The Stansbury Mountains have had limited watershed restoration activities conducted, primarily on Forest Service System lands, with some work conducted by BLM, NRCS and the State of Utah. A watershed assessment conducted by the Forest Service in 2016 showed the need to improve watershed conditions in several areas, including but not limited to; fuels management, restoration of rangelands and wildlife habitat, improved soil conditions by increasing cover of grass, forb and shrub species on lands encroached on by Juniper, improved water quality by managing road systems, dispersed camping and motorized routes to comply with the agency's approved travel management plan, and treatment of noxious weeds. The need was also identified to work with adjacent ownerships and partner agencies to improve these same conditions across all ownership types within the Stansbury Range. This led to efforts to collaborative apply and submit a 3 year grant effort to the Chiefs of the Forest Service and NRCS to bring federal funding to the table to match our State, NGO's and Private land partners in this effort to restore the Stansbury Mountains.

The objectives of the Stansbury Mountains Restoration effort includes; 1) Reduction of fuels to prevent catastrophic fires and protect values at risk, including rangelands, range improvements and community water systems (canals, irrigation infrastructure) 2) Restoration of rangeland and wildlife habitat thru the removal of encroaching Junipers and the establishment of ground cover consisting of grass, forbs, and shrubs, 3) treatment of invasive species, primarily noxious weeds, both within and outside of designated treatment areas through a partnership with Tooele County Weed Management Staff, 4) Management of motorized routes and roads to reduce impacts to soil and water resources and riparian systems thru route obliteration, route management and road re-alignments out of riparian areas, 5) improvement of riparian ecosystems thru management of dispersed camping, installation of BDA's, stream stabilization and vegetative plantings. 6)Increase the amount of shrubs to provide more food for wintering big game. 7) Maintain a diversity of age classes of shrub plants to increase resilience of native shrub community

The Restoration Effort on the Stansbury Mountains will address several ongoing threats and risks to the Stansbury Mountains landscape - 1) Risk of catastrophic fire - this risk can not only affect watershed health and wildlife habitat, but also affect rangeland health and the ability for our state and federal permittee's to maintain a viable livestock operation during fire recovery periods. As witnessed recently on other wildland fires, catastrophic fire can have an impact to adjacent landowners and related private infrastructure thru debris flows and flooding everts post fire across multiple years. 2) threat of invasive species will also be an emphasis under this effort. This project will build on our current partnership efforts with the Tooele County Weed Management Staff to treat noxious weeds and keep invasive species from proliferating on all land types - private, state and federal. 3) risks to water quality and soil stability will also be addressed through management of forest's travel management plan. Motorized routes will be managed to comply with the travel plan, including obliteration, re-location, restoration or adoption into the plan if a route merits inclusion. 4) impacts and threats to riparian systems will also be addressed thru the relocation of dispersed camping sites, re-alignment of roads out of riparian/stream corridors, installation of BDA's and riparian plantings.

