEG-14.
Fire and Fuels Management (FIRE): MA-FIRE-2, and MA-FIRE-3.

Other Plans/Strategies
Utah Conservation Plan for Greater Sage-Grouse (2019)
State of Utah Executive Order 2015/002- Implementing the Utah Conservation Plan for Greater Sage-Grouse (2015)
Utah State Wildlife Action Plan (2015)
State of Utah Resource Management Plan (2018)
National Fire Plan (2000)
Utah Pronghorn Statewide Management Plan (2009)
Southwest Desert Deer Herd Unit Management Plan (2015)
Coordinated Implementation Plan for Bird Conservation in Utah (2005)

Local Sage-Grouse Working Group Plans
Southwest Desert Greater Sage-Grouse Local Conservation Plan (2009)

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.

The project area is located in the Mineral Black Mountain Fire Management Unit (FMU) (646,151 acres).  Approximately 241,620 acres have burned over the past 20 years within this FMU. This amounts to over 37% of the FMU being impacted by high intensity wildfire. Approximately 40,000 acres have burned more than once (cheatgrass burn/re-burn cycle). Most alarming is the fact that for the 22 years in which fire records are available (1993-2014) the number of fires has decreased over the past 10 years; however, the acreages burned has increased more than 200%.

The goal of this project is to suppress cheatgrass while providing for a more desirable vegetative component that is more fire resistant.  If cheatgrass is allowed to persist future fires will continue to be more difficult to control and have devastating effects by burning at a higher intensity, which could lead to fires getting larger and burning unburned habitat. Treatments identified within this proposal, including seeding with more fire-resistant vegetation is expected to reduce the overall threat of future wildfires.

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.

The Project Area is located at 5,000 - 6,000 feet above sea level; therefore, it is expected that the opportunity to restore herbaceous species to the composition and frequency appropriate to the area is high. The project is expected to stabilize and improve the herbaceous understory that was burned in the fire, which will reduce water runoff and decrease soil erosion while increasing infiltration.

Improvements to the Standards and Guidelines for Healthy Rangelands (Standard 1 and Standard 3) are expected through project implementation. It is expected that Standard 1 (Soils) -- will improve by allowing soils to exhibit permeability and infiltration rates that will sustain/improve site productivity throughout the area. This will be accomplished by making improvements to the Biotic Integrity of the community by restoring areas to a diverse component of perennial grasses, forbs and shrubs that were present prior to the wildfire.  Indicators will include sufficient cover and litter to protect the soil surface from excessive water and wind erosion, limiting surface flow and limiting soil moisture loss through evaporation, which will promote proper infiltration.

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 data would be collected at 10 key management areas (8 existing and 2 new).  Monitoring may include some support from UDWR or other cooperators. Standard surveys will include: Nested Frequency (Trend), Line Intercept (Shrub Cover and Age Class), Standards and Guidelines for Rangeland Health Assessment, Photo Points, Noxious weed inventory/monitoring.  In addition, AIM plots have been established within the wildfire perimeter.

Vegetation and wildlife monitoring data will be collected throughout the project area to determine the success of the ES&R efforts. This monitoring data will be compiled into an overall monitoring report that will help determine the level of success for the project in the short-term and long-term. 
 
Sage Grouse telemetry data has been collected in the area in the past.  If funding is received a follow-up sage grouse project would occur within the area.  The goals of the project would be as follows:  
*	Determine if habitat loss and/or fragmentation is a constraint within the Bald Hills PHMA
*	Determine dispersal and connectivity of habitat within the Bald Hills PHMA
*	Determine if there are changes to previously documented sage grouse corridors
*	Allow for analysis of sage grouse use of treatments at various stages of succession (i.e. 
       Neck Wildfire and new treatments vs. 3-5 year old treatments).

It is expected that all treatments identified would at the minimum serve as opportunity areas even if sage grouse do not move into them immediately following treatment.

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.