A lightening strike caused the fire which burnt near the southern tip of the promontory mountains. Much of what was burnt is steep rocky ridges but there was an area back burned to prevent spread of the fire that was a previous WRI planting. The best areas along the ridges and planted fields need to be seeded to provide for deseriable habitat for mule deer.

To replant the fields that had been planted through WRI two years ago and to seed the ridges where there is the highest likelyhood of a positive seed response.

Not doing the project will cause the fields that had been planted to revert back to cheat grass. Not seeding the ridges will cause an increase in annual grass dominance and further loss of desired species.

1) Utah Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (Utah Wildlife Action Plan), 2005 Publication Number 05-19, State of Utah, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife Resources, Effective 2005-2015. Sharp-tailed Grouse are listed as a Tier II species and are considered to be present in only 4% of their historic range in Utah. On page 6-33 several aspects of habitat loss are considered to be significant: exotic weed infestation of habitats; lack of herbaceous understory in sagebrush habitats; and wildfire return intervals. This project is located within current sharp-tailed grouse occupied habitat, all three of these problems are present within the property in question, and all three are being addressed as a part of the proposed project. This project also seeks to restore shrubsteppe habitat which is listed as one of the 10 highest priority habitat types in Utah. 2) Utah Deer Management Plan for Unit (01) Box Elder County, March, 2013. This plan specifically mentions the problems associated with winter and transitional for mule deer in this part of the county: "Subunit 1 B- East Box Elder - This area reached and exceeded the 8,000 deer objective in 1999.A severe winter range fire on the Promontory peninsula occurred in 2001 and has reduced carrying capacity by approximately 1,000 animals. Consequently, the short-term objective is reduced to 7,000 deer." The plan address that and disturbance that could be beneficial to a browse enhancement project should be taken advantage of for the benefit on wintering mule deer along with identifying Promontory Mountain as a site for winter range enhancement. The biggest objective of the landowners is to address these kinds of issues for mule deer. Aside from an objective to restore winter range (i.e. sagebrush, four-wing saltbush, and forage kochia), a diverse suite of grasses and forbs are being established as well. 3) Strategic Management Plan for Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse, 2002, Publication 02-19, State of Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife Resources, June 11th 2002. Page 17 of this plan indicates that "Invasion of noxious annual grasses and weeds into native grasslands, wildfire areas and into the sagebrush understory" is contributing to habitat degradation. On page 20 of this plan, several aspects of the listed objectives under 'habitat protection and enhancement' are addressed in this project: B1.1, B1.2, and B1.6. There are a wide variety of other aspects of this project that are directly addressing threats and strategies for sharp-tailed grouse that are listed in this plan. Sharp-tailed grouse have been observed on the property as recently as the fall of 2011. 4) 2011 Utah NRCS Action Plan to Conserve Priority Fish and Wildlife Species and Habitats, December 2010, prepared by Utah NRCS with assistance from the State Technical Advisory Committee. This project will seek to improve both shrubsteppe and grassland habitats, as well as to improve habitat for a number of bird species (e.g. sage-grouse, shrub-steppe birds, mule deer). NRCS's Wildlife Action Plan also outlines objectives for using the WHIP and EQIP programs to improve wildlife habitat in Utah as well as partner with agencies (this project is part of a larger Sage-Grouse Initiative contract). 5) NRCS Strategic Plan for 2011-2015. This project addresses such objectives as: maintaining working farms and ranches and decreasing threats to "candidate" and T & E species. Aside from restoring functional habitat for mule deer, sage-grouse and other wildlife species, the landowners are working to continually undertake projects on an annual basis to improve their overall ranch operation to make it more sustainable and profitable. 6) Utah Partners in Flight Avian Conservation Strategy Version 2.0, UDWR Publication Number 02-27, December 2002. Pages 114-120 address sharp-tailed grouse as a priority species for conservation in Utah, and pages 118-120 list threats and project options to help this species -- many of which are directly relevant to this project. A variety of other bird species, which are also listed as priority species for conservation in this plan, should benefit from this project - including: long-billed curlews, and sage-sparrows. 7) Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Statewide Management Plan for Mule Deer, December 2014. Under "Issues and Concerns, G. Private Land/ Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit Issues" the importance of private lands and habitat quality on private lands is stressed. This project takes place entirely on private lands, and is within a CWMU. Habitat Objective 2 improve quality and quantity of vegetation for mule deer on crucial range. This project will help to reach the statewide goal. 8) Intermountain West Joint Venture Coordinated Bird Conservation Plan, December 2005. Grasslands and Shrupsteppe habitats are listed as "Priority A" within this plan, and several priority species for IWJV that utilize these habitat types should benefit from this project, including: sage sparrow, brewer's sparrow, and sage thrasher. 9) The Utah Strategic Plan for Managing Noxious and Invasive Weeds, Utah Weed Advisory Council and The Utah Weed Control Association, December 2004. Under Section IV, 'Utah Priorities', the plan mentions restoration actions as a priority for areas that have been invaded by noxious and invasive species. This project constitutes just such an effort in relation to species such as cheatgrass, bulbous bluegrass, rip-gut three-awn, and redstem filaree. 10) Northern Utah Soil Conservation District Long-Range Plan 2006. This project addresses this plans stated goal of addressing water quality through actions that reduce soil erosion on rangelands (see page 4, 1.1.2). Wildlife conservation and rangeland conservation efforts are listed as action priorities as well (see page 5-7, items 2.1, and 3.1). In addition, the proposed project also addresses several resource concerns listed in the Box Elder County Resource Assessment, which is also contained within this plan, including: rangelands in poor condition; control of noxious weeds; wildlife habitat improvements; and soil erosion (see page 8).

