The Blue Fly meadows area consist of open grass and wet meadow bottomlands surrounded by ponderosa pine parklands on pink Claron formation soils. The Forest Service has invested in ecological restoration efforts in this area during the last several years through underburning ponderosa pine and PJ from meadows and in cleaning and sealing ponds. The rabbitbrush removal is considered to be a key component as it will improve grazing capacity for wildlife and livestock and more importantly allow for Utah Prairie Dog (UPD) expansion beyond the existing footprint where colonies are currently found. Blue Fly Creek provides marginal habitat for nonnative trout, primarily because of low flows and limited habitat. Replacing upland vegetation with hydric species could improve habitat for nonnative trout and native speckled dace in Blue Fly Creek. Because the project area provides critical habitat for Threatened Utah Prairie Dog there is a great need to remove the rabbitbrush and provide for habitat expansion of this species. Because Plague is huge threat to this species, providing for this habitat improvement which is more distant from larger colonies provides for biological security across the range.

UPD were noted in small numbers in the Blue Fly area in 2002 & 2003. Over time and with plague abatement efforts the colony has grown in spring counted numbers as well as expanded throughout the Blue Fly meadows area. The objectives of the project are to: 1)Reduce rabbit brush across 85 acres. 2) Improve habitat characteristics for Utah Prairie Dog and other wildlife including mule deer, elk, and pronghorn that utilize the meadow complex. 3) Allow for expansion of UPD into areas cleared of Rabbitbrush, and 4) Improve forage capacity for livestock and wildlife by increasing grasses and removing brush.

Continued invasion and establishment of rabbitbrush is a threat as this shrub-type is increasing in the area. As more brush becomes established it will push out grasses and forbs as well as reduce the habitat effectiveness for wildlife in the area. Waiting longer to treat this site increases the likelihood greatly that UPD will abandon the area instead of increasing their range in this meadow complex. Timely treatment is necessary. Because the area has limited connectivity to other large colonies it is more critical that this project happens now. Some invasive non-native musk thistle is also found at the proposed treatment site. UPD will not tolerate the taller vegetation (brush) and will be pushed from the area as well. As with any type of disturbance, there is some risk that undesirable species (weeds) will establish post-treatment. Powell Ranger District has had good success with treating this vegetation type in the past by treating late in the fall/winter and wet-mopping with herbicide. Proper timing and treatment of rabbitbrush will minimize the risk to wildlife as well. During late fall and early winter, UPD will be underground and will not be disturbed by mechanized equipment. The proposed project addresses the following threats and risks identified in the Utah Wildlife Action Plan: Invasive Plant species-Non Native: The project will seek to eliminate Musk Thistle and reduce rabbitbrush that reduce wildlife habitat effectiveness as well as ungulate forage capacity. The project will allow for more effective control of both species. Problematic Plant Species - Native Upland. Rabbitbrush is a native plant that is know to colonize an area and create dense shrub cover that overcrowds the grass/forb understory. Over time this species can dominate a site. This treatment will reverse that where applied. In addition to the threats above, there have been several spring and summer sightings of Greater sage grouse hens that are now utilizing the Blue Fly area as brood rearing habitat. The proposed project will enhnace this brood rearing habitat by removing the encroaching brush and facilitating grasses and forbs within the meadow areas.

