The Diary Fork Wildlife Management area provides winter range for big game. The critical sagebrush habitats on the property are being encroached by pinyon and juniper trees which is reducing understory vegetation, causing degrading watershed conditions, and reducing forage for livestock and wildlife. This area is in a 303 listed watershed, hence is an impaired watershed with soil and water concerns. We will bullhog 505 acres of PJ encroahed areas to protect existing shrubs and increase vegetation where it has already been lost. This project will also have benefits to many other wildlife species, reduce wildfire risks, and reduce erosion and increase water quantity.

1. Remove the threat of losing crucial understory vegetation from PJ encroachment. 2. Improve the winter range for big game by increasing the amount of understory vegetation. 3. Reduce the threat of a continuous crown fire through the PJ canopy. 4. Increase the amount and quality of water in the watershed. 5. Increase available forage for livestock.

Every year that goes without treating this area allows for greater loss of understory plants from encroaching PJ trees, large intense fires, and the subsequent invasion of invasive weed species. This will increase the cost of future treatment and reduce the effectiveness. It will require much longer recovery time to grow lost shrub species if we wait until they die off.The continued loss of habitat also increases the pressure on remaining plants by herbivores (e.g. deer and elk) thus decreasing the health of remaining plants. The continued delay of not treating this area can ultimately result in poorer food availability for ungulates like mule deer and elk. This can lead to death for these species during severe winters. To prevent complete loss of thermal cover for mule deer and elk and crucial habitat for PJ obligate species we will leave areas for cover and habitat for species like Pinyon Jays. The threats to the habitat,wildlife, to the community, and the health of the watershed as a whole are much greater if no action is taken to remove PJ trees. If we do not do this project we will continue to lose more of our sagebrush habitats and potentially lose all ecological function of these habitats.

1. State Wildlife Action Plan The pinyon-juniper and big sagebrush areas lie within the sagebrush steppe type which is one of the key habitats identified in the WAP. We will be addressing the threats of native problematic species (PJ) and inappropriate fire frequencies that have resulted in a build up of fuels. 2. Mule Deer Herd Unit 16 C Plan The proposed projects will address some of the habitat management strategies outlined in the deer management plans for herd unit 16C (Central Mountains, Manti) including: Continue to improve and restore sagebrush steppe habitats critical to deer according to DWRs 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. 3. Statewide Mule Deer Management Plan 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. 4. The Division of Wildlife Resources 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. 5. The Wildlife Management Area Plans to reach their potential as critical big game winter range, browse communities 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, and mechanical treatments. Priority areas will include sagebrush-steppe and mountain browse communities. 6.The Spanish Fork River Coordinated Resource Management plan including: To reduce sediment coming from uplands by over 5,000 tons/year by applying BMP's on 16,000 acres of rangelands. 7. The Utah Smoke Management Plan (1999, 2006 revision). By using mechanical mastication this plan will accomplish Goal #5, Use of alternative methods to burning for disposing of or reducing the amount of wildland fuels on lands in the State (p3). 8. State of Utah Hazard Mitigation Plan (March 2011) this plan accomplishes statewide goals including 1) Protection of natural resources and the environment, when considering mitigation measures and 2) Minimize the risk of wildfire (p12). 9. Utah 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 - The General Threat of Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) habitat loss due to Pinyon -Juniper succession in sagebrush habitats should be addressed by the conservation actions of enhancing fragmented and degraded habitats [Juniper removal] (6-27). Habitat problems and conservation actions (8-8) by addressing fire cycle alteration with methods to disturb decadent [Pinion-Juniper] vegetation.

Dense stands of PJ are a concern for greater fire severity and promoting crown fires that can be more destructive. Removing sections of trees will help to slow down potential crown fires spread and heat, and help to prevent invasive species like cheat-grass from establishing post fire. This project will decrease the risk of high severity wildfire by reducing fuel loading, reduce soil erosion, and promoting the growth of understory vegetation, which are critical to maintaining ecosystem resilience. Fuels in the current state pose a hazard to fire personnel, the private citizens, structures and infrastructure. The habitat type has been identified in the 2015-2025 Utah Wildlife Action Plan that lowland sagebrush is a key habitat and the threats associated with this key habitat are inappropriate fire frequency and intensity. This project will help to achieve these goals. The removal of trees would create a break in the tree canopy where firefighters could begin to manage the fire. The practice of removing PJ with mechanical methods has been proven to be a successful technique to restore the health of the watershed. It has been observed that by cutting down PJ, that the understory vegetation will grow back in greater amounts than in those areas that are not cut (Bates et al. 2000). Therefore, in areas where natural processes such as fire are not possible or no longer effective, it is essential for current management and restoration projects to utilize other methods to remove PJ and allow for understory to return, such as a bullhog.

