The winter range on the Santaquin WMA is in very poor condition. There are few shrubs available for winter feed, encroaching oak brush, and lots of annual grasses and weeds. Last year we bullhogged much of the oakbrush and PJ that were encroaching and had outcompeted or removed access for big game to understoary vegetation (See Attached Images). However, there are lots of re-sprouts. We want to re-treat these re-sprouts with herbicide to ensure that the bullhog work we did does not go to waste. We also plan to scalp and plant shrubs (e.g.sagebrush, bitterbrush, and service berry) along the areas that have been opened up. We will also chain harrow to remove the grass competition and drill seed many forb, shrub species. This will help to improve the available food for big game, turkeys, and pheasants that all utilize this area.

1. Ensure that oakbrush that was treated last year does not grow back. 2. Increase shrubs to improve forage in winter range.

1. By not spraying oakbrush re-sprouts we will potentially return to the densities that existed prior to last years bullhog treatment in a very short amount of time. In order to prevent a waste of the funds that went into last years project we need to conduct this project. 2. If we do not plant shrub species and other valuable forbs the quality of this winter range will continue to degrade under herbivory pressure and eventually this could result in higher winter mortality of big game species.

Statewide Mule Deer Management Plan Habitat Objective1: Maintain mule deer habitat throughout the state by protecting and enhancing existing crucial habitats and mitigating for losses due to natural and human impacts Habitat Objective 2: Improve the quality and quantity of vegetation for mule deer on a minimum of 500,000 acres of crucial range by 2019. Deer Herd Unit 16A Management Plan Habitat -- Winter range is a limiting factor for deer on this unit. Portions of critical winter ranges are in poor condition (see range trend summary below). Factors contributing to poor range conditions include recent droughts and range use by deer and domestic livestock. This has resulted in a reduction of winter range carrying capacity. Utilization of key shrub species on critical winter ranges will be closely monitored. Objective 1-Protect, maintain, and/or improve deer habitat through direct range improvements to support and maintain herd population management objectives. Objective 2- Maintain and protect critical winter range from future losses. Strategy 1-Continue to improve, protect, and restore sagebrush steppe habitats critical to deer. Strategy-2 Reduce expansion of pinion-juniper and other woodlands into sagebrush habitats and improve habitats dominated by pinion-juniper woodlands by completing habitat restoration projects like lop & scatter,bullhog, and chaining. We achieve this by treating the bullhogged oakbrush with herbicide. Strategy 3- Seek opportunities to increase browse in burned areas of critical winter range. Statewide Elk Managment Plan 1. Increase forage production by annually treating a minimum of 40,000 acres of elk habitat. 2. Maintain sufficient habitat to support elk herds at population objectives and reduce competition for forage between elk and livestock. Statewide Turkey Managment Pan III. ISSUES AND CONCERNS High Priority: Urgent and Important Issue H2. Insufficient Winter Habitat Concern A. Starvation during severe weather. Concern B. Winter overutilization of urban and agricultural areas Objective 1.Stabilize populations that are declining outside of natural population fluctuations; especially through catastrophic events (i.e. following fires, severe winters, etc.). Strategy c: Conduct habitat projects to address limiting factors. Objective 2. Increase wild turkey habitat, quality and quantity, by 40,000 acres statewide by 2020.Strategy d:Conduct habitat improvement projects in limiting habitat(s). Objective 1.Decrease the number of chronic material damage complaints per turkeys by 25% by 2020. Strategy f: Improve habitat to draw wild turkey populations away from conflict. Santaquin City Community Wildfire Protection Plan: 1) Community will work with county, state and federal fire officials to decrease fuels on adjacent public lands to reduce wildfire intensity, and impact in and around the community. 2)Fuels reduction project east of Exit 242 near shooting areas on DNR land. 2003 Forest Plan Uinta NF: 1) Sub-goal-2-1(G-2-1) The fuel management aspect of the fire management program is emphasized through application of hazard reduction activities. 2)Sub-goal-2-8 (G-2-8) Ecosystem resilience is maintained by providing for a full range of seral stages and age classes (by cover type) that achieve a mosaic of habitat conditions and diversity to meet a variety of desired resource management objectives. Recruitment and sustainability of some early seral species and vegetation communities in the landscape are necessary to maintain ecosystem resilience to perturbations. 3)Sub-goal-2-25 (G-2-25) Maintain stable and upward conditions in big game winter range habitats and improve downward trend sites. 4)Objective-2-17 (O-2-17) By 2018, complete 1,000 acres of big game winter range habitat improvements to reach desired future conditions. Treatments lie within Central Region UWRI focus areas. Utah Smoke Management Plan (Revised 2006) 1)Mimimize or prevent smoke impacts to such a degree possible in order to protect public health, public safety, and visibility. 2)Encourage the development and use of alternative methods to burning for disposing of or reducing the amount of wildland fuels on lands in the state. Wasatch Front Fuels Assessment Report 2002. 1)Strive for joint cooperation between federal agencies, municipalities and private landowners to reduce fuels contributing to unwanted wildland fire impacting landscapes along the Wasatch Front.

