The Cold Springs Wildlife Management Area (WMA) has become a late seral plant community with conifer encroaching into the aspen stands. As conifer encroaches into the aspen stands there is a loss of herbaceous vegetation which equates to a loss of forage for wildlife. Prescribed burns have been completed on the east side of the WMA with the potential for more in the future. However, there is private property on the west boundary of the WMA with a cabin in close proximity to the boundary; therefore, prescribed burns on the west side of the WMA are not realistic. The private land owner has been doing small acre clearcuts within the conifer-encroached aspen stands and has seen great results with aspen and understory response. We would like to team up with the private landowner and complete a similar treatment by creating disturbance that will encourage aspen regeneration. The adjacent private landowner owns his own bulldozer and would be willing to push over and pile the trees for future burning. Since the landowner has the bulldozer at his property, there is no mobilization cost for equipment. As the conifer encroaches within the aspen stands and dominates the area there is loss of herbaceous vegetation which is used by mule deer, elk, forest grouse, and wild turkey. There have also been efforts to establish a moose population in the unit. Moose would benefit from better forage and distribution opportunities. Dusky grouse, although a conifer-dependent species, rely heavily on aspen and associated understory for providing food in the form of insects, forbs, leaves, and berries. Male dusky grouse require some openness in order to display and young broods often use aspen as escape cover. Maintaining aspen cover is essential for nesting and brood-reading. Managing aspen for younger age classes is beneficial for the species. Ruffed grouse are more dependent on aspen than dusky grouse. This project will help reach the desired 3,500 stems per acre desired by ruffed grouse. It will also contribute more downed logs that can be used for drumming by males during the breeding season. Aspen are critical for ruffed grouse during the winter when they forage primarily on male aspen buds. Aspen projects for ruffed grouse need to be done in a large enough scale that ungulate use can be accounted for while still maintaining grouse habitat. This project will add additional acreage of young aspen and help distribute ungulate use and reduce pressure from other recent prescribed burns and aspen treatments. Wild turkeys have been released in nearby drainages within the last year and have been observed on the WMA and on the adjacent private property. Wild turkeys require diverse vegetation for foraging and often use aspen, fruit-bearing shrubs, insects, grass, forbs, and legumes for foraging. Wild turkeys prefer 60% canopy cover which can be provided by young and mixed-age class aspen stands while still having light available for growing other desirable forage species. Managing some aspen for younger age classes and removing encroaching conifer from the aspen will benefit the species. Mule deer in the unit are about 20% under objective and will benefit from increased forage available on summer range habitat where they are raising fawns. Similarly, elk are about 20% under objective on the unit. Increasing available forage as well as providing more forage on public lands will create more public opportunity and reduce herbivory pressure on nearby private lands. For the olive-sided flycatcher, increasing the density and diversity of forage through this project will increase the number of insects and ultimately provide a greater food source for the species. Olive-sided flycatcher prefer foraging in open areas and perching at the edges of an open area they use for foraging. By creating patches of early seral plant communities this will slow water run-off and increase infiltration into the soils. By allowing the water to slowly run off there would be a increase in the amount of water entering the system during the summer. In a paper from the Rangeland Journal (Bartos et al. 1998), scientists quantified that for every 1,000 acres of conifer encroached into aspen stands there is loss of 250 to 500 acre-feet of water which is transpired into the atmosphere. They estimate there is a loss of 500 to 1,000 tons of biomass as a result of conifer encroachment. This project is designed to reverse the trend water loss and biomass reduction. A study conducted in northern Utah (Burke and Kasahara 2011 in Hydrol. Process. 25:1407-1417) found conifer canopy reduced the snowwater equivalent on a site by 10 to 40% compared to aspen. Aspen forests also protect the watershed by being resilient to wildfire, often acting as a buffer to slow fire and reduce adverse impacts to the watershed from catastrophic fires. After mechanical treatments have occurred, it has been shown that two to three years post-treatment there is a decrease in bare ground on the site which is a result of grasses, forbs and litter left on-site from the treatment (Miller et al. 2014).