The Stansbury Mountains Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Project complies with the following plans and initiatives: 1) Wasatch-Cache National Forest Plan - Meets riparian, fuels, wildlife and rangeland management objectives 2) Utah Shared Stewardship Agreement (May 2019) - Meets the Agreement parameters for working across multiple ownerships including State, Private and Federal lands. 3) Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership Strategy - Meets NRCS and US Forest Service management direction for conducting landscape restoration activities across federal and private lands. 4) RANGE-WIDE CONSERVATION AGREEMENT AND STRATEGY FOR BONNEVILLE CUTTHROAT TROUT (Oncorhynchus clarki utah). Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Publication Number 00-19, Salt Lake City, UT. -The West Desert BCT GMU is considered the most imperiled of the 4 BCT GMU's due to limited habitat availability. Any opportunity to expand BCT populations within this eco-region are encouraged. North and South Willow Creek are currently holding populations or brown trout and rainbow trout, respectively, once habitat is improved in these systems and threats are reduced, BCT will be reintroduced. 5) Mule Deer Unit 18 Mgt Plan Objectives/Strategies: a) Reduce expansion of Pinyon-Juniper woodlands into sagebrush habitats and improve habitats dominated by Pinyon-Juniper woodlands by completing habitat restoration projects like lop & scatter, bullhog and chaining. b) Condition of winter ranges is a long-term problem. c) Fire and encroachment by pinyon and juniper trees results in the loss of forage production, diversity and quality. d) Cooperate with federal land management agencies and private landowners in carrying out habitat improvement projects. e) The primary concern on the studies within the subunit is the abundance of weedy annual grass species (cheatgrass), particularly on the lower elevation sites. This plan addresses the condition of winter range in the project area by dealing with PJ expansion, condition of winter range by planting browse species, reducing fuel loads, coordinating with Federal land management agencies, and mitigating weedy annual grass species. 6) Utah DWR Statewide Management Plan for Mule Deer Objectives/Strategies: a) Programs that provide incentives to private landowners to manage their properties for mule deer and other wildlife are critical to the success of the state's deer management program. b) Conserve, improve, and restore mule deer habitat throughout the state with emphasis on crucial ranges. c) Maintain mule deer habitat throughout the state by protecting and enhancing existing crucial habitats and mitigating for losses due to natural and human impacts. d) 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. e) Improve the quality and quantity of vegetation for mule deer on a minimum of 500,000 acres of crucial range by 2019. f) 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. g) Continue to support and provide leadership for the Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative, which emphasizes improving sagebrush-steppe, aspen, and riparian habitats throughout Utah. This plan addresses improving and restoring Mule deer habitat, by working in cooperation with partners, mitigating invasive annual species, ensuring that seed mixes contain sufficient forbs, and browse species, and improving sagebrush-steppe. https://wildlife.utah.gov/hunting/biggame/pdf/mule_deer_plan.pdf 7) Utah Greater Sage grouse Mgt. Plan 2013 Objectives/Strategies: a) Enhance an average of 25,000 acres of sage-grouse habitat in Sage-grouse Management Areas annually. b) Increase the total amount of sage-grouse habitat acreage within Sage-grouse Management Areas by an average of 50,000 acres per year, through management actions targeting Opportunity Areas. c) Removal of encroaching conifers may create new habitat or increase the carrying capacity of habitat and thereby expand grouse populations, or the distribution of water into wet meadow areas may improve seasonal brood-rearing range and enhance greater sage-grouse recruitment. d) Aggressively remove encroaching conifers and other plant species to expand greater sage grouse habitat where possible. e) Livestock grazing is a major resource use in most SGMAs, and can be an effective tool to improve habitat quality and seasonal nutrition, and thereby enhance local populations. f) Removal of trees to less than 5% cover and g) maintenance of at least 10% sage brush cover; h) Maintain forb cover greater than 10% and grass cover greater than 10% during nesting/brood-rearing season; i) Maintain or improve wet meadows, when present; and j) Installation of green-strips or firebreaks to protect existing habitat. k) An improvement to existing habitat that does not result in an acreage gain. For example: Removal of pinon-juniper conifer trees in young open canopy stands still used by sage grouse. This plan will help toward the acreage goals for enhancement and increased Sage grouse habitat by removal of PJ in existing use areas, opening up new habitat and providing a diversity of seeded species for livestock and wildlife. Part of the plan is to enhance wet meadows through seeding. https://wildlife.utah.gov/uplandgame/sage-grouse/pdf/greater_sage_grouse_plan.pdf 8) Utah Wildlife Action Plan: a) Mountain Shrub (page 53) project addresses key threats (pg 55) to this habitat; * Continuing the use of appropriate methods for reducing the spread and dominance of invasive weeds and annual grasses, including "early detection -- rapid response" programs. * Continuing the development of new plant materials (especially native forbs) and restoration techniques suited to this habitat. b) We will also be improving the Aquatic Forested habitat types (pg57) Promoting policies that maintain or restore natural water and sediment flow regimes. * Promoting policies that reduce inappropriate grazing by domestic livestock and wildlife. * Promoting policies that reduce inappropriate siting of roads in riparian zones. * Continuing the use of appropriate methods for reducing the spread and dominance of invasive weeds, including "early detection -- rapid response" programs. c) Aquatic Scrub/Shrub (pg59) project addresses key threats to these habitats (pg 58 and 60) Promoting policies that maintain or restore natural water and sediment flow regimes. Promoting policies that reduce inappropriate siting of roads in riparian zones. Continuing the use of appropriate methods for reducing the spread and dominance of invasive weeds, including "early detection -- rapid response" programs.

This project will address the risk of catastrophic fire. This is a primary concern for all partners involved in this project. Risk of catastrophic fire was one of the Four Threats introduced as agency direction in the Forest Service during the early 2000's by Chief Dale Bosworth. Two decades later, this is still a primary focus for the agency. For the Stansbury's this threat is more present than ever. The encroachment of juniper elevated the fuels loading to a level that will lead to catastrophic fire if not addressed. The vegetation treatments in this proposal will lower that risk significantly and help protect critical habitat for big game and ensure intact rangelands for long term sustainability and productivity for State and Federal livestock permit holders.

Vegetation treatments are expected to increase water quantity to some level thru the removal of junipers, to what degree is unknown. The biggest impact will be to water quality, thru reduced erosion from bare soil under dense juniper canopies; thru the relocation of roads out of riparian and stream corridors, and finally thru the management of motorized routes and the obliteration and restoration of routes corridors not in compliance with our designated travel management plan.

All Lop & Scatter treatments being proposed in Year 1 thru 3 comply with NEPA, including SHPO concurrence. All motorized route management actions comply with the Forest's Travel Plan and therefore do not require additional NEPA. Road realignments and Mastication treatments planned for years 2 & 3 of this effort are undergoing Small NEPA currently and should be available for treatment implementation during WRI years 2022 and 2023. All noxious weed treatments are covered under NEPA for the Wasatch-Cache National Forest Plan.

