All of the Wildlife Management Areas in the northern region have the capacity to have winter range restored or improved on them. This project will continue the effort of improving them. This is not only beneficial for wintering wildlife but helps to reduce damages caused on nearby private lands. Henefer WMA On the WMA there is a lack of water sources any where besides a few of the canyon bottoms. This concentrates grazing pressure in the bottoms leading to some habitat degradation and a failure to target grasses on the ridges to give a competitive advantage to browse species, either existing or planted by DWR. Two pipelines with troughs will be installed on the top of ridges that will provide a water source for cattle during the grazing season on the WMA. This will provide for a better grazing plan that will reduce pressure on the bottoms and help browse species on the windblown ridges where wintering wildlife forage. In an effort to keep the cows out of the bottom for the past two years the permittee has hauled water to multiple 350 gallon rubbermaid troughs that were purchased by the DWR. Brigham Face and Millville Face have lost browse species to past fires. This has created areas that are not providing as much winter habitat as they have the potential to. Both properties border agricultural and urban areas. Have more "food" on the mountain for wildlife will potentially reduce wildlife conflicts in those areas. Woodruff WMA lost it's sagebrush when a previous landowner converted it to crested wheatgrass. The WMA also had a windmill pump that was converted to a solar pump to fill a pond but it is no longer functioning. During a previous WRI project #423 that inter-seeded forbs into adjacent stands of crested there were 300 antelope that wintered near the planting area. In an effort to discourage the antelope from camping on the seeding and potentially damaging it the pump was shut off and eventually fell into disrepair. Since then the antelope numbers have dwindled on the WMA. Many of the drainage ditches on the property have downcut and installing small earthern check dams will slow the flow of spring run off and prevent further downcutting. Also while the dozer is on site we will change the blade and clean up and re-contour the catchment ponds.

To install the 14.4 miles of pipeline and twenty one 1300 gallon tire troughs on the Henefer WMA to provide water sources for improved cattle grazing and water sources for deer and elk. We will have the ability to turn on and off each tank to move cattle around. This will allow the DWR/permittee to improve grazing management with better livestock distribution, timing and intensity. To operate the scalper on the Brigham Face, Millville Face and Woodruff WMA's to create valuable winter range browse for mule deer, elk and antelope. Bitterbrush, sage brush and forbs will be seeded in the scalps. On the Woodruff WMA install small earthern check dams to slow the flow of spring run off and deliver more water to the large pond in section 32. At the large pond in section 32 dig a smaller area to be deeper with the hope that with having some depth to the pond it will not evaporate as quickly as it is only gets a couple inches deep in the spring. Clean out other ponds on the WMA as well. Improving and increasing the available water on the WMA should help bring more antelope back to the area.

On Henefer the bottoms are at risk of becoming dominated by invasive species. Currently there are contained spots that the DWR habitat section has been able to successfully treat annually. The water sources on the ridges will allow them to return to more of a functional riparian habitat by reducing the grazing pressure in the bottoms. The areas to be treated on Brigham Face and Millville Face WMA's have crossed the threshold of being optimal winter habitat to being dominated by invasive and introduced grasses. So while there is minimal risk of the actual treated areas being harder to treat in the future there is a significant risk to surrounding beneficial habitat from fire and overuse due to greater demand on the remaining habitat. On the Woodruff WMA the crested wheat stands are not in danger of crossing a threshold but as the erosion ditches continue to downcut there will be less and less water held throughout the spring and summer.

Deer Unit Management Plans 2,3,4 and 5. Cache, Ogden, Morgan - South Rich and East Canyon -Address loss of critical winter range to wildfires and other land management practices Statewide Deer Management Plan -Loss of critical winter range habitat -Involve Sportsmen and groups in volunteer projects. Elk Herd Unit Management Plan #2 Cache Habitat - Maintain and/or enhance forage production through direct range improvements throughout the unit on winter range to achieve population management objectives. Pay special attention to WMA's and areas were holding elk could alleviate pressure on private landowners experiencing damage by wintering elk. Utah Statewide Elk Management Plan -Increase forage production by annually treating a minimum of 40,000 acres of elk habitat. Utah Pronghorn Statewide Management Plan III. Issues and Concerns Habitat Degradation and loss Water Development State of Utah - Resource Management Plan pg 236 Expand Wildlife Populations Protect existing habitat and improve 500,000 acres of habitat Produce and maintain the desired vegetation for wildlife and livestock. Summit CRMP Work with jurisdictional agencies to provide for and enhance the health of wildlife habitats in Summit County. Rich CRMP Support efforts that restore degraded habitats and connectivity between fragmented habitats. Cache CRMP Support agency coordination to provide adequate big game winter range habitat to reduce urban conflicts. Utah Wildlife Action Plan Utah Sage Grouse Management Plan Utah DWR strategic Plan Brigham Face WMA Habitat Management Plan 2010 -Primary purpose: provide crucial big game winter range. -Habitat Conditions/Problems: Loss of winter range from frequent fires. -Habitat Improvements:increase browse on the property.

Minimal but The scalps provide small fuel breaks from the bare ground that they expose. The check dams on Woodruff will create wet areas that last longer into the summer to slow a fire down.

