The Rabbit Gulch Wildlife Management Area was acquired by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources as crucial winter range for both mule deer and elk. The WMA is crucial for wintering big game on heavier snow years. The area is the last stop for big game before they enter agricultural lands near Duchesne. Recent telemetry data from the BYU Strawberry Valley sage grouse study indicates that a grouse is using the project area this winter. As is the case with big game, Rabbit Gulch may be very important on deep snow winters when areas to the west become buried in snow. Unfortunately, drought and invasive species have begun to impact the Rabbit Gulch WMA. The sagebrush areas have experienced declines and die-offs. In addition, cheatgrass has invaded and is impacting the WMA. Unfortunately, the polygons identified for treatment in this effort have reached an ecological threshhold where intervention is required to restore desirable vegetative conditions on the site. Due to reduced habitat quantity and quality, UDWR has been forced to complete some emergency feeding in the vicinity of the treatment on heavy snow years. This project is intended to enhance forage quality and quantity and limit future conflicts with elk in agricultural areas.

1. Reduce cheatgrass cover 2. Establish or enhance desirable grass and browse cover 3. Improve winter habitat for mule deer 4. Improve winter habitat for elk 5. Reduce potential for wildlife depredation on agricultural lands during winter 6. Enhance and maintain winter habitat for greater sage grouse.

There is a chance that the project will not be successful. In this case, the site will return to cheatgrass dominance. If left untreated, the area will continue to be dominated by cheatgrass and will become and increased fire hazard. Habitat value will remain diminished and wintering big game animals will be impacted by having less available resources. Specific risks in Utah's Wildlife Action Plan to be addressed are: Invasive Plant Species--Cheatgrass is the invasive plant species present in this project area and is a threat to mule deer, elk, and golden eagles. Cheatgrass is also a threat to the lowland sagebrush type. Cheatgrass out competes more desirable and nutritious plant species that are needed for forage by wildlife. Inappropriate Fire Fequency and Intensity. Cheatgrass is notorious for burning frequently with high intensity. This creates a fire cycle that limits the recovery of desirable plant species. The threat of cheatgrass is that the site may reach an ecological dead end where nothing else can persist due to the frequent burn cycle and dominance of cheatgrass. This project aims to reduce cheatgrass and address these threats and risks by maintaining an appropriate vegetative community and fire cycle for the lowland sagebrush type and the species who depend on it.

Statewide Mule Deer Management Plan - c. Work with local, state and federal land management agencies via land management plans and with private landowners to identify and properly manage crucial mule deer habitats, especially fawning, wintering and migration areas. - d. Initiate broad scale vegetative treatment projects to improve mule deer habitat with emphasis on drought or fire damaged sagebrush winter ranges, ranges that have been taken over by invasive annual grass species, and ranges being diminished by encroachment of conifers into sagebrush or aspen habitats, ensuring that seed mixes contain sufficient forbs and browse species. Wasatch Mountains Deer Unit Management Plan -Cooperate with federal land management agencies and private landowners in carrying out habitat improvement projects. Protect deer winter ranges from wildfire by reseeding burned areas, creating fuel breaks and vegetated green strips and reseed areas dominated by cheatgrass with desirable perennial vegetation. Statewide Elk Management Plan -a) Increase forage production by annually treating a minimum of 40,000 acres of elk habitat. Wasatch Mountains Elk Unit Management Plan - Within the next five years, enhance forage production on a minimum of 20,000 acres of elk habitat, through direct range improvements to maintain population management objectives. Utah Wildlife Action Plan - Project addresses a key habitat type (lowland sagebrush) and addresses a threat and risk to that vegetation type (invasive plant species and inappropriate fire intervals). Duchesne River Watershed Restoration Plan. - The project will help reduce TDS loading into the watershed. TDS has been identified as an issue for the Duchesne River Watershed. Duchesne County Resource Management Plan -- "Support the treatment of invasive species, e.g., Phragmites, tamarisk, and Russian olive, --"Manage noxious weeds to enhance wildlife habitat and farmland." --Once a noxious weed is controlled in an area, the area should be seeded with beneficial plant species to help prevent another type of noxious weed establishing in the area." --Good fire management requires active vegetation management that addresses concerns such as... cheatgrass proliferation.... Mechanical vegetation treatment, grazing and prescribed fire can be effective tools in the quest to establish resilient landscapes. It is the policy of Duchesne County to encourage active vegetation management on public lands, by the use of mechanized vegetation treatments, grazing, prescribed fire and other treatments that will result in resilient landscapes. --Manage vegetation, specifically forage, to benefit livestock and wildlife and to contribute to the recreation and tourism industry. --Revegetate and restore areas where weeds have been controlled by seeding desirable native plant species. --Work cooperatively with other agencies and entities to restore natural vegetation composition to enhance ecosystem function. State of Utah Resource Management Plan --Improve vegetative health on public and private lands through range improvements, prescribed fire, vegetation treatments, and active management of invasive plants and noxious weeds. --The state supports rapid removal of all invasive plant species and noxious weeds on both public and private lands. --Expand wildlife populations and conserve sensitive species by protecting and improving wildlife habitat. --Conserve, improve, and restore 500,000 acres of mule deer habitat throughout the state with emphasis on crucial ranges. --Produce and maintain the desired vegetation for wildlife and domestic livestock forage on public and private lands. Strawberry Valley Adaptive Resource Management (SVARM) Plan. -Maintain sage grouse winter habitat. Utah Sage Grouse Management Plan -Maintain sage grouse winter habitat

