Project Details

Historical and current degradation of riparian lands are a common habitat issue in the NER. One tool that has shown promising results in other regions, but not yet utilized in the NER is beaver relocation in support of aquatic and terrestrial restoration projects. Making this tool available in Uintah, Daggett, and Duchesne counties will improve the effectiveness of restoration projects that are focused on riparian restoration. As the region becomes more arid, the increased surface and groundwater storage provided by valley bottoms becomes increasingly valuable. Active beaver complexes create ponds and wetlands that offer critical habitat for many species in need of conservation. Their ponds and canals boost channel complexity and reduce drought-related risks for native fish--such as Bluehead Sucker, Flannelmouth Sucker, Roundtail Chub, and Colorado River Cutthroat Trout--as well as nonânative sport fish like Rainbow and Brown Trout, supporting all life stages. Beaver complexes also benefit large mammals, particularly moose, by providing areas for cooling, foraging, and predator avoidance. Monarch butterflies gain from the enhanced riparian vegetation and expanded wetland habitat, which increase the availability of key pollinator plants.. Beaver relocation and re-establishment is also extremely cost-effective compared with ongoing maintenance of restoration projects.

To minimize the transmission of disease and Aquatic Invasive Species associated with beaver relocations, a quarantine facility needs to be built in the NER. Past relocation efforts have been halted by the required process of transporting and quarantining beavers caught in the region. Although transportation to a quarantine facility from the NER has been experimented with, the long-term viability of the current available process is not promising. To make trapping and relocation possible within the region, a quarantine facility is needed.

The northeastern region has regular depredation requests for the removal of nuisance beavers. Because of the high work load required by trapping beavers, we are requesting the funding for a seasonal technician whose primary job focus will be on beaver trapping. Past trapping efforts, although initially successful were halted because of the demand on depredation technicians to fulfill other requests, especially during the late summer. The requirement to check live traps every 24 hours would be more accessible with a dedicated seasonal whose schedule would accommodate the trapping requirements of this project. Additionally, beaver coexistence techniques have been shown to reduce conflicts between beavers and existing infrastructure but is a tool seldomly used in the region. We plan increasing uptake of coexistence strategies by installing flow devices in areas with known ongoing beaver conflicts and support of landowners.

To support the initial year of implementation of a beaver relocation program, we propose holding a live-trapping beaver clinic, similar to the clinics that have been held in Logan by the Beaver Ecology and Relocation Collaborative. This clinic will be an opportunity for those involved in beaver trapping to learn the proper techniques required to live-trap beavers. It is anticipated that this clinic will be open to all partners involved in the planning process of this project as well as interested trappers of the community that may contribute their abilities to the success of this project.

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.

In the NER, it is very common for nuisance beavers to be dealt with using lethal methods. Although there are cases where lethal trapping may be the most prudent, this project will provide an opportunity that has not seen widespread use in the NER. Using proven techniques from other regions that have established beaver relocation programs, it is reasonable to conclude that there are plenty of resources to turn to in the development of this program.

A few long term projects in the Book Cliffs could benefit from the reintroduction of beavers on the landscape. This project will help to support the long-term success of those projects. There are many Beaver Dam Analog (BDA) projects that are currently maintained in the NER by contractors experienced in such work. The long term aim of BDA projects, where appropriate, is to provide a space for beavers to move in, and allow them to perform the engineering and maintenance of the habitat surrounding the river restoration project areas. Not only is relocating beavers to restoration sites effective in restoring habitat, it is also cost effective in the long term since maintenance of habitat restoration projects is no longer the sole burden of DWR personnel.

A number of areas where coexistence strategies will be appropriate at this time were selected to receive flow devices to manage beaver conflicts while maintaining the habitat benefits that beavers provide. Flow devices will be installed at two of the following potential sites; Willow Creek, Moon Ranch (in the Hannah/Tabiona area), Sheep Creek, and Big Brush near Simplot. Site selection will be made closer to time of implementation as some factors are uncertain (weather, beaver activity, land owner support, etc.) until one or two months before installation.

