Huff Creek is a small stream which drains into the Chalk Creek drainage. The drainage has been a focus for many years for improving water quality, riparian health and cutthroat trout populations. The project is to include fencing on both sides of Huff Creek for approximately 4.75 miles. It will divide a large 5,500 acre pasture into two separate pastures used by approximately 1,300 cows for grazing purposes. Huff Creek already divides the pasture east to west. A large water project was started by the landowner to place troughs on the north side of Huff Creek in 2015 and 2016. This gives livestock additional water sources besides Huff Creek to water. Another project is going forward with the landowner and Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF) to construct and install additional water troughs and water lines on the south side of Huff Creek to benefit livestock and wildlife. Bonneville Cutthroat Trout are found upstream of this large pasture as well as beaver. By protecting this riparian area, trout and beaver will start to fill in downstream as habitat improves. This will be a great project and should see results quickly due to fencing.

Promote growth of native riparian plants along 4.75 miles of Huff Creek. Woods Rose, chokecherry and native willows are present in very low numbers due to historic spraying and grazing of the riparian area. Native plum may not do very well but a small amount of bare root stock should be fine to try. Native plum has grown very well on other sites where chokecherry and Woods Rose also performed well.

Overall rangeland health should improve as a result of this project, which will have benefits to numerous terrestrial and aquatic wildlife species.

This project directly fulfills and follows those strategies and objectives in the Rangewide Conservation Agreement and Strategy for Bonneville Cutthroat Trout, State of Utah Conservation Agreement and Strategy for Bonneville Cutthroat Trout and the Weber River restoration plan of 2014 with strategies listed below. All attached in the documents sections is a designation of 5 priority areas on the Weber River where we want to restore or enhance habitat in these areas. This project falls within the Chalk Creek Area. Habitat Restoration Strategy 1- Riparian Management: Fence riparian areas to protect aquatic resource and terrestrial wildlife values from intense grazing practices. Habitat Restoration Task 1.1- Riparian exclusions or pastures : Identify and prioritize appropriate locations or opportunities to install grazing exclusions or riparian pasture areas.* Find opportunities to improve and secure river flows that improve aquatic and terrestrial wildlife habitats while also achieving broader water storage and delivery goals * Identify and prioritize locations and opportunities for grazing exclusions or riparian pasture areas to improve fish and terrestrial wildlife habitats, reduce stream-bank erosion and related risks to landowners, and improve water quality * Enhance partnerships amongst private landowners, city, county and state governments and non-governmental organizations to develop larger-scale restoration, protection and water conservation projects The DWR WMA management plan calls for rest from cattle grazing to facilitate riparian vegetation recovery. The Huff Creek subwatershed was identified as a significant source of nonpoint agricultural nitrate and phosphorus pollution in the Echo-Rockport TMDL. Management of nonpoint sources through watershed improvement projects was highlighted as a critical component to the implementation of the TMDL.

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This fence project will directly correlate to improved water quality by protecting the riparian area from livestock and wildlife overgrazing along the stream banks. Grasses, sedges, and willows should grow naturally and respond very quickly once the fence is installed. Although Huff Creek is a small stream, relative to other tributaries in the Chalk Creek watershed, riparian habitat degradation caused by unmanaged livestock grazing has raised summer water temperatures to exceed 27 Degrees Celcius (81 Degrees Fahrenheit), contributing to warm temperatures in Chalk Creek during the summer months. In addition, these high temperatures during the summer months, have eliminated cutthroat trout from all but the headwaters of Chalk Creek. Changing livestock management is a long-term commitment that will result in cooler temperatures as the riparian vegetation species continue to increase stream shading.

Archaeological clearance was finished in August of 2017 by Monson Shaver with no sites found.

Trout Unlimited has agreed to organize several willow planting events to reintroduce woody riparian species along Huff Creek.

The landowner, Trout Unlimited, Department of Ag and Food, and DWR will monitor the fence project over several years to make sure the fence is effective in excluding livestock within the project area. We will also utilize low-elevation aerial imagery and repeated SVAP surveys to track changes in the riparian and aquatic habitat within the project area. Temperature loggers will be placed in Huff Creek to record seasonal temperature changes as well as daily changes.

Trout Unlimited UDAF Private landowners UDWR

It is our hope that with the success of this fence project that we will install beaver dam analogs (BDA's) for raising the water table, increasing wet meadow habitat, catching sediment and setting a base for beavers to establish in this stream as willow stands grow and mature. Bare root plantings will be critical in adding more woody vegetation and shading to the stream corridor and riparian area.

The landowners intend to use the riparian fence as a pasture fence to allow greater control over where the cattle graze during specific times of the year. The goal is to promote healthy rangelands through proper grazing management, cattle distribution and off-channel watering as well as improving the riparian area through selective exclusion. The landowner also noted this past fall that these exclosures were necessary for the first ten years or so on other large riparian projects. Once shrubs and riparian health were improved, grazing provided a great benefit to these areas while maintaining livestock rotation. In future years livestock may be allowed to graze these areas under a strict maintenance plan.