This project will measure changes in groundwater-supported springs and streams, shallow groundwater, soil moisture, and upland and wet-meadow vegetation resulting from pinyon-juniper (P-J) treatments and a beaver dam analog project. Extensive P-J treatment projects conducted by federal, state, and private cooperators aim to increase sage grouse habitat and reduce wildfire risk. These projects focus on monitoring impacts on plant assemblages and sage grouse populations. Monitoring the effects of large-scale treatments on groundwater conditions may demonstrate additional environmental benefits that result from increased groundwater availability, such as increased spring flow to support wildlife and grazing or increased wetland and/or wet meadow habitat to support environmentally sensitive or conservation species. The BDA monitoring project focuses on potential hydrologic changes associated with BDA implementation, particularly stream flow seasonal variations and bank storage, as well as sediment trapping.

The goal of our work is to identify and quantify changes in hydrology and vegetation that may result from large-scale P-J treatments along mountain fronts, and from BDA implementation. As appropriate to each study area, we will monitor changes in spring flow, stream flow, groundwater levels, soil moisture, surface water-groundwater interactions, water quality, stable- and radiogenic-isotope composition, and aquatic, wet meadow, and upland vegetation resulting from the treatments. Monitoring will occur in treatment and control (i.e., untreated) areas having as similar hydrogeology and ecology as possible. The objective is to establish the monitoring systems at least 3 years before the treatment to characterize baseline response of groundwater to climate variations under current conditions, and monitor at least 5 years after cutting to determine changes in groundwater recharge and availability.

Studies in central Oregon (Deboodt et al., 2008) and central Nevada (Snyder, 2014; Carroll and others, 2017) demonstrated increased shallow-groundwater resources (spring flow, shallow groundwater levels, stream base flow) following P-J removal, whereas other studies in western states showed no measurable changes in stream flow (Kuhn and others, 2007). Considering the similarity (climatic, vegetation) of the Oregon and Nevada sites to the proposed study areas, however, we expect positive results. The potential risks are that we would not document changes above the resolution of measurement techniques, or that recent periods of abnormally high winter precipitation would mask increased recharge the treatments. For the Vernon Creek BDA project, we hope to quantify changes in stream flow and bank storage (i.e., shallow groundwater levels in stream channel sediments) associated with ponding and increased sedimentation. The main risk is that we may observe decreased summer flows for a year or two after BDA installation as the streambed aquifers fill. However we expect to see less precipitous decrease in late season flows due to drainage of these same aquifers. References Carroll, R.W.H., Huntington, J.L., Snyder, K.A., Niswonger, R.G., Morton, C., and Stringham, T.K., 2017, Evaluating mountain meadow groundwater response to Pinyon-Juniper and temperature in a great basin watershed: Ecohydrology, v. 10, DOI 10.1002/eco.1792. Deboodt, T.L., et al., 2008, Monitoring hydrological changes related to western juniper removal: A paired watershed approach: Third Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds, p. 227-232. Kuhn, T.J., et al., 2007, Juniper removal may not increase overall Klamath River Basin water yields: California Agriculture 61(4):166-171. DOI: 10.3733/ca.v061n04p166. Snyder, K., 2014, Desatoya Mountains Project and the Porter Canyon Experimental Watershed: Online, .

Treatment Schedules (as currently known): Tintic Valley Railroad Springs - In Progress Mud Spring 2 - Fall 2020 Death Creek - Fall 2021 (highly uncertain) Grouse Creek Mts - Keg Spring area - Fall 2021 Vernon Creek BDA - Summer 2021 or 2022 Montezuma Creek Tributaries - Fall 2021 Results will (1) aid assessment of the impact of treatments on shallow groundwater systems, (2) demonstrate ecologic benefits of the treatment projects beyond changes to plant communities, (3) help plan future treatment projects by identifying conditions favorable to increasing groundwater recharge, and (4) help plan future BDA projects by providing data on how stream hydrology may change, aiding project timing, setting expectations for local water users, and water rights issues.

Fuels reduction is a major motivation of the treatments in this region. Monitoring groundwater will not affect fuels. If late season flows are observed in the BDA project, potentially higher instream flows and reservoir levels may aid firefighting during late summer/early fall.