The main objective of this project is to create patches of early seral plant communities on the WMA and adjacent private land. With the area cleared it should allow for grasses, forbs and shrubs to re-establish along with the aspen to regenerate creating food for deer and elk, as well as food and cover for forest grouse and wild turkey. Similar work has been done for several years on private land and on the Cold Springs WMA which has been successful. This project will expand the acres treated and increase the treatment scale to better distribute wildlife browsing pressure. In the summer of 2012 and 2013, the private landowner completed conifer-encroachment treatments on the Cold Springs WMA and there was notable aspen regeneration by the end of each summer. In order to meet ruffed grouse habitat requirements, the objective is to increase aspen to greater than 3,500 stems per acre. In treatment areas that were completed in 2012, 2013 and 2014, there is an increase in the number of forbs and a greater number of big game, forest grouse and wild turkey use in the area. The increase forb production provides additional foraging opportunity for wildlife. During the summer, forbs have the most nutritional value for big game and upland game species. By removing the conifer through this project, we are creating more forage with a higher nutritional plane for wildlife. Overall, the goal of this project is to continue with the improvements that have been already been made on the Cold Springs WMA and adjacent private land. Any conifer of commercial value (above 14" DBH) will be removed from the property and a market value will be determined to offset project costs.

Any aspen that is currently regenerating within the project area is being over-browsed by wildlife. There have been prescribed burns on and around the Cold Springs WMA, as well as clearcuts creating more aspen regeneration on the private land located to the west of the WMA. This project could disperse the herbivory pressure and allow the aspen to regenerate. If this project were to be delayed, then the nearby aspen regeneration projects that have already been completed will likely see increased herbivory and browsing pressure. Dispersing this browsing pressure would allow for the aspen to become mature stands versus limiting their growth to shrub-like forms which have less wildlife value.

