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Salt Creek WMA water purchase FY24
Region: Northern
ID: 6808
Project Status: Completed
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Project Details
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Need for Project
Water quantity is a limiting factor for any future wetland development projects on Salt Creek WMA. Water flows through Salt Creek WMA and provides a significant source of water for the maintenance of Public Shooting Grounds WMA (PSGWMA). Any water diverted limits available water down stream for use on PSGWMA. Diversion of water for private use also limits potential use of available water for future development or current maintenance of existing wetlands down stream from Salt Creek WMA. In most years, it is necessary to dry out areas of wetlands. This can have negative effects of reduced food production and reduced vegetative growth, and positive effects of increased solidification of pond sediments and increased production of annual plants that can facilitate invertebrate blooms when re-flooded. Additionally, the purchase of the Jensen property (in closing stage) between Salt Creek and Public Shooting Grounds holds the potential for wetland development if water is available.
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
Purchase water shares from the Bear River Canal Company to meet the needs of current wetland habitats on SCWMA & PSGWMA in order to maintain healthy and productive wetlands. Expand wetland habitats on the newly purchased Jensen property and expand upland habitat work such as irrigated food plots, shrub rows, and native perennial plantings.
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?)
The threats and risks to SC and PSG WMA's includes increased drought, lack of sufficient water to maintain productive, high quality, wetland and upland habitat, a shift in wetland and upland plant communities and and increase in fuel loads and fire frequency. Insufficient water has forced managers to completely dry out specific wetland units/impoundment each year in order to maintain appropriate water levels in other areas of the marsh. Although drying out wetlands does have it's advantages, doing so on a regular basis could shift the plant community and make them less productive. In addition, wetland areas between PSGWMA and the Bear River Bird Refuge go dry every year.
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
Salt Creek and Public HMP: Purpose - protect and enhance the wetlands and associated uplands. Both HMP's point out that additional water should be acquired when ever possible. The WMA has potential for additional development, but water quantity is fully allocated for current management operations. WAP: 2.2.4 Contain established populations of invasive/problematic species 2.2.9 Avoid establishment of new invasive/problematic species through education, planning, management, and/or regulation. 2.3.6 Restore aquatic habitat complexity. 2.3.14 Conduct upland vegetation treatments to restore characteristic upland vegetation, and reduce uncharacteristic fuel types and loadings. The WAP has identified these as possible actions to take to deal with invasive plants and drought conditions. Increased water quantity at SC and PSG WMA's would help facilitate implementation of these actions.
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
Increased water availability can help reduce fuel loads by implementing more upland restoration projects that need irrigation to be successful. Successful upland restorations will provide native perennial plants and less invasive weeds and grasses that drastically increase fuel loads.
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
Water quantity would be increased with these water shares. Managers will have the ability to increase wetland acreage and enhance uplands through irrigation.
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
N/A
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
Purchase water shares through Bear River Canal Company. Work with the canal company on delivery of water shares.
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
Closely monitoring water levels is an important strategy for wetland managers. Water levels throughout SC and PSG WMA's are already closely monitored in order to maintain and produce high quality wetland habitats. This will continue,
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
Bear River Canal Company
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
Future management should consist of pursuing extra water shares and water rights for SC and PSG WMA. There is a number of areas where wetland development could take place. Managers will continue to asses wetland conditions and water availability and make decisions, on a annual basis, as to where and when to flood areas. These decisions are based on when and where high quality habitats have been produced in the past, shifts in plant communities, and which areas would benefit public user groups.
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
These water shares will help to protect and enhance the wetland and upland resources that SC and PSG WMA's have to offer. Recreational use of these WMA's is increasing drastically. Waterfowl hunter use has increased from hunters moving from their traditional hunting areas in order to avoid crowds. Public Shooting Grounds has seen an increase in waterfowl hunters over the past two years due to the recent re-zoning of the Tundra Swan boundary. In addition, the DWR's pheasant release program has increased the number of pheasant hunters on both WMA's.
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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