We will monitor discharge of springs and streams, and shallow groundwater levels. Water quality will be monitored to identify possible changes in major-solute and stable-isotope composition related to increased recharge in the treatment areas. We will monitor for Selenium concentration in surface water in the Montezuma Creek tributaries study, because this area has a TMDL for Se. We will monitor flow, temperature, turbidity, and chemical composition in Death Creek, which is tributary to Tanner Creek in the Sevier River management area (Utah DWQ). This proposal covers labor and analyses associated with quarterly water-quality and stable-isotope sampling of (1) 5 springs, 8 piezometers, and one stream (Death Creek) in northwestern Tintic Valley; (2) 14 springs and 8 piezometers in the Grouse Creek Mountains, and (3) 9 piezometers, two streams (Coal Bed and Boulder Creeks), and one spring in the Montezuma Creek drainage. Analyses include major solutes, total dissolved solids, and stable isotopes (2H and 18O abundance in water) for all sites, Se in the Montezuma Creek project area, and tritium (3H) at selected springs and piezometers. For the Vernon Creek BDA project, an important issue is sediment trapping and resulting reduced sediment delivery to the downstream reservoir. We have not yet designed our sedimentation monitoring but that will be in place by spring 2020. In our Tintic Valley study, we believe that grazing has the greatest impact on stream sediment load so do not expect to see a measurable effect from P-J treatment.

NEPA for monitoring equipment installation on U.S. Bureau of Land Management land. MOU with Utah State Institutional Trust Land Administration to install and conduct monitoring. Monitoring well permits from Utah Division of Water Rights for wells greater than 30 feet deep. Installation of monitoring equipment will be in coordination with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and BLM to avoid disturbance of critical habitat. UDWQ protocol for appropriate water-quality samples. The Vernon Creek BDA monitoring is on private land and we are in constant communication with the land owner.

Spring and stream flow: ramp flumes or V-notch weirs as appropriate, equipped with stilling wells and pressure/temperature loggers. Temperature loggers in stream beds along reaches of intermittent flow. Shallow groundwater: Piezometers screened below the water table, equipped with pressure transducers. Climate: Precipitation, temperature, and snowpack will be measured at local weather stations. Chemistry: Periodic sampling of springs, groundwater in piezometers, surface flow, and precipitation. Soil moisture: 100 cm multi-depth probes at lowland wet meadow sites, and nested TDR probes as much as 15 feet deep at forested upland sites. Anticipated future requests to WRI: $176,000 for FY 2022, $178,000 for FY 2023, and $180,000 for FY 2024.

We will monitor spring flow, stream base flow, shallow groundwater, major solutes, Oxygen-18 and deuterium isotopes, soil moisture, weather (precipitation, temperature, snowpack), and aquatic and wet meadow vegetation in watersheds planned for treatment. Monitoring will begin 3 years before the treatments and continue for 5 years after. Establish response of groundwater and surface flow to climatic variations under current conditions, and determine changes (if any) following treatment. Coeval monitoring of nearby untreated areas will extend the record of groundwater response to climate variability. For the Vernon Creek BDA project, we will monitor stream flow above and below two stream reaches - the upper reach is the control reach and will not have BDAs installed for several years. The lower reach will have BDAs installed after one or two years of monitoring. We have installed piezometers along both reaches adjacent to the stream to monitor changes in shallow groundwater levels. Seasonal changes in both stream flow and shallow groundwater levels together will show the patterns of surface water-groundwater dynamics; we will look for changes in these patterns due to BDA installation.

U.S. BLM -- Fillmore, Salt Lake, Moab, and Monticello Field Offices. BLM partners have shared long-term treatment plans and are willing to coordinate treatment schedules to benefit the monitoring projects, e.g., delay treatments of heavily monitored areas to allow accumulation of baseline data. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources -- Salt Lake, Ogden, and Price Field Offices USU Community-Based Conservation Program - outreach and coordination with other agencies Local land owners - access and project explanation/outreach.

If conditions favoring increased groundwater recharge are identified, this could aid planning, management, and promotion of future treatment programs. The study areas are in the Sheeprock Mountains Sage Grouse Management Area, Box Elder Sage Grouse Management Area, and Montezuma Creek and Lower San Juan-Four Corners Coordinated Resource Management Plan (San Juan Conservation District).

Document possible increased spring flow, surface flow, and groundwater-supported wet meadows for improved wildlife habitat and grazing.

07/01/2020

06/30/2021

2021

This grant supports ongoing work to monitor possible hydrologic changes resulting from large-scale environmental restoration projects including Pinyon-Juniper treatments (PJT) and Beaver Dam Analog stream restoration (BDA). We are working in four established project areas: 1) Tintic Valley (Death Creek, Mud Springs, & Railroad Springs subareas), 2) Vernon Creek BDA, 3) Montezuma Creek Tributaries, and 4) Grouse Creek Mountains. During FY 21 we also 5) conducted GIS/satellite imagery analysis of P-J treatment areas and 6) evaluated a potential project area relating stream flow to changes in grazing practice. Final Methods include: 1) Monthly to quarterly site visits to measure flow, water levels, and field parameters (pH, temperature, electrical conductivity); 2) Additional monthly site visits for stream flow measurements at Vernon Creek, spring flow measurements at Mud Spring 1 and Mud Spring 2, and field parameters, i.e., two visits per month to these sites, and instrument repair/maintenance as needed; 3) Monthly to quarterly sampling of selected sites for stable isotope composition (d2H and d18O) and other constituents as needed, and monthly sampling of precipitation collectors for stable isotope composition; 4) Quarterly to bi-annual visits to soil moisture monitoring sites for data downloads and maintenance; 5) Bi-annual to annual visits to temperature logger sites for data downloads and maintenance; 6) Annual vegetation surveys in established plots at upland (P-J cover) and wet-meadow sites in Death Creek and Mud Springs control and treatment areas; 7) Quantifying changes in NDVI resulting from P-J treatments over the entire treatment area and deriving preliminary change in ET estimates; 8) Data processing and compilation.

