The project area is significantly impacted by a recent mountain pine beetle epidemic that resulted in 70- 90% mortality of lodgepole pines. The dead trees are beginning to fall over and are significantly increasing surface fuel loads and the risk of a large high intensity/severity fire. Prescribed fire and mechanical treatments would provide wildlife habitat, reduce fuel loads, and provide fire management personel options in the event of a wildfire.

1. Improve habitat for big game that are dependent on aspen ecosystems. 2. Manage the risk of hazardous fuel accumulations to minimize the potential for large, high intensity/high severity wildfires. Utilize fire to increase aspen regeneration and reduce conifer encroachment. 3. Manage the risk of hazardous fuel accumulations to minimize the potential for large, high intensity/high severity wildfires. 4. Provide more corridors for bighorn sheep.

A no action management alternative would result in a continued aspen decline in the project area. If the project was delayed, existing aspen-encroached stands may cross a threshold where conifers would dominate and further reduce the overall North Slope aspen population. As conifers become more dominant, canopy closure increases and understory plant species richness and diversity would decline creating a loss of forage production for wildlife and livestock. Soil moisture would also decrease as conifers increase because the conifer needles and branches would intercept precipitation before reaching the forest floor causing precipitation to evaporate into the atmosphere. Aspen to conifer succession is a concern for the North Slope. Aspens are clonal and need disturbance (e.g. wildfire) to initiate sprouting. Aspen is more successful over the long-term when fire intervals are short enough to regenerate aspen. If treatments are not implemented, conifers in existing aspen-conifer stands will shade out and out compete aspens. When a disturbance does occur, creating a possible scenario for aspens to sprout, conifers would have a stronghold making it difficult for aspen re-establish.

