Within the last decade the Pine Valley Mountain range that surrounds the project area has had several wildfires (Forsyth Ridge 2008, Mill Flat 2009, Oak Grove 2016, Saddle 2017, West Valley 2018) with various impacts to forest health and the surrounding communities. The Pine Valley Ranger District is in the process of planning and implementing large scale watershed projects directly associated with the Pine Valley Mountain range and Wilderness Areas. The Grass Valley Creek Watershed project, Pinto Watershed Improvement project along with the New Harmony, Central and Pine Valley Fuelbreaks are all interconnecting projects that will provide the District additional management options and tools in future management activities. This Pine Valley Fuelbreak project is a crucial piece in the big picture. The Pine Valley Mountain is surrounded by several small communities (Pine Valley, Pinto, Central, New Harmony etc.) that need effective fuelbreaks and defensible fire spaces. All of the northside of the fuel break and part of the south side of the fuelbreak has been identified as being in Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC) 3, and the remainder of the fuelbreak is listed in FRCC 2. Ideally we want to move towards Condition Class 1 (denotes that the vegetation resembles and is functioning as it did historically during the reference condition) and this project will help achieve this by removing encroaching PJ and reducing fuel loading. Additionally, implementing this fuelbreak will help achieve community safety objectives as outlined in the Pine Valley CWPP while opening up potential management decisions and options for the surrounding Wilderness Area to improve forest health and reduce the potential for uncharacteristically severe wildfire impacts. The Pine Valley area is encompassed by the Pine Valley Mountain range and is the head waters of the Santa Clara River drainage. The Pine Valley Fuel Break project area is within the Headwaters of the Santa Clara River HUC 6th Watershed in Washington County Utah which is part of the Virgin River System. These headwaters provide a critical water source to multiple municipalities which include the town of Pine Valley and the City of St. George along with many of smaller communities. The project area is in crucial summer and fawning range for mule deer. This area is part of the Pine Valley Mule Deer Management Unit #30. During the spring, summer and early fall months this area has high numbers of deer and can be see in high number within or near the campground. They come to water along the Santa Clara and feed on the long grasses and shrubs. The ponderosa pine stands provide shelter and security habitat. Project activities will sustain and improve these habitat components by removing encroaching conifer and seeding. This bowl around the town and recreation area has a high population of wild turkeys as well. The Rio Grande subspecies is mainly found on the Pine Valley Ranger District. The project area provides crucial grass and forbs to forage on and the ponderosa stands for shelter and roosting. The proposed treatments will greatly improve foraging habitat by removal of encroaching PJ and seeding. Improving and sustaining these critical foraging areas will help draw wildlife pressure away from the private property within the town of Pine Valley and inside the Pine Valley Recreation Area. The project area also encompasses the Pine Valley Reservoir and Santa Clara River tributaries that flow into Baker Reservoir which is foraging habitat waterfowl species and for bald eagles that feed mainly on fish. The District biologist surveys this reservoir and drainage for bald eagles annually during the winter months. This project will indirectly help protect and sustain bald eagle foraging habitat by improving the vegetation surrounding the water bodies and reducing the chances of a high severity fire impacts. These Santa Clara river tributaries also contain self sustaining populations of non-native trout (rainbow, brook and brown). The Pine Valley reservoir is a 'put and take' system reservoir that is stocked with rainbow trout throughout the summer months. The proposed treatments will help reduce the risk of large high severity fires in the surrounding area that would have negative impacts to this fishery from erosion, sedimentation and loss of riparian vegetation. In 1999 biologists from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources conducted bat surveys on the Pine Valley Ranger District (Day and Peterson 1999). One survey site was near the Pine Valley Reservoir adjacent to the project area. The bat species recorded at this site included; Yuma myotis bat, big free-tailed bat, and the Mexican free-tailed bat. The proposed treatments will help sustain these water sources for foraging bats by reducing potential negative impacts from large high severity fires and also improved the grass component that harbors insects that bats eat by thinning encroaching conifer and seeding. Day, K., C. Peterson. 1999. A Bat Survey of Selected Locations on Cedar City and Pine Valley Ranger Districts of Dixie National Forest, Utah: 1999. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. Agreement No. FS-07-CCS-99-009. Cedar City, UT. The Needs include; Community wildfire risk reduction and restoring vegetative communities to fire resilient stages. 1. There is a need to construct and maintain an effective fuel break to reduce fire behavior in order to facilitate fire suppression and reduce wildfire risk. This will create an area of reduced resistance to control where fire managers can safely initiate appropriate actions to suppress an approaching fire. 2. There is a need to thin out the existing vegetation in order to move the ecosystem composition and structure toward Fire Regime Condition Class 1, which is a more historic fire regime and an indicator of a healthier forest. This will create a landscape with higher resiliency to disturbance and lower the risk of uncharacteristic fire adjacent to the community. 3.There is a need to bring current forested conditions closer to the desired healthier conditions as outline in the Northern Goshawk Standards and Guidelines (USDA 2000). 4. There is a need to maintain and improve the grass and forb component for wildlife habitat.

