The Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, Color County District Office, Cedar City Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management, and Division of Wildlife Resources, have identified multiple opportunities west of Cedar City in the Duncan Creek and Swett Hills area to create fuel breaks around communities built in the wildland urban interface area and to improve mule deer habitat. This area in particular has a high vehicle/deer collision rate. Removing vegetation along Highway 56 would increase motorist visibility to deer crossing the highway to and from the Swett Hills and Quichipah area. In addition, removing pinyon/juniper and reseeding desired grasses/forbs shrubs along private/public land boundaries will help to disperse deer away from mowed and seeded ROW's. The treatments proposed as part of FY13 will connect to existing project planned and implemented by a variety of agency partners, and as part of a focus area for the Color Country Interagency Fuels Committee.

1) Enhance 1115 acres of critical mule deer winter range within the Pine Valley Herd Unit (Management Plan #30 UDWR 2006) by removing pinyon/juniper and reseeding with a desired mix of grasses/forbs/shrubs. 2) Remove vertical vegetation along approximately 10 miles of Highway 56 to increase visibility and potentially decrease deer/vehicle collisions, as well as serve as a fuel break. 3) Reduce fire risk to four designated communities at risk, including Comstock, Farr West, Quichipah and Old Iron Town by removing hazardous fuels. 4) Improve vegetation composition on 880 acres of BLM and 235 acres of state and private lands to provide resource benefits to a variety of wildlife by removing pinyon/juniper and reseeding with a desired mix of grasses/forbs/shrubs.

Standards and Guides for Healthy Rangelands show that none of this area is meeting objectives for healthy rangelands (standard #3), and pinyon pine and juniper encroachment is a contributing factor. In addition, this entire area is in Fire Regime Condition Class 3, meaning more than one beneficial fire cycle has passed. Not improving vegetation in this area would result in conditions continuing to decline and the risk of losing key ecosystem components would remain High. Treating this area has its own inherent risks, including the potential for seeding failure, noxious weed outcrops and potential negative views from the public, due to opening up visibility near private residencies. Mitigation measures, such as ongoing noxious weed early detection/rapid response programs and outreach with private landowners will help mitigate these potential threats/risks.

There are two community fire plans in place, Comstock/Farrwest and Old Iron Town, which recognize the need to remove hazardous fuels. This project will achieve three objectives: fuel break establishment, hazardous fuels reduction and ingress/egress increased safety. These community fire plans are created by the communities, in conjunction with local, state and federal partners. In addition to federal statutes and regulations [i.e. Taylor Grazing Act, Endangered species Act (ESA)], this project is in compliance and is supported by the following management plans and documents: Southwest Utah Support Area Fire Management Plan (2005) This action supports at least two objectives: Protection of critical deer habitat and watershed protection (page196); National Fire Plan (2000) This project meets several objectives of the NFP: Protection of Communities at Risk, which there are three listed communities affected, and increased safety of firefighters in the event of an incident.(Policies section) ; Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Statewide Management Plan for Mule Deer (2008) This project assists in meeting Habitat Objectives 1 & 2 and Recreation Objective 1 & 2; Pine Valley Deer Herd Unit Management Plan #30 (UDWR 2006) This project addresses a minimum of two limiting factors to multiple objectives, increase in winter range and highway mortality (see limiting factors) , Healthy Forest Restoration Act (2003), Iron county, Utah General Plan (1995), Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy (1995), Utah Wildlife conservation Strategy (2005), 3 individual allotment management plans (2009-2011) and the Cedar Beaver Garfield Antimony Land Use Plan Amendment (2004). For additional descriptions on how these plans support the Duncan Creek Project, see EA# UTO-CO12-2011-0011 (pg. 2-8).