1. 2003 Wasatch-Cache Forest Plan: - (Subgoal 3d) Restore or maintain fire-adapted ecosystems (consistent with land uses, historic fire regimes, and other Forest Plan direction) through wildland fire use, prescribed fire, timber harvest or mechanical treatments. -(G24) Management activities that negatively affect pollinators (e.g. insecticide, herbicide application and prescribed burns) should not be conducted during the flowering period of any known Threatened, Endangered, and Sensitive plant populations in the application area. An exception to this guideline is the application of Bacillus thuringiensis. - (G37) Use prescribed fire in wilderness only to meet wilderness management objectives. The objective of prescribed fire management in wilderness (FSM 2324.21) is to reduce, to an acceptable level, the risks and consequences of wildfire within wilderness or escaping from wilderness. - (G3.1W-1) Vegetation/fuel treatment, prescribed fire, and wildland fire use are allowed for the purposes of maintaining, improving or restoring watersheds to desired conditions, and to protect property in the wildland urban interface. - (G3.2U-1) Vegetation/fuel treatment, prescribed fire and wildland fire use are allowed for the purposes of maintaining, improving or restoring terrestrial habitat, for hazardous fuel reduction, and to protect property in the wildland urban interface. - (G4.2-1) Vegetation/fuels treatment, prescribed fire, and wildland fire use are allowed to mimic historic conditions and to restore ecosystem functioning. - (G4.3-1) Timber harvest, vegetation/fuels treatment, road construction, prescribed fire and wildland fire use are allowed to mimic historic conditions and to restore ecosystem functioning as compatible with the backcountry recreation opportunity and natural setting desired. - (G4.5-1) Timber harvest, road construction, vegetation/fuel treatment, prescribed fire, new recreation development, and new trail construction are allowed for the purposes of providing public enjoyment, safety, and protection of site investments. - (G5.2-) Prior to use of prescribed fire and wildland fire use, investments made for timber production, such as road systems and silvicultural improvements, and the value of the timber for wood production receive consideration. - (G6.2 -1) Timber harvest, vegetation/fuels treatments, prescribed fire, and wildland fire use are allowed to maintain or improve forage production or for hazardous fuel reduction. -(Objective 3.b.) Stimulate aspen regeneration and reduce other encroaching woody species in aspen by treating (fire use and/or timber harvest) approximately 3,200 acres average annually1 for a 10- year total of 32,000 acres. - Vegetation cover types will form a mosaic of plant communities representing a diverse mix of ages, sizes, and species. Fire use will play a role in reducing fuels, maintaining the historic dynamic of aspen regeneration and ratio of conifer to aspen and mountain brush vegetation patterns and age classes. Mechanical treatment of fuels along with limited use of prescribed fire will emphasize the safety of people and protection of property in the heavily populated and increasingly developed urban wildland interface adjacent to National Forest. 2. 2001 Roadless Rule: -Prohibits cutting, sale, and removal of timber in inventoried roadless areas, except: -For the cutting, sale, or removal of generally small diameter trees which maintains or improves roadless characteristics and to: -improve habitat for threatened, endangered, proposed, or sensitive species, or -maintain or restore ecosystem composition and structure, such as reducing the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire effects. 3. Utah Mule Deer Statewide Management Plan: -Initiate broad scale vegetative treatment projects to improve mule deer habitat in ranges being diminished by encroachment of conifers into aspen habitats. -Seek opportunities through WRI to improve aspen communities that provide crucial summer habitat for mule deer. -Encourage land managers to manage portions of aspen/conifer forest in early successional stages using various methods including timber harvest and managed fire. -North Slope is a habitat restoration priority area for mule deer in Utah. 4. Utah Statewide Elk Management Plan -Identify habitat projects on summer range (aspen communities) to improve calving habitat. -Increase forage production by annually treating a minimum of 40,000 acres of elk habitat -Encourage land managers to manage portions of forests in early successional stages through the use of controlled burning and logging. Controlled burning should only be used in areas with minimal invasive weed and/or safety concerns. 5. Utah Moose Statewide Management Plan: -Initiate prescribed burns and other vegetative treatment projects to improve moose habitat lost to ecological succession or human impacts. 6. Utah Bighorn Sheep Statewide Management Plan: -Encourage land management agencies to use fire as a management tool to improve bighorn sheep habitat. When possible allow fires that can have beneficial effects for bighorn sheep to burn. -Initiate vegetative treatment projects to improve bighorn habitat lost to natural succession or human impacts. 7. Northern Goshawk of Utah: Habitat Assessment and Management Recommendations: -Early and mid-seral species should be increased using both mechanical means and fire. -Polices should be adopted to manage for the production of large early seral species through clearings, thinnings, and weedings, using mechanical means or fire. -Fire or mechanical treatments or both should be used to create conditions favorable to lodgepole pine and quaking aspen. 8. Guidelines for Aspen Regeneration on National Forests in Utah: - Much of the loss of aspen-dominated acreage is attributable to encroachment and overtopping by conifer. It has often been presumed that this encroachment i.e., the natural succession process for seral stands, is the result of fire suppression. 9. Boreal Toad Conservation Plan: -(3.1.1) Protect habitats in forest stands adjacent to and within 2.5 miles of breeding sites. -(3.1.2) Restrict burns to late fall through early spring during which time boreal toads are inactive in known occupied areas. -Burning of downed woody materials approximately 18 to 25 cm DBH is detrimental to boreal toads, because these materials are often selected as beneficial microhabitats. However, fire may eventually result in higher shrub densities in the understory that may provide cover and improved dispersal corridors. 12. Utah Black Bear Management Plan: -Successional replacement of aspen stands by conifers can significantly reduce bear-food production in aspen communities. Both fire and selective logging of conifers can be used to maintain aspen vigor. 13. UDWR Wildlife Action Plan: - While the Aspen-Conifer physical (abiotic) habitat remains largely intact in Utah, coverage of aspen itself within that setting has declined greatly for two main reasons: (1) departure from natural fire regime (reduction in disturbance), resulting in widespread forest succession to conifer dominance; and (2) heavy ungulate browsing on young aspen stems, following disturbance. - The growing problem of catastrophic mega-fires can be solved by a systematic campaign of active restoration via mechanical fuel-reduction treatments and prescribed fire to safely return wildfire as a viable, natural, cost effective means of maintaining necessary patterns of ecological succession across the landscape. - Increasing disturbance from either prescribed or natural fire. Recent studies have shown that larger scale burns (e.g., 5,000 acres) that burn more intensely have been the most successful in terms of aspen regeneration. Higher-intensity burns stimulate higher numbers of young aspen per unit area, than lower intensity burns. A larger treatment area distributes ungulate browse pressure, allowing most young aspen stems to reach a safe height. - Applying mechanical disturbance agents such as timber harvest. This can also be used to stimulate aspen regeneration and avoid or reduce resource losses to conifer beetles. As with fire, larger mechanical treatment areas serve to distribute browsing pressure and reduce damage to individual stems, increasing regeneration success. 14. State of Utah Catastrophic Wildfire Reduction Strategy: - Rather than just reducing fires, the ultimate goal is to return landscapes to a condition of health and resilience that allows for wildfires to burn without becoming catastrophic to either human or natural systems. 15. Conservation Agreement and Strategy for Colorado River Cutthroat Trout in the State of Utah -Natural climatic events such as flood, fire and drought may threaten specific populations of Colorado River cutthroat trout (CRCT); however, these forces only pose threats as long as CRCT range remains fragmented and populations are small. Small, isolated populations are more susceptible to catastrophic loss and impacts from demographic stochasticity.

