The purpose of this project will be to re-introduce shrubs back into this area that will support mule deer use. Reduction of quality forage has declined due to the invasion of cheatgrass on the site, causing the natural perennial vegetation to be chocked out and become non-productive, some grasses and fobs exist but the lack of browse species is gone. We would like to reseed this area in hopes of re-establishment of mainly shrub species such as Wyoming Sage Brush and Fourwing saltbush, this area is critical to winter mule deer on the Monroe Mountain Unit and we are lacking in the key shrub component that can and will support the mule deer during critical winter months. Shrubs are key to provide critical forage for winter Big Game animals along the Poverty Flat Area.

Objective of this project is to re-establish critical grass, forb and shrubs that will play A major role in over wintering Big Game animals in this area. The treatment site does not have a good diversity of plant and shrub species available at this time. Objectives are to use a herbicide to control the cheat grass, then reseed the area with forbs, grasses and shrubs that will help sustain wildlife in the fall and spring. This area is critical for UDWR, as we have several hundred mule deer and elk that use this area in the fall and spring, with no available forage on site the deer and elk find their way in to croplands and cause damage to agriculture fields. UDWR objective is to re-establish the winter type forage shrub component that will help sustain the deer and elk away from the agriculture cropland and reduce depredation issues.

The threats and risks of doing this treatment consist of additional invasion of cheatgrass on the landscape, reduction of native and introduce grass and shrub species along with the decline of forbes during critical times of year. This project is in a critical site location, it is a spring/winter high use area and will benefit several hundred deer and elk on the Monroe Mountain Herd Unit, deer populations are increasing and the need to complete this project to sustain the deer and elk populations is a must. The risk is that the seeding will not become established, due to possible drought, low moisture (rain or snow at critical time of the year), the on going invasion of cheat grass allowing the seeded species to mature and become established on site.

The pinyon-juniper and big sagebrush areas lie within the sagebrush steppe type which is one of the key habitats identified in the WAP. The proposed projects will address some of the habitat management strategies outlined in the deer and elk management plans for herd unit 23 (Monroe Unit) including: Continue to improve and restore sagebrush steppe habitats critical to deer according to UDWRs Habitat Initiative. Maintain habitat quantity and quality at a level adequate to support the stated population objectives while at the same time not resulting in an overall downward trend in range condition and watershed quality. Work cooperatively with land management agencies and private landowners to plan and implement improvement projects for the purpose of enhancing wildlife habitat and range resources in general. *The project also helps fulfill the state mule deer management plan section IV Habitat Goal: Conserve and improve mule deer habitat throughout the state with emphasis on crucial ranges. *The proposed projects will address the following goals and objectives of the Division of Wildlife Resources most recent strategic management plan: Resource Goal: expand wildlife populations and conserve sensitive species by protecting and improving wildlife habitat. Objective 1: protect existing wildlife habitat and improve 500,000 acres of critical habitats and watersheds throughout the state. Objective 3: conserve sensitive species to prevent them from becoming listed as threatened or endangered. Constituency Goal: Achieve broad-based support for Division programs and budgets by demonstrating the value of wildlife to all citizens of Utah. Objective 2: improve communication with wildlife organizations, public officials, private landowners, and government agencies to obtain support for Division programs. *UDWR SR critical big game winter range are important browse communities that need to be enhanced and improved. The Division will employ a variety of methods to achieve this including prescribed grazing, prescribed burning, reseeding and seedling transplants, also mechanical treatments. Priority areas will include sagebrush-steppe and mountain browse communities. Falls within the rangeland focus area for WRI wildlife species for mule deer and elk. *NRCS has also identified that the sagebrush steppe is critical as it pertains to wildlife species on Private, State and Federal Lands. *Richfield Field Office RMP - Manage for a mix of vegetative types, structural stages, and provide for native plant, fish, and wildlife (including SSS) habitats. - Sustain or reestablish the integrity of the sagebrush continuity, and quality of habitat that is necessary to maintain sustainable populations of sagebrush-dependent wildlife species. rough habitat restoration practices. -Increase 50,000 acres annually through management actions (prescribed grazing, invasive weed control)

Fire will continue to play a major role in this are of Poverty Flat, in the past this areas has burned and it has become over run with invasive weed species such as cheat grass. The need for this treatment is to plant and establish native and no-native grass and forb species along with shrubs that will out complete cheat grass invasion. Fuels such as cheat grass play a major role in fire and fuel loading in our area and the need to reduce the cheatgrass is critical. Re-establishment of perennial grasses will allow for less fuels as our restoration efforts have shown that when a fire burns into an area that is healthy with good grass and forb understory the seeded species can slow the spread of the fire and reduce the impacted areas of the wildfire.

Water quality and quantity will be increased due the the reduction of overland flow of water as it hits the soil by protecting perennial grasses, forbs and shrubs the water will be better utilized and the benefit will increase the quality of the rangeland goals and objectives. As the treatment area sits now the invasive weed species are taking over the site and reducing the water intake to the small amount of native grass species on site. After the treatment we would expect to see improvement of our seeded species utilizing the rain and winter snow load more effective with less bare soil to cause increasing evaporation of the moisture we receive on site. Reduction of erosion due to bare soil and rock in the area will be replaced by shrubs and increased perennial grasses which will help reduce evaporation and loss of critical water in this soil type and Ecological Site.