The project has been coordinated with the Utah Praire dog recovery team as well as the COCARM Greater Sage grouse working group. During the most recent meeting of COCARM 08 Jan 2020, the project was ranked as a high project that would contribute to improving habitat for Sage Grouse as well as other species. The project is relevant to the following plans including: Conservation Plan for Greater Sage-Grouse in Utah - Feb 14, 2013. pp. 4 Objective 2.0.3 Habitat: Enhance an average of 25,000 acres of sage-grouse habitat in Sage-grouse Management Areas annually. Color Country Greater Sage-Grouse local conservation plan. Feb 9, 2008. Section V. Conservation Strategy. pp 53 - Strategy: Reduce impacts of concentrated wildlife or livestock use of sage-grouse winter and brood-rearing habitat. Utah Statewide Mule-deer Management Plan: Improve habitat and forage. Deer Herd Unit # 27 (Paunsaugunt) May 2015 :Cooperate with federal land management agencies and private landowners in carrying out habitat improvement projects. Protect deer winter ranges from wildfire by reseeding burned areas, creating fuel breaks and reseed areas dominated by cheatgrass with desirable perennial vegetation. Utah Statewide Elk management Plan: Improve habitat and forage in Utah. Paunsaugunt Elk herd management plan #27: Continue to be committed to the statewide goal of supporting habitat projects that increase forage for both big game and livestock. Utah's Wildlife Action Plan - Improve habitat for Greater Sage Grouse - a SGCN Utah Prairie Dog Conservation Agreement and Strategy on Federal Lands in the Paunsaugunt Recovery Unit. October 2018: pp. 11 3) Manage and improve Utah prairie dog habitat on Federal lands. pp. 19 Vegetation treatments will be planned and implemented as needed in strategic locations (including translocation sites) to benefit Utah prairie dogs and their habitats. Utah Statewide Pronghorn Management plan: B. Habitat Management Goal: Conserve and improve pronghorn habitat throughout the state. Utah Wildlife Action Plan: Utah Prairie dog (High Threat), Species of Greates Conservation Need pp16. Dixie National Forest Land and Resource Management plan: plan - pp. IV-84, Standard: A. Maintain habitat capability at a level at least 80 % of potential capability for all emphasized species. And. pp. IV-112, 6A management direction, (1) Maintain and manage forested inclusions to provide a high level of forage production, wildlife habitat, and diversity. Garfield County current desired future conditions and Draft resource management plan. pp. 5 Wildlife Goal: Prior to December 31, 2025, land managers will seek to have habitats supporting important fish and wildlife species meet the following seral stage ranges: Early Stage 30% to 50% Mid Stage 30% to 40% Late Stage Less than 25%And Policy...Based on a 10 year rolling average and consistent with desired ecological site descriptions, restore at least 25% of the Class II and Class III pinyon / juniper woodlands having a median age of less than 200 years to sagebrush / semi-desert grassland vegetation communities. Garfield County Resource plan. pp. 130 g) The most efficient techniques possible are used to control cheatgrass, invasive conifers, rabbitbrush and noxious weeds. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Utah Prairie Dog Recovery Plan. pp.79, (2.3.1) Plan and implement vegetation treatments in strategic locations (including translocation sites) that benefit Utah Prairie Dogs and their habitat. UTAH'S FINAL 2016 INTEGRATED REPORT - The area draining this project is in Assessment Unit East Fork Sevier-2 which the reports lists as a Category 5 water "Category 5: The concentration of a pollutant--or several pollutants--exceeds numeric water quality criteria, or quantitative biological assessments indicate that the biological designated uses are not supported (narrative water quality standards are violated)." Reducing sediment generation in this watershed may contribute to improving the O/E Assessment score for macroinvertebrates causing this exceedance.

The proposed project will also help reduce fuels within the proposed project area. A fire regime condition class (FRCC) is a classification of the amount of departure from the natural regime (Hann and Bunnell 2001). They include three condition classes for each fire regime. The classification is based on a relative measure describing the degree of departure from the historical natural fire regime. In areas where the proposed rabbitbrush treatment is proposed, the area is denser and the FRCC shift will be extreme moving from a High to a Low or 3 to 1. This reduction in fuels ecologically helps the site as it will shift the FRCC back into a more natural state. This will further reduce the impact and effects of fire when it is present on the landscape. There will be immediate benefits to watershed health from the reduction of rabbitbrush on the landscape. Increased soil moisture from the shredding of the brush is also a benefit to grasses and forbs as well as the additional moisture it provide to move through the soil column. There is an immediate risk that if the areas proposed were to burn from wildfire that cheat grass and other invasive species would follow. This risk becomes averted when treatment occurs. By allowing the sage-steppe and grass/forb understory species to return without competition from the rabbitbrush. If fire occurred while this area is within its current conditions it would be devastating to the watershed and meadow areas due to the poor soils (claron formation) and the inability to remove wildlife and livestock from foraging. Other values would also be lost including range/wildlife improvements such as pipelines, and fences. Studies have shown there are many ecological benefits of treating woody species to improve watershed conditions and reduce fuel and fire hazards. Barron, Science, 1969 (Some Ecological Benefits of Woody plant control with herbicides) showed that productivity of range and pastureland can be increased through the use of agricultural chemicals.