The project area consists of sage/grass meadows, mountain shrub/brush, mountain mahogany, Gambel oak, pinyon juniper and ponderosa pine/mixed conifer vegetation types. Pre-fuel break and current conditions consists of; ponderosa pine and mixed conifer stands with high accumulations of litter and dense understories consisting of shrubs and white fir. Total basal area in some areas above 120. Pinyon and juniper tree encroachment converting much of the grass and shrub lands into P/J woodland. In much of the mature juniper stands the understory has lack of diversity and is depleted. Cheat grass is also present, with higher concentrations in the lower elevations of the project area and within the mahogany stands. The overall desired future state would be to have an effective fuel break that simultaneously improves the forest health conditions in the Pine Valley area. The pinyon/juniper treatments will reduce encroached trees by 85 to 90 percent within the grass and shrub lands. Small patches and corridors of trees will be left for wildlife and aesthetical purposes. Within the ponderosa and mixed conifer stands, ponderosa pine, juniper and white fir trees will be thinned to reduced fuel loading, competition and improve forested stands. Additionally, juniper will be removed from along the stream portions of the project area allowing desired riparian vegetation to improve. The seeding phase of the project is crucial in establishing a desired grass component. The seed mix will consist of natives and non-natives that are more fire resilient, beneficial to wildlife and will compete with undesired annual grasses with the goal of reducing cheat grass creep into the fuel break areas

In 2018, the District completed the mastication phase of the project. We now face a tremendous risk for type conversion to cheat grass and other undesirable species if this area is not seeded. There are two Long-Term Vegetation Trend data sites within and surrounding the project area which includes sites #1893 and #1992 in the FS database (Madsen 2018). Both these sites are USFS upland trend studies indicating that currently these sites are in functioning condition however have bromus tectorum present. Values at Risk include: Pine Valley Town Residencies, Pine Valley Recreation Area/Campground, Pine Valley Municipal Watershed, Crucial Summer and Fawning Range for Mule Deer.

1) Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Statewide Management Plan for Mule deer (2014-2019). Section IV Statewide management goals and objectives. This plan will address Habitat Objective 2: Improve the quality and quantity of vegetation for mule deer on a minimum of 500,000 acres of crucial range by 2019 (p 19). Strategy C. Initiate broad scale vegetative treatment projects to improve mule deer habitat with emphasis on drought or fire damaged sagebrush winter ranges, ranges that are being taken over by invasive annual grass species, and ranges being diminished by encroachment of conifers into sagebrush or aspen habitats. The proposed treatments will removed encroaching PJ and other conifers that will improve foraging areas for mule deer. Seeding is crucial since it will improve plant diversity and help to reduce the spread of noxious weeds and undesired annual grasses. 2) Pine Valley Deer Herd Management Plan, Deer Herd Unit # 30 (2015) -Habitat management objectives: Maintain and/or enhance forage production through direct range improvements throughout the unit on winter and summer range to achieve population management objectives. 3) North American Mule Deer Conservation Plan (Mule Deer Working Group 2004). A) Mule deer habitat Objectives and Strategies-Develop and implement habitat treatment protocols that reduce the impacts of cheatgrass or other invasive plants. B) Manage mule deer habitat in a fashion to control type conversions (i. e., conversion of rangeland to croplands, and shrublands to monotypic pinyon-juniper stands) (Pg. 7). Seeding burned area will help reduce the impacts of cheatgrass in this area by establishing desired grasses and forbs. 4) National Fire Plan (NFP) - Primary Goals: 1) Improve fire prevention and suppression; 2) Restore fire adapted ecosystem. The National Fire Plan was developed in August 2000, following a catastrophic wildland fire season, with the intent of actively responding to severe wildland fires and their impacts to communities while ensuring sufficient firefighting capacity for the future. The National Fire Plan addressed five key points: Firefighting, Rehabilitation, Hazardous Fuels Reduction, Community Assistance, and Accountability. Hazardous fuels reduction is a key part of the National Fire Plan. Hazardous fuels reduction treatments are designed to reduce the risks of catastrophic wildland fire to people, communities, and natural resources while restoring forest and rangeland ecosystems to closely match their historical structure, function, diversity, and dynamics. Such treatments as within the proposed Pine Valley Fuel Break project will accomplish these goals by removing or modifying wildland fuels to reduce the potential for severe wildland fire behavior, lessen the post-fire damage, and limit the spread or proliferation of invasive species and diseases. 5) Accompanying (NFP) 10 year Comprehensive Strategy - Guiding Principles: 3) Prevent invasive species and restore watershed function and biological communities through short-term stabilization and long-term rehabilitation; 4) Restore healthy, diverse, and resilient ecological system to minimize uncharacteristically severe fires on a priority watershed basis through long-term restoration. Seeding the fuel break area will help mitigate encroaching invasive species. 