2 PMArchaeology, Arch will be completed by contract either via. DWR or FFSL for all lands proposed, Jan 5 2012 / 6 NEPA, NEPA has been completed UTO-C012-2011-0011 for BLM lands, Dec 20 2011

1) Conduct archaeological clearance on 880 acres of BLM lands and 235 acres of state and private lands (assume up to 10% of proposed acres of BLM lands will contain significant archaeological resources and will not be mechanically treated). 2) Aerially seed a desired mix of grasses/forbs/shrubs on 880 acres of BLM lands and 235 acres of state and private lands. 3) Contract Bullhog and remove pinyon/juniper on 800 acres of BLM and 200 acres of state and private lands.

Monitoring will be accomplished by fire councils and agency personnel. The outcomes will be documented in the notes at the semiannual fire council meetings. Site visits with the council and other interested residents will be conducted as part of these meetings. Range monitoring is collected on each allotment on a periodic basis to monitor livestock and their associated impact. Monitoring data included both long-term studies and short term indicators. Long term monitoring would include nested frequency, cover and photographs to determine overall trend of an allotment or pasture. Short term indicators include key forage species utilization, actual use, etc. In the future, where forest and woodland stands are thinned, pre and post treatment stand examination data would be collected and data entered into the BLM's Forest Vegetation Information System (FORVIS) database to assist with long term monitoring for effectiveness and stand development over time.

Seedings would be rested from cattle grazing for a minimum of two complete growing seasons. This would be accomplished by either fencing the cattle out of the treatment areas or resting treated pastures. The areas proposed as part of this project are isolated portions of grazing allotments and private lands. It is likely that these areas would not be grazed by livestock. Grazing management will be more important when large tracts to the east of this project area are treated in additional phases of the project (2014 and beyond).

10/01/2012

04/10/2013

2013

Bullhog and seed 2,146 acres. This was a joint project between UDWR, BLM and Forestry Fire and State Lands. BLM lands were seeded and 100% of trees removed. Private lands were thinned (approximately 50 ft spacing. Project was originally slated for approximately 1,000 or so acres; however, additional BLM Fuels $ helped to completed Phase I and Phase 2 of this project.

This project was an extremely complex wildland urban interface project, that was designed to improve mule deer habitat, decrease fire hazard and improve watershed conditions. Land ownership was a mixture of private, mining lands and BLM. To add to the complexity this project was highly visible along a major Highway, with numerous utility corridors. This area was one of the original areas identified at the onset of the National Fire Plan, but one of the last to complete due to all of the complexities mentioned above. The project area consisted of encroaching pinyon/juniper (stage III) intermixed with mountain shrubs. Overall, BLM was extremely pleased with the treatment of this project; although it was not without it's faults. Considering the complexity, there were very few complaints - a couple of landowners and sportsmen, but nothing major. This may be attributed to a tremendous amount of outreach prior to the project begin date. This included newspaper articles, door-to-door flyers, coordination with community fire planning efforts, and a kiosk set up near the subdivision. In addition, having two different cutting prescriptions added to the complexity (BLM 100%; FFSL thinning). However, barring a few problems, the contracter was able to complete the project as requested, using Fecon heads that could maneuver between the trees. This contract could not have been completed without a project manager on site at all times, which the contractor provided. We had people moving flags, a busy highway, and logistical problems that necessitated constant project oversight. All in all, this will be an excellent project for both fuels and wildlife, as well as for watershed health. Southern Utah experienced some heavy August storms, that had the potential to impact homes in this area. In fact there are numerous deep drainages within the project area, that were of concern. We visited the project area shortly after the heavy storms and there was very little water movement within the project area. Water that flowed into the project area was quickly dissipated and little check dams formed naturally from the debris (see photos attached). A UDWR trend study was placed in this project.

This project falls in a sheep allotment that is utilized to the east of the project area. A large range of hills (Swett Hills) dissects the allotment in half, so sheep cannot graze on the west side. However, there is cattle use on private lands to the west of the treatment. A north/south fence is needed to keep cattle off of the treatment - NEPA is in the works for the fence.