Tintic Valley Death Creek. We established continuous flow-measurement stations (flumes equipped with pressure transducers) in 2017 at sites close to Death Creek Springs, where perennial flow begins, and at the southeastern end of the planned Death Creek PJT area. These sites are designed to quantify potential changes in flow at Death Creek Springs and cumulative changes in the treatment area. We measure flow monthly at the flumes and at four additional sites along Death Creek. The site below Death Creek Springs is working very well but the lower Death Creek site receives high sediment buildup due to grazing so measurements there are less precise. Beginning summer 2021 we decided to revert to monthly measurements at these two sites considering the Death Creek treatment is not scheduled. Vegetation and soil-moisture monitoring are ongoing in upland (P-J cover) and wet-meadow sites in control and treatment areas in the Death Creek and Mud Springs subareas. Several soil moisture sites are problematic with sensors failing for a variety of reasons. We plan to rebuild the system over the summer, prioritizing those in the Mud Spring 2 treatment area. Mud Springs. Continuous flow measurement is ongoing at Mud Spring 1 (control) and Mud Spring 2 (treatment). Treatment above Mud Spring 2 is scheduled for fall 2021. Mud Spring 2 spring flow monitoring is supplemented by groundwater levels in monitoring wells a) up-hydraulic-gradient from and closer to the treatment area than Mud Spring 2 and b) down-hydraulic-gradient from Mud Spring 2, just above a large wet meadow informally and optimistically named Chambers Spring. Soil moisture monitoring sites are at wet meadows above and below Mud Spring 2. Both wet meadow sites are interpreted as supported by shallow groundwater so potentially stand to benefit from the treatment. We are conducting ongoing vegetation monitoring at both of these wet meadow sites and in P-J within the treatment area. Railroad Springs. We established monitoring of spring flow, shallow groundwater levels, field parameters, and stable isotope composition at six springs in the Railroad Spring complex (treatment area) and five springs in the informally named McIntyre spring complex 2 miles to the north (control area) in summer-fall 2018. Railroad Springs PJT occurred during November-December 2019. Treatment was followed by unusually wet (2019-2020) and dry (2020-2021) winters. We are currently compiling and analyzing the data. Observable changes may occur following the next wet winter season. Vernon Creek BDA. We established this project in 2019. Working with the Division of Wildlife Resources, we defined a reach of Vernon Creek along which we established monitoring and DWR delayed planned BDA installation until sufficient pre-implementation data could be collected (about 2-3 years). Our monitoring network includes continuous stream flow monitoring of Vernon Creek and Little Valley Creek at the upstream end of the study area; Vernon Creek at the midpoint; and an established U.S. Geological Survey gauge on Vernon Creek at the downstream end. In late 2019 we installed 11 piezometers to monitor stream-groundwater dynamics. We expect to compile and summarize results so far during the second half of 2021. During summer 2021 we will explore the feasibility of monitoring turbidity and total suspended solids and sediment deposition to try to quantify the effects of BDAs on stream sediment load. Montezuma Creek Tributaries The objective of this project is to quantify the response of groundwater and surface water to PJTs. The work has been supported by grants for DWQ's Nonpoint Pollution Source fund in addition to UWRI. The project includes two proposed PJT areas in the Cedar Park and Cactus Park benches above Coal Bed Creek drainage, and a control area in the Boulder Creek drainage to the north. Most monitoring equipment was deployed during November 2018 and January/March 2019. We installed a total of nine piezometers and ten temperature loggers on the Coal Bed Creek and Boulder Creek beds. The piezometers will measure groundwater flow to the streams and streambank storage. The temperature loggers will measure changes in soil temperature possibly related to changes in pore water (i.e., saturated streambed sediment) or intermittent flow. We installed three soil moisture probes (SMP) in the Cedar Park and Cactus Park treatment areas, and three in the Boulder Creek control area, all ~4 to 5 feet deep. During summer 2020, we installed additional probes at 1 and 2 feet depths at all stations to track infiltration of snowmelt and precipitation. In both lower Coal Bed and lower Boulder Creeks, we have temporary v-notch weir plates on site to measure flow if present at the time of monitoring. During most of the year, surface flow is negligible in both creeks, with more flow recorded at lower Boulder Creek than Coal Bed Creek. Flow from springs and seeps in upper Boulder and lower Coal Bed is not measurable. Most stream flow occurs during flash flood/monsoonal season and after heavy winter precipitation. Montezuma Creek is impaired