The use of prescribed fire on the North Slope has been very limited during the past and most wildfires have been suppressed. According to fire statistics, the number of large wildfires appears to be increasing since 1980. The majority of the project is within fire regime IV (35-100+ years) and V (> 200 years) with a condition class of 2. One of the objectives of this project is to manage hazardous fuel loads, continuity of hazardous fuels, and minimize the potential for large, high intensity/high severity wildfires. This project will help the North Slope move towards properly functioning condition (composition, stand structure, age classes, and patch size). It will promote aspen regeneration and reduce conifer encroachment. Aspens are a more fire wise than conifers since they have a higher moisture content, have a less chemicals, and provide less fuel during their dormant period. Fuel loads would be reduced and aspen regenerated within the Northern and Southern Units covering approximately 25,000 acres. Protected values would include Hoop Lake Campground, trailheads, the North Slope Road (used as a corridor to access recreational areas), and big game habitat. Reducing hazardous fuels along the road corridor and around recreational areas would mitigate public safety risks should a wildfire occur. Mechanical treatments would allow prescribed burns to be safely implemented by reducing hazardous tree risks and protecting fire personnel from injury during implementation.

Runoff and erosion rates associated with high intensity/severity wildfires are much higher than those associated with prescribed burns. After severe and intense wildfires, soils become hydrophobic increasing runoff and decreasing the soil moisture content in the ecosystem. Runoff introduces large quantities of sediment, ashes, and other chemical contaminants into the river system negatively impacting water quality. Intense/severe wildfires can cause riparian areas to be denuded of vegetation, increase water temperature, decrease dissolved oxygen, and lead to eutrophication and poisoning of aquatic organisms. This project would remedy catastrophic wildfire effects to water quality by using prescribed fire and mechanical treatments to reduce hazardous fuel loads. Five sub-watersheds (West Fork Beaver Creek, Beaver Creek-Henry's Fork, Gregory Basin, Burnt Fork, and Birch Creek) would be protected against catastrophic wildfire effects. These systems flow into the Green River, which is used for recreation and many municipalities along its course. The project area encompasses several ecological communities e.g. lodgepole pine, aspen, aspen-conifer, spruce-fir, Douglas fir, and the tributaries that that flow through these forest communities.

Archaeology clearances were completed during phase I of the project in FY 19. SHPO has concurred with project. Consultation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is completed and concurrence letter received. NEPA will be completed before the tentative project start date.

General Method: The project area is divided into three treatment units: the northern (4,510 ac), eastern (1,300 ac), and the southern (20,088 ac). The project will include 20,000- 30,000 acres (prescribed fire, lop and scatter, and cut and pile). Some treatments will overlap in acres. Phase II: Eastern Treatment Unit: Mechanical treatments will target live densely spaced, diseased, damaged, and poorly formed conifer to improve young lodgepole pine in the eastern unit near Beaver Meadows Reservoir and the North Slope Road. Timber will be cut and placed in piles to be burned or used to create biochar. Biochar containers will be placed on existing old timber roads near piles to reduce heat related impacts on soils. Biochar treatments will be implemented through a USU agreement separate from WRI. North Slope Road Hazard Tree Removal and Fire Line Preparation: A shaded fuel break will buffer up to 100 feet on each side of the North Slope Road (131 acres), Fishlake trail (74 acres), and Burnt Fork trail (58 acres). Treatments will remove all hazardous trees (dense, diseased, damaged, and poorly formed) and open the canopy to 14 foot spacing. Trees will be piled or lopped and scattered during Phase II and will be burned in a future phase(s) to setup for a larger prescribed burn.

Baseline data was collected during Phase I (FY 19) by surveying 70 timber stands and Brown's transects. Monitoring will be conducted during and after implementation phase. Vegetation plots that have been treated will be revisited and walk through surveys will be completed at least once post-treatment. Data collection will include ocular estimates of shrub and ground cover, and tree density measurements.. Rangeland resources will be evaluated post-fire and if needed, permitted livestock grazing will be adjusted. Collared bighorns will be monitored to determine if their migration patterns have adjusted to the more open terrain.