Vegetation Treatments will be conducted via Lop & Scatter. Forest Service funding will be transferred to the State of Utah under a Good Neighbor Agreement or a Supplemental Project Agreement that tiers off the Master Stewardship Agreement signed by the State and Forest Service on May, 2019. Lop & Scatter Treatments will be contracted out by the State of Utah. Road realignment will be done in-house by USFS or DWR roads crews or contracted. We will do cultural surveys for shrub restoration areas. Once that is done we will start doing some small plantings to see what methods work best. BDA Construction: We will construct the BDAs with sharpened lodgepole fence posts, approximately 3-4" diameter. They will be driven into the stream bed with a gas post pounder or hydraulic post pounder. The posts will extend about 1 m above the channel bed. The posts will be spaced approximately 0.5 - 0.8 m apart, and driven to a depth of approximately 1 m into the streambed. We will then weave willow branches or other tree branches that are available onsite between the posts to create a structure that will look like a beaver dam. The willows will help to slow the water but will also allow fish to pass through. We will then reinforce the posts with stream bed material at the base of the posts. The idea is that the dams will last until sediment is piled up at the dam and vegetation begins to grow and the stream channel rises and floods. We will place dams about 30 m apart, depending on where they need to go. After a year we will assess the health of the stream again and determine what progress has been made and where future BDAs need to be placed. Once sediment has built up behind the dam we will plant the wetland sod mats to speed up recovery and have the roots hold that built up sediment in place

Monitoring will be conducting in an interagency fashion by all partners involved and will include veg plots, fish surveys, channel cross-sections and illegal route closure efficiencies survey. All contracting work will be inspected by the respective agencies depending on landownership (Private - NRCS, Conservation District, Pvt Landowner; State Lands - DWR, FFSL; Federal - NRCS, FS, DWR).

Partners involved in this effort include; State of Utah - Division of Wildlife Resources, Forestry, Fire and State Lands. Federal - U.S. Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation District. Conservation Districts - Shambip CD, Grantsville CD. County - Tooele County (Weed Management Staff). University of Utah (road re-alignment engineering). Back-Country Hunters and Anglers will be providing funding for project work and volunteering member hours for various tasks.

U.S. Forest Service Lands - will continue to be managed for Multiple Uses under the approved Wasatch-Cache National Forest Plan.

Thru fuels reduction we expect to minimize the threat of catastrophic fire - this should result in sustainable rangelands for both federal and state permit holders and provide them the ability to graze state and federal allotments without the threat of non-use due to a large wild fire event. Through continued weed treatments and partnership with the Tooele County Weed Management Staff we expect to minimize the spread of noxious weeds and control infestations to provide suitable wildlife habitat and sustainable range lands. Tooele County has performed weed treatments exceptionally and we expect this trend to continue into the future. Thru managed recreation of travel routes, dispersed camping and road systems we expected to have sustained water quality throughout the sub-watersheds that lie within Stansbury Mountain Range. Water quality will be improved along with soil stability and productivity.

09/09/2020

10/09/2020

2021

The USFS in partnership with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and the NRCS worked together to identify treatment areas where pinyon and juniper were encroaching on the understory vegetation. Once project areas were identified the UDWR hired a contractor that was supervised by USFS staff. The lop and scatter started on 09/03/2020 and was completed on 10/9/21. 2,238 acres were completed. As part of this project we also planned to build BDAs in Harker Canyon, but upon further review it seemed that water levels were low; in addition, the DWR Biologists who was leading this BDA effort, left the agency and so we did not get those BDAs done. We also planned to do a lot of cultural surveys for shrub planting on the west side of the Stansbury's but there was the Big Springs Fire that occurred within this area and our DWR archeologist was able to utilize previous surveys that had been done and saved a lot of money. There were bullhog acres originally planned as part of this project but we did not receive funding for this portion of the project.

The USFS in partnership with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and the NRCS worked together to identify treatment areas where pinyon and juniper were encroaching on the understory vegetation along the Stansbury Mountain range. The Stansbury Mountains have had limited watershed restoration activities conducted, primarily on Forest Service System lands, with some work conducted by BLM, NRCS and the State of Utah. A watershed assessment conducted by the Forest Service in 2016 showed the need to improve watershed conditions in several areas, including but not limited to; fuels management, restoration of rangelands and wildlife habitat, improved soil conditions by increasing cover of grass, forb and shrub species on lands encroached on by Juniper, improved water quality by managing road systems, dispersed camping and motorized routes to comply with the agency's approved travel management plan, and treatment of noxious weeds. The need was also identified to work with adjacent ownerships and partner agencies to improve these same conditions across all ownership types within the Stansbury Range. To address these concerns we planned this project. There will be future phases of this project as well and this was a great first step.

We plan to finish the remaining lop and scatter/bullhog areas that have been identified in the next phase of this project. We have new stream restoration project areas identified for next year. We also will be planting thousands of shrubs.