6) In 2014 the Secretary of Agriculture signed the National Strategy: The Final Phase of the Development of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (USDA, USDOI 2014), known as the Cohesive Strategy. This project reflects the Cohesive Strategy as it aims to provide a safer environment in which to fight fire near the town of Pine Valley. It aims to treat vegetation and fuels in an area identified as high priority consistent with the Cohesive Strategy. Collaboration has occurred between the Forest Service and the town of Pine Valley and this project has been listed in their Community Wildfire Protection Plan. This project also addresses all three goals defined by the Cohesive Strategy: * Restore and maintain landscapes: focuses on ensuring landscapes across all jurisdictions are resilient to fire related disturbances. This project will make the town of Pine Valley more resilient to fire disturbances. This fuel break will also allow for greater flexibility while managing the surrounding landscape with regard to fire disturbance. * Fire-adapted communities: focuses on creating human population centers and infrastructure that are able to withstand a wildfire event without loss of life or property. This project will result in Pine Valley becoming a more fire-adapted community. * Wildfire response: focuses on having all jurisdictions participate in making and implementing safe, effective, efficient risk-based wildfire management decisions. This project is a result of multiple jurisdictions (US Forest Service, Utah Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands, Washington County Emergency Services, and the Pine Valley Fire Department) identifying ways to provide for safe wildfire response to fires in the vicinity of the project. 7) The Utah Fire Amendment (USDA 2001c) amended the Dixie National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan). The Utah Fire Amendment considered alternatives for managing the problems created from excluding fire from the landscape. Fire exclusion in forested ecosystems is "one of the primary factors responsible for the increased size, intensity and severity of wildland fires...[and] has led to uncharacteristically high fuel loadings" (p. 1-1). The Utah Fire Amendment provides forest plan direction to use naturally ignited fire to aid in meeting desired conditions on Dixie National Forest lands. Using naturally ignited fires to enhance the vegetation composition on the landscape is meant to help reduce the threat of uncharacteristically large fires to human life, property, and cultural resources, and it will also help reduce fire suppression costs. This project will reduce the fuel loadings surrounding the town of Pine Valley by expanding and improving the existing fuel break around the community. In addition to using natural ignitions, treatments described in the National Fire Plan are accomplished using prescribed fire, mechanical thinning, herbicides, grazing, seeding, or combinations of these and other methods. Increasingly, treatments are being focused on the expanding wildland/urban interface (WUI) areas throughout the Dixie National Forest. The Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA) defines WUI as: * An area within or adjacent to an at-risk community identified in the Federal Register or in a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) * An area that is adjacent to an evacuation route for an at-risk community that the Forest determines, in cooperation with the at-risk community, requires hazardous fuel reduction to provide safer evacuation. The Utah Fire Amendment states that fuels treatments like the one we are proposing would occur in an effort to decrease the hazards associated with using natural ignitions to treat the landscape. "Under Alternatives B [the selected alternative] and C hazardous fuels surrounding property could be reduced and together with reasonably foreseeable future mechanical treatments, the risk from wildland fires would be reduced" (USDA 2000c: 3-6). 8) State of Utah-Catastrophic Wildfire Reduction Strategy-Protecting the health and welfare of Utahns and our lands. Recommendations- 5. Adopt key recommendations from the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy- Encourage federal land management agencies to expedite fuels treatments. 9) Utah Wildlife Action Plan (2015-2025). Terrestrial Key Habitats (pp 56-57): Mountain Shrub-Threat, invasive plant species. Terrestrial Key Habitats (35-36): Gambel Oak-Threats, Ivasive Plant Speices and Inappropriate fire frequency and intensity. Seeding the project area will aid in reducing the threat of invasive plants and reducing fire intensity or chance of high severity impacts. 10) Strategic Management Plan for Wild Tukey-Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR 2014). Grasses provide food for adults and are especially important to poults as an environment where they can effectively forage for insects. Poults need an environment that produces insects and in which they can efficiently forage. Poults need an area that provides enough cover to hide them, but allows the adult hen unobstructed vision for protection from predators. Seeding will help establish desirable grass and forbs to provide insect habitat for wild turkeys. 11) Dixie NF Noxious Weed Management Plan (EA 2000). The noxious weed that is the most concern in the project area is Scotch Thistle (p 1-4 EA). The objective is to stop the spread of existing noxious weed infestations and prevent invasion of new sites or new noxious weeds. The basis for these prevention and control measures are National Policy: FSM 2080 (DNF Noxious Weed Plan 2000, Appendix G). Seeding the project area followed by monitoring will reduce the chance of noxious weed spread. 