The project area is in the Blue Fly creek drainage which encompasses Blue Fly Creek and two intermittent tributaries all of which drain into the East Fork Sevier River within the Department of Environmental Quality's Assessment Unit East Fork Sevier-2 (East Fork Sevier River and tributaries from Deer Creek confluence to Tropic Reservoir). The 2016 Beneficial Uses and Water Quality Assessment showed that the beneficial use of this area was impaired because of a low OE Bioassessment (i.e. poor macroinvertebrate community). Fine sediment loading is a known cause of impairment of benthic macroinvertebrate communities (Waters 1995, Turley et al. 2014). Improving vegetation composition and ground cover from the project should contribution to fine sediment loading reductions in this assessment unit. Because the treatments is proposed in the meadow areas adjacent to the intermittent Blue Fly creek, there will be immediate riparian and meadow benefits. The benefits of healthy riparian vegetation and connected floodplains and wetlands to water quality, as well as water storage and release are well documented. Riparian vegetation buffers can trap sediment during overbank flow events and prevent sediment from overland runoff from reaching stream channels (Belt, O'Laughlin, & Merrill, 1992). Fine sediment input to streams can lead to an associated increase in nutrient loading, decreased dissolved oxygen and an increase in waterborne diseases. Stream bank stability is instrumental in preventing excessive erosion. Willow-sedge communities are among the best for maintaining stream bank stability (Winward, 2000). This project proposes removing invasive rabbitbrush and allowing the natural grass and wet-meadow carex/sedge species to take hold and provide for the natural vegetation filter needed for good stream and watershed health. As discussed elsewhere in this proposal improving uplands to have more grass, forbs, and shrubs in the understory can also improve water quality by leading to less generation of sediment during overland flow events and thereby delivering less sediment to a riparian area and stream. This project proposes to remove invasive brush and allow for these critical grasses and sedges to re-occupy the site which should result in immediate decreased sediment generation via mulch and slash from treatment covering bare ground. In several areas throughout the Blue Fly drainage there have been headcuts and stream incision that has contributed to lower water quality in the past. This project will help further reduce this type of damage to the watershed by removing the brush and allowing the grass understory to stabilize and filter sediment.

The proposed project is consistent with the Dixie Land and Resource Management Plan, and the Garfield County Resource plan. Rabbit Brush is a Garfield County listed noxious weed (Garfield commission meeting minutes). Treatment of noxious weeds is covered under the Dixie National Forest Noxious Weed EA Decision. No cultural resource surveys are required.

Within the proposed 85 acre treatment areas, the brush will be mowed and Tordon herbicide will be immediately applied to cut stems during a late fall or early winter application. Herbicide should be applied with a wiper attachment that trails behind the cutting head. It is anticipated that the treatment will occur in the late fall of 2020. Follow-up monitoring and spot re-treatment would be conducted by District personnel treating noxious weeds at 1 year post treatment. Follow-up treatments will focus on treating residual rabbit brush and any other noxious weeds that try to establish.