This project will help to establish vegetation that will stabilize the soil and help to reduce the amount of sediment that will enter streams and washes. This will help to improve the water quality of the watershed. Also, currently moisture will move across the soil more quickly and water quantity will be lost. This project will help establish vegetation that will hold more moisture in the system and allow for it to soak into the soil and enter under ground water storage. Another negative impact on the watershed from PJ encroachment is soil erosion (Farmer 1995). By removing PJ it will allow for the current grasses and forbs to return and stabalize the soil and decrease the speed of water-flow and the size of soil particles that can be moved downstream and therefore reduce erosion. This project will help to protect this from happening in the future and save the ecosystem from irreversible losses to soil. In water-limited systems, an added benefit to PJ removal can be the potential to increase water-savings. PJ have been shown to intercept about 10-20 percent of precipitation (Skau 1964). Also, where PJ encroachment has resulted in large bare ground areas it has been shown that these systems can have greater precipitation runoff (Farmer 1995). Results of the Great Basin Landscape Conservation Cooperative study in Nevada (Desatoya Mt.) found that by removing (lop and scatter) P/J (130 trees/acre) there is the potential to increase water recharge yields 4% on wet years. On wet years this will increase recharge, but does not increase stream flow. Wet meadows and upland plants benefit by utilizing the increase soil moisture, providing for better resiliency during drought years. This provides for an increase in water quantity for herbaceous plants on sites where p/j is removed.

Most of this area has already had cultural surveys completed last year. We have added a few more acres since then and we will complete those surveys before the bullhogging begins to ensure that no cultural resources are damaged by the soil disturbance. This project will be completed on private land and on the UDWR Dairy Fork WMA, so NEPA will not be required.

We will first have a contractor survey the treatment area for cultural resources. All identified sites will be avoided. Following this we will fly seed onto some of the treatment areas aerially. This will be done prior to commencement of the bullhogging. Bullhogging will be done in the fall of 2019. Pinyon trees will be retained and some juniper trees may be retained along drainage bottoms and where cover is needed.

There is an existing range trend study site on Dairy Fork which has past years of data and will continue to be monitored. We also have a continuous winter range monitroing site that is surveyed every spring. We conduct pellet counts and area able to determine if there is an increase or decrease in the amount of deer or elk that us the property. In addition to this we will set up a photo point site at the treatment area to monitor changes in vegetation before and after the project.

This project is a strong example of partners between multiple landowners. The UDWR is the landowner for the Dairy Fork WMA where portions of the project will be completed. Instead of just working on the WMA the UDWR is working across property boundaries to include the adjacent private property owners. Also, work was done last year as part of fire rehab on the adjacent Forest Service land. We are working to treat the entire watershed by working on adjacent private property. We have worked to develop relationships with neighboring landowners and have a good working relationship with them. We will also work to get funding with sportsman groups to help fund this project from partnering funding sources.

We will rest areas that are bullhogged for a two year period to ensure that understory vegetation has time to recover. Being that this property is partially owned by the UDWR as a wildlife management area it will continue to have state funding to treat weeds and ensure the future success of this project.

Domestic livestock will greatly benefit from this project. There will be much more available forage . This will greatly benefit the private land owners who plan to graze this property and desire to increase the amount of forage. It will also potentially increase the amount of water available for livestock.

10/16/2019

06/18/2020

2020

We first flew seed on with a fixed wing airplane in October of 2019 in the areas where we planned to bullhog. The seed mix was mostly made of native grasses, forbs, and shrubs (See seed mix). A few weeks following this seed braodcast we began bullhogging. The contractor did a very good job and as directed left pinyon pine trees and mostly just cut junipers except in areas where the pinyon pine was too thick. This resulted in a nice look as well as provided for some good leave trees for pinyon jays and other wildlife that would utilize the pinyon pine. We completed about 400 acres before we were snowed out and had to wait until April to begin work again. We ended up bullhogging around 505 acres on private lands as well as UDWR land on our Dairy Fork wildlife management area. The work was completed in the end of June in 2020.

The Diary Fork Wildlife Management area provides winter range for big game. The critical sagebrush habitats on the property are being encroached by pinyon and juniper trees which is reducing understory vegetation, causing degrading watershed conditions, and reducing forage for livestock and wildlife. This area is in a 303 listed watershed, hence is an impaired watershed with soil and water concerns. We therefore worked to reduce this encroachment by focusing on removing the juniper trees with a bullhog masticator on 505 acres of PJ encroahed areas to protect existing shrubs and increase vegetation where it has already been lost. This project will have benefits to many wildlife species, reduce wildfire risks, and reduce erosion and increase water quantity.

Because the Dairy Fork wildlife management area is managed by the UDWR we will continue to watch the progress of the understory vegetation coming back in the areas we bullhogged and see how our seeding did. We will take repeat photos after a few years to document this change and load them on this database. We will also monitor weeds and where necessary spray them with herbicide. We will continue to plan projects and build upon the improvements we have made.