The hope is that the seeded fields and ridges will be less fire prone.

None

All areas to be chisel plowed and drill seeded are from previous WRI and NRCS planting so have already been cleared.

The ridges will be seeded by aircraft through a state contract. The fields will be chisel plowed and then drill seeded by the landowner.

Seeding success will be monitored by DWR habitat biologist and landowners.

The landowners will provide all the labor and equipment for the drill seeding.

Planted area's will be monitored from seed establishment by DWR and landowners. Deer use of the planted area's will be monitored by the landowners. If merited the seeded areas will be treated with plateau or similar.

Cattle are grazed on the property but the seeded will be rested for a minimum of 2 growing seasons.

11/10/2017

02/06/2018

2018

This fire burned on private lands on the south end of the Promontory mountains. The landowners are active in improving the habitat for mule deer and other wildlife. There have been 7 phases of range land improvement projects over the last 7 years and an 8th was planned but it was canceled so as to be able to focus on the fire rehab effort. The fire rehab project has two components, the first being the landowners using their tractor and DWR drills to seed some of the flatter areas and then having seed flown on the steeper areas that equipment cannot access. One of the fields that was planted with the tractor and drill had been planted through one of the phases of previously plantings. This field did not burn naturally but was ignited in a back burn to prevent the spread of the fire.

The landowners were good to work with on this project as they helped get a lot of the work done including picking up some of the seed from the GBRC. In the drill areas the landowners were able to chisel plow them before seeding. After Ron and Jesse delivered and set up the drills the landowners began drilling seed in the areas that had been plowed. The drill seed took almost 3 months to complete as the landowners experienced some issues with their tractor that required significant repair and also couldn't run the tractor every day. There was also some damage to the drills, one of which was returned with a cracked main frame. This is likely a result of traveling to fast over rough terrain. The seeding dates were spread out from Nov 18th to Feb 6th. The planting started in Main Canyon and progressed west and then north. The majority occurred from 11/18 to 12/15 and then 1/13 to 2/6. The aerial seeding contract was awarded to Morris Ag Air. We based out of the Brigham City airport and the seeding occurred during the first week of January on the 1st, 2nd and 4th. Morris Ag Air was great to work with.

Monitor the success of the seeding and continue working with the landowners to improve mule deer habitat. From this point forward we will only used a broadcaster and chain harrow for the plantings since there is so much wear on the drills when used in the area.