State and County Resource Management Plans State of Utah Resource Management Plan Forest Management * Develop partnerships and cooperative relationships with organizations that share goals of forest management * Support the sustainable removal of conifers to promote the establishment of aspen and attendant grass, forbs and shrubs where appropriate. * Encourage timber harvesting to prevent fuel load and biomass buildup. * Support the management of forestlands not suitable for commercial harvest to maintain forest cover species with emphasis on production of other forest resources and uses. * Support the management of non-commercial aspen stands in mixed age groups to provide forage. * Support the use of mechanical or chemical means or fire to alter or perpetuate forests and increase herbaceous yield where timber harvest is impractical or demand does not exist. Wildlife * Increase current populations or establish new populations of wildlife in all suitable habitat within the state as outlined in approved management plans. * Conserve, improve, and restore 500,000 acres of mule deer habitat throughout the state with emphasis on crucial ranges. * Protect existing wildlife habitat and improve 500,000 acres of critical habitats and watersheds throughout the state by 2025. * Provide a diversity of high-quality hunting and viewing opportunities for wildlife species throughout the state. * Increase fish and game populations to meet management plan objectives, and expand quality fishing and hunting opportunities. * Produce and maintain the desired vegetation for wildlife and domestic livestock forage on public and private lands. * Conserve sensitive species to prevent them from becoming listed as threatened or endangered. * Minimize negative impacts from wildlife on private lands. T&E Species * Work with stakeholders and partners to continue to implement recommendations from the Utah Wildlife Action Plan 2015 - 2025 to conserve sensitive species and their habitat. * Identify and minimize the threats to sensitive or federally listed species to ensure healthy and robust populations of threatened, endangered, and sensitive species can exist in Utah. * Restore 75,000 acres of critical habitat for sensitive species each year through the Watershed Restoration Initiative and by partnering with other government and non-governmental entities. Water Quality and Hydrology * Cooperate in the protection, restoration, enhancement and management of water resources in the State of Utah to the extent of each agency's authority, expertise, and resources. Carbon County Resource Management Plan Land Use * Encourage public land management agencies to restore damaged areas. * Encourage coordination between federal agencies and local governments, public land managers, and private landowners. Support responsible development and the long-term health of the land. * Fire Management * Fuel reduction techniques such as conifer reduction, grazing, prescribed fire, and chemical, biological, and mechanical treatments may be acceptable, given site-specific variables. * Support watershed management, including use of prescribed fire to avoid catastrophic fire, encourage aspen regeneration, remove dead standing trees, manage bark beetle impacts, and increase vegetation and diversity in plant communities. * Work with the private landowner(s), federal, or state agency, in cooperation with Utah Forestry Fire & State Lands to remove fuel load buildup by prescriptive grazing, silvicultural prescriptions or mechanical means. Wildlife * Forest and range health are managed to provide more forage for both livestock and wildlife. * Cooperation between livestock owners and wildlife agencies occurs to manage the lands to the benefit of all species. * Promote hunting and wildlife photography in the area. * Continue efforts to improve and increase forage through habitat manipulation. * Support agencies in maintaining or improving habitat carrying capacity for elk or deer. * Support responsible wildlife management and ensure that wildlife interests are given due consideration in all public land use and resource development decisions. Encourage partnerships among county residents, the county administrators, and federal and state agencies to practice watershed and rangeland management principles. * The County values game hunting as part of the custom and culture of the county. * Healthy wildlife populations support local ecology. * Thriving wildlife populations provide wildlife viewing and hunting experiences for residents and visitors to the county. T&E Species * The county supports finding local solutions to protect sensitive species in an effort to prevent federal listing. Water Quality and Hydrology * Carbon County participates in the management of watersheds on public and private lands to optimize quality and quantity of water. * Carbon County will participate in the management of watersheds on public and private lands watersheds to optimize quality and quantity of water. * Where water resources on public lands have diminished because grasses have succeeded to woody vegetation, a vigorous program of mechanical treatment should be applied to promptly remove the woody vegetation and stimulate the return of grasses. These efforts would be intended to provide a watershed that maximizes water yield and water quality for livestock, wildlife, and human uses. Other Plans Cold Spring WMA Habitat Management Plan * The priority objective will be to maximize its use and carrying capacity by the largest number and diversity of wildlife possible. Wildlife Action Plan (WAP) * Key Habitat - Aspen Conifer 1. Increase disturbance to promote aspen regeneration. 2. Apply mechanical disturbance such as timber harvest. 3. Statewide 2,988,620 acres which is 5.50% of Utah's land area 4. Deficit of young and mid age class A and B, such that replenishment of aspen-dominated stands is being inhibited. 5. Surpluses of older and/or conifer-encroached classes C, D, and E, which if left unaddressed, can lead to widespread permanent loss of aspen clones. * Species of Greatest Conservation Need - Lewis's Woodpecker and Olive-sided Flycatcher 1. Project will increase habitat diversity for WAP species. Utah Partners in Flight * Lewis's Woodpecker - encourage open under-story of Ponderosa Pine and Mixed Conifer habitats. Statewide Management Goals for Mule Deer- Population Management Goal, Population Objective, Strategy * Support all habitat objectives and strategies in this plan to protect and improve deer habitat including energy development mitigation in crucial mule deer habitat. * Work with land management agencies, conservation organizations, private land owners, and local leaders through the regional WRI working groups to identify and prioritize mule deer habitat that are in need of enhancement or restoration. * Initiate broad scale vegetative treatment projects to improve mule deer habitat with emphasis on drought of fire damaged sagebrush winter ranges, ranges that are being encroached by invasive annual grass species, and ranges being diminished by encroachment of conifers into sagebrush or aspen habitat. * Continue to support and provide leadership for UWRI, which emphasizes improving sagebrush-steppe, aspen and riparian habitats across all landownership. Statewide Management Goals for Elk- Population Management Goal, Population Objective * Support habitat improvement projects that increase forage for both big game and livestock. * Mitigate for losses of crucial habitat due to human impacts and energy development. * Initiate broad scale vegetative treatment projects to improve elk habitat with emphasis on calving habitat and winter ranges. * Improving the quality and quantity of forage and cover on 250,000 acres of elk habitat with emphasis upper elevation elk winter range. Cold Springs Forest Stewardship Plan * Small clear-cuts are recommended by FFSL. * Selective harvest of Douglas-fir to improve forest health. * Selective harvest of Subalpine fir to reduce susceptibility to insect and disease outbreak and large scale fires. * Hazardous Fuel reduction by reducing the basal area of Douglas-fir stands. Range Valley Ranch Forest Stewardship Plan * Timber harvest in areas of declining aspen to reduce encroaching conifer and to stimulate aspen regeneration. * Improve forest health. * Decrease fuel loading on property. Deer Herd Management Plan Unit #11 Nine Mile * Limiting Factors (Habitat) - Summer range is likely more a factor to population growth than winter range. * Cooperate with federal land management agencies and private landowners in carrying out habitat improvements such as reseedings, controlled burns, water developments etc. on public and private lands. * Goal of improving 20,000 acres per year per region. UPCD priority areas should coincide with management priorities for this unit (i.e. summer and winter ranges). * Work with private and federal agencies to maintain and protect critical and existing summer and winter ranges from future losses. Elk Herd Management Plan Unit #11 Nine Mile *Improve forage and cover values on elk summer ranges. Practices will include prescribed fire, selective logging, and mechanical treatments that promote a diverse age structure in aspen communities. Over 300 acres per year will be targeted. * Improve wet meadow habitats through shrub treatments in high elevation habitats. * Minimize conflicts between elk and wild horses through habitat improvement and encouraging wild horse gathers when horse numbers exceed population objectives. Utah's Wild Turkey Management Plan * Maintain and improve wild turkey populations. * Increase habitat quantity and quality for turkeys by 40,000 acres statewide by 2020. This project will help to achieve this by increase herbaceous foraging habitat for turkeys. * Increase hunting opportunity for the wild turkey. This project will help to accomplish this because the project is located on public land where hunters have access. * Enhance appreciation for wild turkeys in Utah. This project will help to allow easier access to turkeys by the public and greater opportunity to observe these animals.