for Selenium, however, Se is negligible in the Coal Bed Creek and Boulder Creek groundwater-surface water systems. If the treatment results in greater discharge from Coal Bed Creek to Montezuma Creek, the potential exists for improvement of water quality in the latter stream by dilution. We have been catching up on data processing during spring-summer 2021 and presented some of our data to the Water Quality Task Force on 6/24/21. Treatment is set for fall 2021. Grouse Creek Mountains The Grouse Creek Mountains project area includes two subareas -- southwest and southeast of the southern range crest, established in 2018. The Keg Spring PJT is tentatively planned by the Division of Wildlife Resources for 2022. Treatment in the southeast sub area was completed in fall/winter 2019. In the southwest subarea, continuous spring flow monitoring is occurring at Keg Spring (treatment), Lower Rocky Pass Spring (control, but see below), and springs in Willow Spring Canyon (two treatment, one control). Shallow groundwater monitoring is established in Keg Spring Wash just above the impounded pond, Willow Springs Canyon, just above Lower Rocky Pass Spring, and adjacent to Cluster Springs 1 and 2 (the Keg Spring treatment area is in the likely catchment area of the Cluster Spring complex). Monthly monitoring of spring flow and chemistry is ongoing in Willow Springs Canyon (treatment; also includes monthly surface flow at selected sites), Rocky Pass (control/quantification of recharge chemistry), and Bedke Springs (control). Despite occasional disruption by cattle and instrument failure, continuous spring flow monitoring is well established. In the southeast subarea, monitoring was established to take advantage of four developed springs for which monthly flow measurement and sampling are easy and fast (Bovine [treatment], Sheep Trail [treatment], Chokecherry [control, but see below], and Willow [control]. Recent alterations to Willow Spring plumbing now prevent flow measurement. In late 2018, treatment occurred on private land in the upper catchment areas of Lower Rocky Pass Spring and Chokecherry Spring. Both springs showed significant flow increase during 2019, however, that year also had relatively high snowfall, so continued monitoring is required to determine if the treatments affect long-term flow. Monthly monitoring at Bedke Springs was added in 2019 as an additional control site. Remote Sensing and GIS Rebecca Lee, GIS Analyst in the UGS Groundwater and Wetlands Program, is exploring using remote sensing data (NDVI) to quantify bulk vegetative changes resulting from PJT, to complement the focused hydrologic monitoring efforts. Our goal is to estimate change in evapotranspiration due to PJT over entire treatment areas and estimate the possible resulting change in infiltration of snowmelt and precipitation and, therefore, groundwater recharge. Rebecca has demonstrated statistically significantly differences in late summer values of NDVI before and after treatment in some project areas (predictably, bullhog projects where pre-treatment tree density was high and nearly all the P-Js were cleared). Preliminary work indicates that statistically significant changes in bulk ET also occur. There are several models for calculating ET from NDVI, and we are waiting for the launching of the OpenET site to use vetted, consistent calculations. The next step will be to estimate change in recharge, which will be complex and the best approach will likely be to estimate long-term averages. Additional Work We conducted a pilot study in the Three Creeks project area (partners: U.S. BLM, Utah DWR, Western Land Conservation LLC) west of Randolph, Utah, to investigate hydrologic changes that may result from changing grazing practices. The working hypothesis was that increased rotation of grazing will allow streamside riparian areas to establish physical integrity, resulting in improved function as streambank aquifers. We installed temporary streambank piezometers and collected water level, stream stage, and field parameters. We found that fluvial deposits are highly variable in texture and hydraulic connection to the streams. We determined that we would not be able to measure the groundwater-surface water exchange due to the low volume ratio of groundwater to surface water, nor would we likely be able to distinguish different signals due to different grazing practices, and for now will not pursue this project. We would like to add another riparian project to keep pace with the increased interest in these types of projects and are potentially interested in planned restoration work by Dixie National Forest in the East Fork Sevier headwaters. Our personnel are currently overbooked, but we will continue to be aware of potential projects.

Anticipated PJT dates: Railroad Springs -- completed Fall 2019 SE Grouse Creek Mountains -- completed Fall 2019 Mud Spring 2 -- Scheduled Fall 2021 Montezuma Creek -- Scheduled Fall 2021 Keg Spring -- Anticipated Fall 2022 Death Creek -- Unknown Vernon Creek -- BDA installation along treatment reach in Fall 2021 or 2022