This project will help to ensure that the oakbrush does not come back and reduces the risk of fire to homes and to the habitat again. The reduction of fire risk is one of the main objectives of this project. There are many homes in close proximity to this area and it is critical to maintain a reduction of fuels.

By increasing the understory vegetation under the oakbrush canopy we will be reducing the amount of exposed soil where large water events can carry sediments downstream and reduce water quality. We will also be reducing the amount of water that these trees take to allow more water for the watershed.

All necessary cultural clearances will be conducted prior to the implementation of this project. This project will be implemented on UDWR Santaquin WMA and NEPA will not be necessary.

We will spot treat oakbrush re-sprouts with Garlon or other herbicide to kill these re-sprouts. We will do this with a couple of four wheelers and UDWR personnel. We will chain harrow identified polygons to reduce competition from grass species and then we will drill seed these areas with a sagebrush and forb mix in the fall. The following spring we will use a tree planter and to plant shrub seedlings.

We will take photos of the project before treatment and post and continue to monitor changes after treatment to show success of the project. We will continue to monitor the success of these plantings and propose future treatments as needed to ensure that we restore the needed shrub and forb component of this habitat.

The UDWR will partner with sportsman groups and other volunteers to help with implementation of this project.

This area will be rested from any livestock grazing for at least two years after the plantings to ensure their success.

This project will help to maintain the oakbrush thinning that increases the amount of understory vegetation that will increase the amount of forage available for livestock on this property and improve the quality of forage.

03/23/2018

03/23/2019

2019

We sprayed the oakbrush re-sprouts at the Santaquin WMA with Garlon 3 in the Spring of 2018. We got pretty good kill and then sprayed it again in the summer of 2019. Following the herbicide application we planted 3 thousand shrubs on the Santaquin Wildlife Management Area. We planted 1,000 shrubs on the spring of 2018. There were 500 wyoming sagebrush and 500 bitterbrush. These plants were only 1 year old and we placed vexar mesh protectors around them at the time of planting. We also scalped a 2' wide trench with the dozer to clear away the grass competition. Following planting we watered the plants everyday for two weeks and then twice a week for the remainder of the summer. We also placed a handful of slow release fertilizer at the base of each plant. The survival was impressive at about 90 percent survival. In the spring of 2019 we planted 2,000 more shrubs that we grew for two growing seasons in a D-40 pot with a vexar protector built into it. The shrub species we planted were serviceberry, bitterbrush, and wyoming sagebrush.

The winter range on the Santaquin WMA is in very poor condition. There are few shrubs available for winter feed due to encroaching oak brush, and lots of annual grasses and weeds. Last year we bullhogged much of the oakbrush and PJ that were encroaching and had outcompeted or removed access for big game to understory vegetation (See Attached Images). However, there are lots of re-sprouts. We need to continue to keep the oakbrush from re-sprouting and plant more shrubs to increase the available forage on this property. This project was designed to accomplish both of those objectives.

We will continue to monitor the survival of these shrubs. We will water them with dedicated hunters as needed. Also we will continue to spray the oakbruhs re-sprouts to keep the areas open for shrubs.