There are private lands adjacent to the Cold Springs WMA that have cabins and other structures that are within less than a mile of the property boundary and the project will continue the fire break on the private lands. This project creates different age classes of vegetation as well as promotes pure aspen stands that behave like a fire break. Treatments would be implemented to effectively restore resilient, fire-adapted aspen ecosystems on a landscape-scale by moving the stands toward properly functioning condition in terms of composition (species diversity) and density (crown spacing and fuel loading). In addition the treatments would improve structural diversity, promote aspen regeneration and recruitment, reduce the hazardous fuel loading, and reduce the continuity of fuels. The project will also promote a diverse herbaceous plant community that will also prevent fire movement. The Forestry Fire and State Lands Wildfire Risk Assessment Portal rates the project area as high to moderate wildfire risk, moderate threat, high to very high effects and a production rate of 56 to 74%.

In a paper from the Rangeland Journal (Bartos et al. 1998), scientists quantified that by every 1,000 acres of conifer encroached into aspen there is loss of 250 to 500 acre-feet of water that is transpired into the atmosphere. Project treatments will result in short to moderate term impacts to water quality, but project design features will prevent long-term degradation. Project treatments will considerably decrease the risk of catastrophic, large-scale, high severity fires that could result in long-term watershed degradation. By maintaining watershed function, long-term water quality will be maintained or enhanced. By removing conifer it is anticipated that water quantity will be enhanced (seeps, springs, bogs are improved). Besides their productivity and diversity, aspen forests are a valuable watershed component with a beneficial relationship to surface water and groundwater sources, providing a sustained, high-quality water yield and watershed protection. A study in northern Utah (Burke and Kasahara 2011 in Hydrol. Process. 25:1407-1417) found that conifer canopy reduced the snow-water equivalent on a site by 10-40% compared to aspen. Numerous other studies have documented the wide-ranging benefits of aspen communities to watershed health (USFS Gen Tech Report RMRS-GTR-178, 2006). Due to leaf litter, soils under aspen tend to have high amounts of organic matter, ground cover and water-holding capacity. Soils under aspen are less susceptible to erosion due to the high percentages of ground and herbaceous vegetation cover and high rates of infiltration. With lower rates of evapo-transpiration, there is a significant improvement in water yield from aspen forests compared to conifer types. Aspen forests also protect the watershed by being resilient to wildfire, often acting as a buffer to slow fire and reduce adverse impacts to the watershed from catastrophic fire. Therefore, actions to sustain aspen forests on the landscape have a beneficial effect on water quality and quantity.

Archaeological clearance and SHPO consultation has been completed. The project is on private and DWR administered lands and will not need any further compliance activities.