The mapped and treated areas will be inspected annually for several years post-treatment to ensure no other noxious weed become established. Re-growth from rabbitbrush can be easily re-treated by mechanically hand-chopping and treating with Tordon. The Forest Service has both an upland range trend site and a Winward greenline riparian inventory within the foot print of the project area. These sites are monitored on a 5-year interval. Several photo points will be established and read at 5 year intervals to help determine re-establishment and to gain a better understanding on return intervals within the proposed soil type. The Forest monitors fish bearing streams on an approximately 5 year interval. Blue Fly Creek was last monitored in 2016. results of Forest monitoring are published in a biennial monitoring report that can be uploaded to the UWRI web site. Monitoring of Big game species is conducted by UDWR on an annual basis. Deer, Elk and pronghorn classification are conducted by local area biologist. Monitoring for UPD is conducted by USFS biologist as a spring adult count prior to pups emergence. The Blue Fly UPD colony has been slowly but steadily expanding for approximately 10 years. Now colony expansion has hit the brush areas (thus the need for the proposed project).

The proposed project is part of a larger management strategy to enhance wildlife habitat effectiveness and increase grazing capacity for many wildlife species that inhabit the area. It specifically addresses habitat issues for Utah Prairie Dog and Mule deer on the Paunsaugunt plateau. Partners working specifically on UPD recovery efforts include USFWS, NPS, BLM, USFS, UDWR, Garfield county, and surrounding cities. Partners working specifically on Mule deer habitat with the Paunsaugunt management unit include: Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife, UDWR, Mule deer Foundation, Friends of the Paunsaugunt, Rocky Mountain elk foundation, and USFS.

Future management will be guided by monitoring. If treated successfully little to no further re-treatment would be needed for many years. Spot treatments could occur for 2-3 years post treatment. USFS is hopeful that the treatment will allow for further expansion of UPD within the meadow complex area. As further habitat gains are made management recommendations to UDWR on mule deer, elk, and pronghorn would be expected. Livestock forage capacity and overall watershed health is an anticipated outcome from the project as well. Current grazing management provides for summer pasture on the Blue Fly cattle allotment. The proposed project will further increase forage capacity for livestock as well as other ungulates/big-game species. The meadow areas provide critical parturition habitat for Mule deer, elk, and pronghorn as well as key habitat for Utah prairie dog. Based on radio telemetry data some sage grouse (hens) are utilizing the meadows to raise broods during late spring and summer months. During the spring/summer of 2020 RX burns are planned for the surrounding uplands in Ponderosa pine to help revitalize the pine understory and remove encroaching PJ. This will further enhance wildlife habitat effectiveness in the surrounding area however it makes it even more critical that we restore the meadows and function with the proposed project. As more stable perennial flows are restored to the Blue Fly creek area, future management would need to include some riparian pasture fencing to alleviate livestock pressure on meadows and riparian areas.

The proposed project would be expected to enhance wildlife habitat effectiveness on over 85 acres of USFS administered land. The area is also managed for livestock grazing and is part of the Blue Fly C & H allotment. This allotment is managed for 193 head under a 2 pasture deferred grazing system from June 11 through October 10 annually. It is expected that the 85 acre treated area will see improved grazing capacity for livestock as well as other ungulates as brush is removed and grasses and forbs re-establish. The area proposed for treatment as well as the surrounding Ponderosa pine stands provide critical parturition habitat for mule deer, elk, and pronghorn. Removing the rabbitbrush and restoring meadow function will enhance and restore wet meadow function and improve habitat for all these hunted species. Increasing water flow throughout this drainage is important to big game as well as other wildlife as drinking water as well as improving forage capacity and composition. Improving this habitat is key as it provides an undisturbed nursery area on public lands that is not encroached by housing, highways, agriculture and other threats.

11/02/2020

12/21/2020

2021

A contract was awarded for rabbitbrush removal to Soil Works (Rex Olsen) from Vernal Utah. Rex brought his tractor and mower and started on November 3rd. The project was finished by November 14th with 84 acres treated.

The Blue fly area has several small (occupied) Utah Prairie dog (UPD) colonies. Rabbit brush was targeted and removed to help facilitate wildlife habitat effectiveness. Tordon was used as a spray with a marker so that tractor operator could see where he had been. Kill rate wont be able to be determined until spring / summer monitoring is conducted.

Monitoring will help us determine whether spot treatment is needed or not. Crew will monitor for several years and treat where necessary. UPD numbers will be monitored and counted annually.