The project area is identified as a moderate fire risk area according to the Utah Wildfire Risk Assessment Portal. Cheatgrass is highly flammable. Nearby oil and gas infrastructure and residences could be threatened by a fire in this area. This project would reduce cheatgrass and restore other less flammable vegetation and fuels.

Rabbit Gulch is a tributary to Starvation Reservoir. This project will better stabilize soils by establishing perennial vegetation and will limit the amount of sediment entering Starvation Reservoir in the future. Prevention of the cheatgrass fire cycle will limit the amount of fires exposing the site to erosion following fires. The project may not have a large impact on the quantity of water on the landscape, but it will help protect the quality. The Duchesne River drainage has TMDL's established for Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). While the project drains into Starvation rather than the Duchesne River itself, limiting TDS is beneficial to the reservoir and water uses.

Cultural resource surveys were completed as part of the phase I portion of this project. We are requesting cultural resource survey funding as part of this project to survey 400 additional acres in preparation for mechanical seeding on phase III of this project. NEPA is not required on State lands.

The Phase I project covered cultural resources surveys and Plateau herbicide application. Plateau was applied during October 2018 with fixed wing aircraft. The proposed Phase II of the project will be completed in the fall of 2019, when the project polygons will be drill seeded using a seed mix of primarily grass and browse species to improve winter forage for wildlife. The drill seeder will plant grasses and large browse seed into the soil, while concurrently broadcasting small browse seed such as sagebrush onto the soil surface. In addition, 378 acres of additional Plateau herbicide treatment is proposed to be completed during September 2019 and will occur at a rate of 5 oz./acre.

A permanent range trend monitoring study was established in the project area by the UDWR crew to evaluate the use of Plateau and seeding the following year. This project is one of the first projects in the State where this approach is being used. Other range trend studies are located in close proximity to the project area and will also help gauge vegetation status and will help serve as a control. Wildlife will be monitored by routine classification surveys in the fall and spring. In addition, GPS collared elk will be monitored to determine their use of the project polygons. Collared sage grouse will continue to be monitored and their use documented in the project area.

The project involves a small portion of land owned by Little Red Creek Cattle Company. They do not run cattle on this property but are willing to have project activities completed on the small segment of their private property. UDWR permits Weston Moon to run cattle on the WMA in the spring. Avoidance of the treatment areas will be closely coordinated and made possible through herdsmanship and water distribution. Several sportsmens groups provided funding for the phase I of this project. These partners include the Mule Deer Foundation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Safari Club International, Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, and Utah Bowman's Association. Collectively, these groups funded the entire phase I portion of this project.

The vegetation community will be managed in the future by completing maintenance activities to prevent cheatgrass from dominating the site. In addition, prescriptive grazing will be utilized to help promote browse for wintering big game animals.

UDWR permits spring grazing on the Rabbit Gulch WMA. The spring grazing is intended to impact grasses and promote browse growth. UDWR permits 225 AUM's from May 1 to June 15. Plant community change from annual grass to perennial grass will increase forage quality and quantity for domestic livestock. The Rabbit Gulch WMA is crucial habitat for wintering big game on years with heavy snow. By maintaining this range we will maintain healthy wildlife populations for hunting and wildlife viewing activities.

08/21/2019

11/02/2020

2021

A seed mix of grass, forb, and browse species was drill seeded into approximately 117 acres of crucial deer, elk, and sage grouse winter range previously treated with Plateau herbicide. An additional 378 acres of adjacent rangeland was treated with Plateau herbicide to control cheatgrass in those areas.

The plateau herbicide (6 oz./acre) was applied on 21 August 2019 by Hammond Helicopter, LLC. The drill seeding contract was awarded to Central Florida Bulk Ag on September 30, 2019. The contract time for this project was November 1 to November 30, 2019. By November 12, the contractor had failed to begin work and could not be contacted, and a cure letter was sent. After failing to respond to the cure letter, the contract was cancelled on November 22, 2019. Unfortunately, by this time, an early snow covered the project area and it was determined that seeding would have to be put off. On October 13, 2020, DWR staff began drill seeding the project area. Due to difficult terrain (including a gully through the project area) and scheduling issues with equipment only 117 of the original 224 acres identified for treatment were able to be treated. The area actually treated represented the areas with the worst infestations of cheatgrass and Russian thistle. Other areas appeared to contain a relatively healthy native grass community and were not seeded.

The project area will be rested for two growing seasons to allow seed to establish. Monitoring of the project site will inform decisions regarding re-treatment, including future herbicide applications or other seeding efforts.