During Phase I of this project partners included UDWR through obtaining funds to hire Utah Conservation Corps crews to conduct timber stand, Browns transect, and goshawk surveys and hiring an archaeology contractor to survey project area. For Phase II, we will be working with Utah State University to burn piles using biochar containers, which would provide a research opportunity for the university. A Mule Deer Foundation stewardship agreement is being pursued for the mechanical treatment portions of this project. UDWR will be an integral part of this project through WRI and advice and collaboration on areas to target for bighorn sheep and big game habitat improvements. Prescribed fire treatments maybe conducted through an interagency effort. Adjacent private landowners will be involved in the project and an agreement will be reached for the prescribed burn operations in the Northern unit. Burning may occur on private lands, Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA), and Ashley NF where natural fire lines are present. Early conversations have occurred with SITLA and the Ashley NF, but prescribed burning will occur in later phases of the project, so those agreements may be forthcoming. District staff will work with permittees to ensure safety of livestock.

Phase II will focus on mechanical treatments in the Eastern Unit and fire line prep on the North Slope Road, Fishlake trail, and Burnt Fork trail (i.e., lop and scatter and/or cut, pile, and burn piles). Future phases will continue mechanical treatments and introduce prescribed burns. We will partner with Utah State University to biochar piles in the Eastern unit. Thinning in the Eastern unit will also provide a potential area for a future sustainable timber harvest. Follow-up treatments may be pursued where appropriate and allowable if initial treatments are deemed unsuccessful or if invasive and noxious weeds need to be treated in future phases. If treated stands cannot be certified as naturally regenerating after five years, then planting(s) may be scheduled to meet Forest Plan stocking requirements. Continued monitoring of collared animals in the area by DWR biologist.

The project area includes two cattle allotments encompassing mostly the non-wilderness portion of the project area. Cattle include 307 cow/calf pairs from late June to late September. Conifer removal and aspen regeneration open up the forest canopy and increase understory plant species richness and diversity. Studies within the project area and across the district indicate successful aspen regeneration and sustainability concurrent with permitted livestock grazing and wild ungulates following disturbances such as fire, timber harvest, chaining, and etc. Therefore, permitted livestock grazing following the project is not anticipated to inhibit aspen regeneration and sustainability. Rangeland resources will be evaluated post-fire and if needed, permitted livestock grazing will be adjusted. In addition to improve livestock forage and distribution, the project would create an opportunity for sustainable timber harvest in the Eastern Unit. Biochar containers will be used to reduce woody debris in Eastern Unit. The residual will help Utah State University determine if the product has an economical use in the marketplace.

09/09/2019

07/26/2022

2023

Pre-commercial thinning and fuels reduction accomplished using hand crews to cut & pile and machinery to masticate or cut/pile trees along the North Slope Road, Burnt Fork and Fish Lake trails and an area east of Beaver Meadow Reservoir and the Ashley NF boundary. Initial work began in Spring '20, with one contract company for hand-crew work and two contractors for the machine work. 305 acres of hand cut/pile were completed, as were 974 acres of machine cut/pile or mastication. Weather delays and contractor issues resulted in 283 acres of machine piling remaining. 125 acres were completed in Fall '21 with a third contractor, with 155 acres remaining due to a late start and contractor inefficiencies. A fourth contractor was hired to clean up remainder, completed between June & July '22.

150' wide shaded fuel breaks were established along ~5.5 miles of road and 4 miles of trail. Approximately 16,170 hand piles over 305 acres and 1,800 mechanical piles over 1,297 acres constructed. No issues with hand-crew contractor (Green Tree Service; 305ac) or one of two initial mechanical contractors (Deer Valley Sand & Gravel; 637 ac). The second mech contractor, Sweat US LLC, accomplished 337 ac of cut/pile to specs and another 283 ac of cutting in 2020. Sweat broke contract and did not return to complete the piling in 2021, prompting MDF to find a third contractor to finish that work. Axis Ecological Restoration began work in August '21 and made slow progress until snow closed the work area in October, piling 125 acres with 155 remaining. MDF terminated this contract due to inefficiencies and contractor staff issues. A fourth contractor (Chad Rex Contracting) was hired and began work in June '22 as conditions allowed, completing 155 acres by July 26 with no issues.

In addition to contractor issues, there was considerable staff turnover relevant to the project with MDF, UDWR and USFS. MDF worked with USFS and UDWR partners from both field and administrative aspects to maintain funding availability and achieve project specs. Those partners' flexibility and cooperation are greatly appreciated.

MDF and USFS will close out 19-PA-11041904-059.

~280 mechanical piles to be burned in Fall '22 with remaining Ph 4 funding. Prescribed burning operations are planned to treat 2000+ acres. Discussions and planning will continue to address remaining habitat work in project area.