Project Details

Townsendia aprica is a low-growing member of the sunflower family, with an extremely small distribution. It has been listed as threatened under Endangered Species Act since 1985, and it has not yet met all delisting criteria, including maintenance of a documented total population of 30,000 individuals; maintenance of 20 populations of at least 500 individuals each; and establishment of formal land management designations for these populations that provide long-term, undisturbed habitat for the species. A significant challenge for the ongoing management of this species is the fact that some populations have been questioned as to whether or not they are actually T. aprica. In recent years, botanists from the Bureau of Land Management, Capitol Reef National Park, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Utah Rare Plant Program have expressed doubts about whether some populations are actually represent Townsendia aprica, and that some populations not currently recognized as T. aprica belong to the threatened species. In order to properly manage this species, and to eventually delist the species, ID confidence is imperative, which will require genetic investigation.

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.

The first item of action will be discussing further with those who have worked with Townsendia aprica and may have information regarding populations that merit investigation. This will inform field work and field collections, and will be crucial to developing a sampling plan for the investigation. The sampling will need to include both plants from the type locality and populations that closely align with the type material as well as populations that are of question and differ morphologically. Sampling will also include outgroups of species that are known to occur in close proximity, such as Townsendia incana and Townsendia jonesii. In addition to sampling from field work, sampling from herbarium sheets will help fill in the gaps to ensure good resolution as well as from similar plants from a wider distribution to compare genetics.
DNA extractions from leaf tissue and library prep using baits from Arbor Scientific will be performed in collaboration with Dr. Jeannette Whitton at the University of British Columbia. Short read sequencing will be performed by a third party, based on cost considerations. 
Bioinformatic processing and analysis will be done in collaboration with Dr. Whitton, using their computing resources. These analyses will assist with the phylogenetic tree of Townsendia to help determine the genetic identity of Townsendia species and/or sub-species.

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.