Nuisance beavers have been common on Sheep Creek between the highway 44 crossing, downstream to the Flaming Gorge Reservoir. This area is utilized by kokanee salmon, and the consistent issues with beaver provides a good sized pool to trap from.

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.

Utah Beaver Management Plan 
Outreach/ Education
- Education on non-lethal control methods
- Accommodating beaver working with private neighbors when a private/public reintroduction is desired.
- Restoration techniques using beaver.
- Expectation management when using beaver as a conservation and restoration tool.

Damage Management/ Beaver Conflict Management
- Deal with problems in some areas - lethal vs. nonlethal removal decision model
- Problem beaver management using trappers
- Educate the public about non-lethal techniques
- Refer trappers to resolve problems
- Cooperate with private landowners and water rights holders with both removal and introductions
- Dealing with problem beavers in the following areas: City nuisance beavers, landowners, UDOT, Other.
- Potential funding and information for non-lethal beaver management structures where appropriate.

Watershed Restoration
- Pro beaver transplant
- Support restoration of beaver and adequate protection where establishing
- Encourage live-trapping of entire families
- Consider using beaver as a stream restoration tool
- Beaver are a good tool that could be used to restore degraded riparian communities that could benefit many other wildlife species. 
- Potential funding and information for non-lethal beaver management structures where appropriate.
- Potential benefits of aspen/cottonwood restoration in improving beaver habitat

Disease/Aquatic Nuisance Species Management
Objective 1:
Minimize the possibility of spreading aquatic deseases(e.g., whirling disease) and aquatic invasive species (AIS) (e.g., Quagga and zebra mussels, New Zealand mud snails and clams) from known contaminated sources to clean watersheds as a result of moving beaver between drainages through 2020.

Strategies:
1. Use 'The Protocol for Live Trapping, Holding and Transplanting Beaver' to screen
source populations of beaver for transfer to other waters. Beavers should not be
translocated from known waters containing whirling disease or ANS to waters
believed to be clean without first following the Decontamination Protocol.

Strategies Accomplished as of 2017 Review

1. A "Protocol for Live Trapping, Holding and Transplanting Beaver" was developed
and followed during live trapping and translocation activities throughout the state.
The protocol was updated to make it more pragmatic to implement in 2017.

Objective 2:

Minimize the possibility of spreading aquatic diseases and AIS from known contaminated
sources to clean watersheds as a result of lethal trapping used during control actions or
recreational seasons.

Strategies:

1. Follow best practices for decontaminating all gear used in translocating beaver.
2. Provide decontamination information via web or brochure to recreational trappers
during the purchase of their furbearer license to encourage voluntary compliance
with decontamination protocol.

Strategies Accomplished as of 2017 Review

1. Developed a gear decontamination protocol. This included verbiage requiring
adherence to decontamination protocol in all COR issued to nuisance wildlife
companies.

Utah's Wildlife Action Plan (2025-2035): 
Chapter 2 (Key Habitats, Terrestrial): Aspen conifer habitat improvement actions include beaver reintroduction & LTPBR where appropriate. Beaver introduce needed disturbance to aspen stands and promote new growth, which in turn supports persistence of aspen on the landscape. 
Chapter 2 (Key Habitats, Aquatic): Riparian, rivers & stream habitats- low-tech process based restoration practices, including beaver reintroduction and BDAs are recommended to address numerous threats associated with these habitats. 
Chapter 3: Climate change:  This chapter highlights the importance of making the WAP actionable through coordinated climate resilience projects in WRI.  Riparian habitat restoration, for instance can build climate resilience.
Chapter 4, Threats: Beaver reintroduction and coexistence / LTPBR are recommended to address numerous threats listed in the WAP including climate change (temperature, precipitation variability), water use and allocations (increasing baseflow persistence by reconnecting floodplains, holding water on the landscape), channel down-cutting (efficient sediment capture and repair of incised streams), increasing stream temperature (beaver complexes have high levels of habitat diversity and create thermal refuge), and in appropriate fire frequency and intensity (beaver complexes create figure refuge for wildlife, can slow or halt the spread of high-intensity wildfires.

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.

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.