Treatments will be conducted by an adjacent landowner using his own bulldozer. Small clearcuts (1 to 3 acres) will be created in the aspen/conifer stands by using the bulldozer to knock over trees and push them into piles. The piles will be burned after they have dried out (approximately 1 to 2 years). Treatment will be done on 442 acres which is located on Cold Springs WMA and adjacent private land. The landowner can remove any wood products that have a commercial value as long as it is documented. The landowner will determine the cost of removing the wood product versus the actual market price at that time to determine if there will be any possibility of reducing the overall project cost. This will be presented to the NWTF and DWR for review prior to removing any wood products.

Pre- and post-treatment photo points will be used for monitoring through three years post-treatment. Pellet group transects will be monitored to determine the level of wildlife use within the treatment areas. Aspen regeneration surveys will be conducted and aspen stems per acre will be monitored over time. This will be an indicator of project success with the objective of > 3,500 aspen stems per acre. See attachments for detailed methods. An online form will be created for each sampling method, this way as soon as monitoring is completed it can be uploaded to the database from the users smartphone or internet connected device. In areas with no cell service, the monitoring form will be uploaded at the end of the day or whenever cell coverage is available.

The National Wild Turkey Federation was approached by the adjacent private landowner in regards to completing habitat improvements on his property to increase the number of wild turkeys on his property. After initial discussions with this private landowner, it was apparent that there was an opportunity to partner with DWR and connect the treatments to include the Cold Springs WMA. DWR has been partnering with the adjacent private landowner to implement prescribed burns and to complete other habitat treatments near the proposed project area. This project is a continuation of this partnership with the adjacent landowner by continuing treatments on the WMA, as well as on private land. FFSL has agreed to implement the pile burning after treatments. DWR has received letters from sportsmen that use the Cold Springs WMA and they have expressed support of the treatments and continuation of this type of treatment.

This area is under objective for both deer and elk. Since there is a lot of private property and the terrain is very rugge, success is very low for cow elk harvest. DWR is actively trying to manage the elk population to reach objective. Mule deer are under objective on the Range Creek unit. This project could help improve fawn recruitment and contribute to a increase in the population objective. The Cold Springs WMA is both a state-owned and protected wildlife property, but it also has a conservation easement and forest stewardship plan for the property held by Forestry, Fire, and State lands. The Forest Stewardship Plan for the property recommends 2-acre patch cuts. By mechanically removing aspen and conifer in small patches it will augment the 500 acres of prescribed burn that has already been completed in the area. This will reduce herbivory pressure on this 500 acres and allow for better regeneration of aspen.

This project would increase herbaceous vegetation which would benefit livestock by increasing the amount of forbs and grasses on the landscape. Grasses provide a prolonged protein source during the growing season while forbs provide a spike of protein during the flowering stage. Having a good diversity of grasses and forbs during the growing seasons benefit livestock as well as wildlife. The Cold Springs WMA is not formally grazed by domestic livestock, under certain circumstances the WMA may be used as a grass bank and livestock grazing would be allowed. There is no plan to graze the WMA at this time. This project has great potential for increasing recreation in the area. A majority of the unit, particularly the summer range is private property. Having the ability for the public to access and recreate on the WMA is a great benefit to the community. Increasing the availability and palatability of wildlife forage will encourage a greater number and diversity of wildlife to reside on the land and make them available for public use, rather it be consumptive or non-consumptive viewing. Previous clearcuts in the area have provided quality hunting opportunities and sportsmen have submitted letters commending the work done on the property to increase hunting opportunity. The private landowner has invited disabled hunters to come to his property. He has blinds setup that allow for hunters with disabilities to hunt.

10/14/2019

07/10/2020

2021

The area was treated with bulldozer pulling a cable-chain with a drum in the center to allow proper leverage to pulling over mixed aspen and conifer trees on the Cold Springs Wildlife Management Area (WMA). Over this time approximately 129 acres were treated using this method on the WMA.

The treatment area has seen conifer encroachment into the aspen stands. DWR has been working with landowners and BLM in this area to do prescribed burns and other mechanical treatments to encourage aspen regeneration for wildlife and watershed health. This treatment was used as a trial at this location. This area will be monitored for aspen regeneration and stand health in the upcoming years.

This area is a Wildlife Management Area (WMA). It will continue to be managed for wildlife values. The area was monitored by Range Trend before treatments occurred. They will come back and do post treatment monitoring 3 years post treatment.