The pipeline at Henefer will help the streams return to a healthier riparian condition The pump at Woodruff will create a year round water source that has not been available for several years. Construction of check dams on Woodruff will also create areas with a raised water table and slow down flows of spring run off reducing the sediment load and soil lost into those flows. At both Brigham Face and Millville Face there are erosion channels (pictures attached) that will benefit from have scalps across them, which is the same as multiple small earthen check dams in the system.

Most of the areas have been involved in previous treatments that were either lost to fire or did not meet all the project objectives. Remaining areas that require arc clearance will be surveyed with DWR arc.

To operate the scalper on Brigham Face, Millville Face and Woodruff to plant browse and forbs. To install a new solar pump on a pond at the Woodruff WMA. To install check dams on Woodruff WMA. To plant potted plants in areas of greatest need in scalps. To contract the construction of pipelines and troughs on Henefer.

The scalps will be monitored for success and control cages will be set up at all three locations and a game camera will be installed to monitor animal use on the pond with the solar pump. Past scalping monitoring data attached in the documents section. The check dams will be assessed for sediment build up and longer retention of spring run off. The pipeline and troughs will be operated on an agreed upon schedule with the permittee and DWR, the permittee will maintain the system.

The Millville Face, Woodruff and Henefer WMAs are grazed by cattle. The grazers will both be used to help monitor the project and ensure the solar pump and pipeline remain functioning. Adjoining landowners at Brigham and Millville not considered due to goal of keeping wildlife higher on mountain and not creating depredation issues. Scalping is a treatment method new to most and as we continue to prove it's success hesitant partners will hopefully begin to include it in their habitat improvement plans. The pipeline plan on Henefer was developed in conjunction with the grazer with the emphasis on getting cows up higher on the ridges and out of the bottoms.

All projects are or will be included in DWR WMA management plans for the specific property. If areas planted by the scalper do not succeed at the desired level planting browse species starts in the scalps will be used to augment success. Monitor the success of the scalps from sample sites and use cages to exclude all grazing on small 15' sections. Maintain the hog panel cages to exclude browsing on a small sample size. Observe effects of check dams on Woodruff and if needed submit a project to install additional structures. Maintain the solar pump so it provides a consistent water source for both wildlife and livestock. Maintain the water system at Henefer. Needed repairs will be part of the grazing agreement in the future.

The pipelines and troughs at Henefer improve how grazing can be managed on the property which is managed for 150 AUM's. It will also eliminate the need for the grazer to haul water to the ridgelines. The solar pump at the pond at Woodruff will provide a water source for cattle that the grazer won't have to pump water for every time he is in there. There are 139 AUM's for the property. The wet area's created by the check dams will extend how long the grass stays green. The scalps by providing additional forage for deer and elk will lead to increased wildlife on the WMA's providing for improved hunting and wildlife viewing experiences.

10/07/2019

12/17/2019

2020

The purpose of this project is to establish valuable browse for wintering wildlife on NRO Wildlife Management Areas (WMA). This is accomplished by using the scalper, a heavily modified D5 bulldozer to incorporate the seed into the ground. All areas to be planted in this phase had been treated previously so an archaeological clearance was not required. Once the dozer and seed was transported to the Millville WMA the scalping was performed by DWR habitat staff. The modifications to the planting apparatuses on the dozer performed well and there was a minimal amount of time spent on either modifying or repairing them. The dozer was only used on Millville WMA as weather delays made transporting it to Brigham Face WMA unfeasible. The 3 point scalper from GBRC was used at the Woodruff WMA with a rental tractor and ran at the same time the scalper was operated on Millville. The 3 point scalper makes a great furrow for the potted plants that were put in at Millville. The materials for the Harris Hollow pipeline were purchased with the assistance of GIP and delivered to the project area. The spring development and pipeline construction are ongoing with an anticipated completion of fall 2020.

WIth the planting beginning on the Millville WMA the plan was to move to the Brigham Face WMA after enough planting was done at Millville but an early and significant snowstorm delayed the planting enough that the move was not completed. Once the snow cleared the remaining time was spent on Millville. With the habitat staff operating equipment on two WMA's simultaneously we were able to get a lot done but it was noticeable that when other duties had to be attended to one of the WMA could not be worked on. But operating the equipment in-house provides the highest quality product in my opinion. The 3 point scalper that was used on Woodruff did an excellent job of creating a furrow and casting dirt aside to eliminate competition but it left the seed exposed. With it not being able to cover the seed with loose dirt we fabricated a drag behind it the cover the seed. Once Woodruff was completed it was moved to Millville were it was used on a small area to compare results to the scalper. Both locations required that a 4-wheeler was used after to broadcast the forb mix into the scalps. Potted plants were tough to come by but the ones we did get went in at Millville in the 3 point scalps. It was a great help to have GIP assist with the pipeline portion of the project. The contacts they have and also abilty to send money to a producer makes that portion of the project easier. We ran out of time to do the pond cleaning at the Woodruff WMA and the biologist wanting to do the BDAs was unable to complete them.

To continue on with the development and installation of the pipeline on the Henefer WMA that will also cattle grazing up on the ridges that are utilized by wintering wildlife. This will help with the browse species being able to compete better with the grass grazed off. To monitor the planted scalps and plants. To continue the use of the scalper on DWR WMA's along with expanding to other landownership's that provide the most benefit to wildlife. Utilize and refine the 3 point scalper that is pulled behind a tractor to make it the most effective it can be. Continue to offer support to other staff wanting to do BDAs on Woodruff.