This treatment site has been reseeded in the past and the area has been disturbed with rangeland type equipment (drill, hand planting, etc.). Project manager will work with UDWR Archaeologist to make sure this is correct before proceeding.

Project will consist of a Herbicide Treatment of Plateau to be aerially applied with the means of a helicopter, after the herbicide treatment, the area will be reseeded with shrubs through the use of a Rangeland Drill pulled with a tractor along with hand planting some bare root or containerized Wyoming Sagebrush Stock. The efforts of the Plateau Treatment will hold back or suppress the cheatgrass allowing for the established grasses and the new shrub plantings to take hold and continue to out compete the cheatgrass. Additional support of the hand plantings maybe assisted through local youth groups, Conservation Sportsman's Groups or Dedicated Hunters from the surrounding area.

Monitoring of the project will consist of photo points along with a established range site put in by UDWR, big game classifications by the Area Biologist for mule deer in the spring and fall. This site will be monitored closely due to the fact that more areas of this Poverty Flat is in decline of the winter shrub components that will benefit mule deer. Other areas to be looked at will be adjacent properties associated with the BLM and Private Property. The possibilities of the GBRC Range Trend Program may be helpful in setting a permanent site to be monitored over time to collect data in the future.

UDWR BLM SITLA Private Local Sportsman Groups such as: Mule Deer Foundation Utah Bowman's Association Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife In the past we have looked at this area with the BLM in trying to come up with ideas and treatments that will benefit this critical mule deer range. Both UDWR and BLM are in agreement that we must do something to produce additional shrubs and forage value for mule deer. We are looking to take on this project in hopes of learning what can be done to have success, looking at different applications to be successful and learning from mistakes that have been made in the past to better this critical are of the Monroe WMU. With great partnerships we can succeed it may take time and resources but we will put forth the effort to enhance this area.

Future Management will consist of no grazing of livestock on the property until some issues are resolved and establishment of shrub seeded species can handle grazing in the future. We will continue to work towards the improvement of shrubs species that will benefit big game species in the area during critical times of the year (spring and fall). If warranted working with the Area Biologist to look at the wildlife populations and the effect that they are having on the range, possible reduction in mule deer or elk numbers in this location maybe needed to help this project be successful.

Currently UDWR does not graze this property, but there have been some discussions in the past that this maybe a possibility, other adjacent properties have been grazed and the permittee may be looking at utilizing the grazing of the UDWR lands to off set depredation issues on private lands. The permittee may look at fixing and maintaining the fencing aspects of the property, grazing will be done during certain times of year to allow the reduction of cheatgrass through grazing and thus allowing for grasses, forbs and shrubs to be available in the fall and winter for mule deer and elk. UDWR will continue to work with the adjacent permittee to work out details that will benefit both the UDWR and the wildlife that use is area.

10/16/2017

09/30/2019

2020

This project was a great project to work together within the UDWR to see if we could establish some sagebrush with 120 acres for UDWR property located on Poverty Flat. We wanted to establish some monitoring on this project so we enlisted the help from GBRC to make this happen. First, we wanted to get rid of the cheatgrass issues we had on site, so in the fall of 2017 we sprayed Plateau Herbicide on the 120 acres. Application Contract was done by Hammond Helicopters and was applied at 6oz of Plateau Herbicide with 4oz of MSO Surfactant and 7 gallons of water per acre. In spring of 2018 we again had Hammond Helicopters spray for the perennial grass species with the Ranger Pro Herbicide. Herbicide was applied at 1.5 quarts/ac with a non-ionic surfactant and 7 gallons of water per acre. In November of 2018 we applied 5lbs sagebrush and 1lb of forage kochia by aerial application with Hammond Helicopters within the treated site location (rates are bulk pounds). We had great fall and winter moisture that year and in-turn we had great establishment of the sagebrush and forage kochia. All seed was flown on before snow fall.

The overall goal and directive of this project was to help the local Wildlife Biologist work to establish a shrub component of Sagebrush and Koshia on a very difficult site south of Monroe, UT. This site has several hundred deer that winter here each year and the decreasing component of sagebrush shrubs was present in the area due to drought, previous fire conditions and wintering deer populations. In working with GBRC to identify was to reduce the cheatgrass component along with the grass component we came to the conclusion we would like to implement a herbicide treatment prior to seeding. We implement the cheatgrass control in the fall, with a herbicide treatment in the spring. We then followed up in the fall with the primary seeding of the sagebrush and kochia. We had great cooperation from GBRC and the work on the ground by the Wildlife Biologist has proved that under the right moisture conditions we can be successful in planting sagebrush. We still have some cheatgrass and perennial grass species present but we have also established a large amount of sagebrush on site as well.

Future Management of this project is to continue to find ways to help control cheatgrass to allow for the re-seeding of the sagebrush and kochia to establish. We have monitored the area with GBRC for the last several years looking at different chemicals that will control cheatgrass and help provide valuable information across the state for future projects. In addition to GBRC we will continue to use this area as a template for additional work that can be done within Poverty Flat and the North-end of the Monroe Mtn where shrub components are lacking or non-existent.