Project Details

The West Tavaputs Plateau on the Nine Mile Range Creek unit is one of the few places in Utah where large acreages of summer range have been treated to mitigate fire risk and improve habitat for wildlife.  This unit is very similar to the Book Cliffs and many mountain ranges in southern Utah where there is a narrow belt of high-quality summer habitat and abundant winter range, which is unlikely be limiting.  Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) populations on this plateau are well below population objectives and have shown minimal growth in recent years.  Potential explanations for this lack of growth may include intraspecific competition, drought and associated poor nutrition, predation, and degradation or fragmentation of habitat (Pojar and Bowden 2004, Bishop et al. 2005, Harrington and Conover 2007, Lomas and Bender 2007).   Additionally, the narrow band of summer habitat atop the West Tavaputs Plateau has a complex predator community with assumed high density.  It has been well documented that complex, high-density communities of predators can limit population growth, especially when populations are well below carrying capacity (Ballard et al. 2001, Laundre et al. 2006, Griffin et al. 2011).  This unit has chronically low fawn/doe ratios during post-hunt classifications in November, but the putative cause (habitat limitations and poor condition versus predation) is unclear.  
The West Tavaputs Plateau is primarily private land.  Most landowners on the Plateau have active habitat enhancement programs aimed at improving summer habitat for mule deer and other wildlife species.  Two primary methods have been used to improve summer habitat. The first method includes using heavy equipment and a chain along with a large cylinder (to elevate the chain) to reset succession in mature and decadent stands of Englemann Spruce (Picea englemannii) and Subapline fir (Abies labiocarpa) to restore aspen stands and improve forb abundance.  A second method includes mimicking wet meadow habitat by creating mosaics in high elevation Mountain sagebrush (Artemisia tridentate vaseyana) stands by mechanically chopping, discing, or harrowing methods.  Initial evaluation of the vegetation response to these treatments is promising with strong regrowth of aspen observed.  Given the focus by these private landowners on restoration of summer range at high elevations, this unit provides a unique opportunity to assess the value of summer habitat treatments on condition, production, and survival of mule deer in a control-treatment design.

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.

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.

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.

To determine the effects of summer habitat treatment projects on nutritional condition of adult mule deer, we will capture adult deer in both spring and fall across the West Tavaputs Plateau to estimate condition.  Some initial summer capture will likely be necessary to determine migration patterns and identify which animals are using treatments.  We will measure condition of mule deer by estimating percent ingesta-free body fat (IFBF) based on a proven combination of palpation and ultrasonography measures (Cook et al. 2007).   This metric has been collected on multiple units around the state and comparison of initial measurements of IFBF for mule deer on the Nine Mile, Range Creek unit with units from similar latitude will build understanding of the limiting factors affecting this mule deer herd.

We will fit each captured individual mule deer with a GPS collars to identify preferences in habitat selection related to restoration areas, determine space-use and migratory patterns, estimate survival, and determine probable causes of death.  GPS collars will collect a location every 2 hours providing a robust data set to use in a resource selection framework (RSF) to evaluate relative seasonal and annual selection for habitat types across the entire study area at both 2nd and 3rd order selection scales (Johnson 1980).  These selection coefficients can then be used as predictors of IFBF at the individual animal level in addition to mean comparisons between control and treatment areas.

By recovering deceased animals within 48 hours of a mortality signal, these collars will also enable us to determine survival and cause-specific mortality.  We will use model selection and either known-fate models in Program MARK (White and Burnham 1999) or Cox proportional hazards models to estimate seasonal and annual survival rates and examine the influence of body condition (see below), use of summer habitat treatments, movement patterns, and environmental conditions on these rates.

To examine herd production and recruitment, we will determine pregnancy rates and survival of neonate animals.  During the February and March captures, all pregnant adults will be fitted with vaginal implant transmitters (VITs; Bishop et al. 2007).  These VITs will allow us to capture and collar neonates in spring to estimate survival, recruitment, and cause-specific mortality of this under-studied age class.  Neonate deer collars will last for 6-8 months and then a sample of 6-month old fawns will be recaptured and fitted with a GPS collar to measure growth (body mass at 6 months -- body mass at birth) and survival from 6 months to 1.5 years of age.

This project was be initiated in fiscal year 2023 and will be completed in fiscal year 2026.

Most captures will be conducted by the UDWR contracted capture company using standard net-gunning techniques. There may be a need for some summer/fall darting of deer by ground crews.  Once a deer is captured, the capture company will transport it back to a staging area for processing by UDWR employees/volunteers.  Data collected from the animal will include age, sex, various body measurements, blood samples, reproductive condition, and body condition (Cook et al. 2010).

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.