12) DNF Forest Plan Goals and Objectives (USDA 1986): Forest-wide Goals and Objectives Goal No. 45 -- "Develop a well planned and executed fire protection and fire use program that is cost efficient and responsive to land and resource management goals and objectives" (USDA 1986b: IV-12). Goal No. 48 - Ecosystems are restored and maintained, consistent with land uses and historic fire regimes, through wildland fire and prescribed fire (USDA 1986b: IV-13). Forest-wide Direction Wildland Fire Suppression: Standard- "Human life (firefighter and public safety) is the highest priority during a fire. Once firefighters have been assigned to a fire, their safety becomes the highest priority. Property and natural/cultural resources are lower priorities" (USDA 1986b: IV-54). Fuels: Guideline -- "Reduce hazardous fuels. The full range of fuel reduction methods is authorized, consistent with forest and management area emphasis and direction" (USDA 1986b: IV-54). Prescribed Fire: Guideline -- "Prescribed fire is appropriate forest wide" (USDA 1986b: IV-54). Scenery Management System: "Restore, maintain or enhance landscape scenic quality across the variety of landscape types found on the Forest that meets the needs identified for the allocated use within each management area" (USDA 2000c: 9). 13) Healthy Forests Initiative (2002): The Healthy Forests Initiative (HFI) was launched in August 2002 with the intent to reduce the risks severe wildfires pose to people, communities, and the environment. By protecting forests, woodlands, shrublands, and grasslands from unnaturally intensive and destructive fires, HFI helps improve the condition of our public lands, increases firefighter safety, and conserves landscape attributes valued by society. The Pine Valley Fuel Break project achieves these objectives: by reducing fuel loading, seeding with a more fire resilient grass mix, increases firefighter safety by having a effective fuelbreak, and protects scenic, recreational attributes. 14) Healthy Forest Restoration Act (2003): The purposes of this Act specific to this project are (1) to reduce wildfire risk to communities, municipal water supplies, and other at-risk Federal land through a collaborative process of planning, prioritizing, and implementing hazardous fuel reduction projects; (2) to enhance efforts to protect watersheds and address threats to forest and rangeland health, including catastrophic wildfire, across the landscape; and (3) to protect, restore, and enhance forest ecosystem components

Forest fuel buildups can fuel intense wildland fires along the National Forest/private land boundary (WUI). Lack of fuel break effectiveness will compromise the safety of the public and firefighting resources. There is a need to improve and expand the fuel breaks around Pine Valley to help increase the chances that forest resources, private lands, and developments can be less susceptible to threat of damage from wildfire. An intact fuel break will reduce the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire effects from human caused wildfires that spread from private lands onto forest lands. The fuel reduction project is designed to reduce fire behavior and provide conditions that provide for low resistance to fire control by reducing/altering fuels. The project is designed to limit potential flame lengths during wildfires to less than four feet under 97th percentile weather conditions. To accomplish this, the fuel break includes the following features: * Fuel break would be a minimum of 400 feet wide. *90 corners would be eliminated to the extent possible on the National Forest System lands by widening and rounding the fuel break boundary. * 85 to 90 percent of the understory vegetation would be replaced with a less fire prone species that would serve as a green strip around the populated area. * Intermittent and perennial streams containing any deciduous vegetation that enhances stream or floodplain stability would be retained

The Pine Valley Fuel Break project area is within the Headwaters of the Santa Clara River HUC 6th Watershed in Washington County Utah which is part of the Virgin River System. These headwaters provide a critical water source to multiple municipalities which include the town of Pine Valley and the City of St. George along with many of smaller communities. The proposed project objective is to reduce heavy fuel loading that surrounds and includes the Pine Valley Municipal Watershed and infrastructure, and the Santa Clara River headwaters. It has been shown that removal of dominant stands of juniper may have beneficial impacts to the watershed. Water interception and use from by juniper can cause a reduction in forbs, grasses and shrubs in the spaces between juniper canopies (Bedell et. al 1993). Additionally, dense juniper stands can release large amounts of sediment during a rain and snow storms (Ibid). One study showed PJ mulching fuels treatments in Colorado increased the graminoid, forb richness ground cover overall (Fornwalt et. al 2016). Mastication of P/J followed by seeding the project area will help move towards the desired outcome of having an increase of grass, forb, ground cover soil moisture component that will reduce high run-off events and erosion issues into the head waters of the Santa Clara. In 2004, the Utah Division of Water Quality put out a report titled "TMDL Water Quality Study of the Virgin River Watershed" (UDEQ, 2004). In sections 6.3.8- Santa Clear River: Baker reservoir-Pine Valley and 6.3.9- Santa Clara River: Pine Valley Area and the Headwaters, states 'natural hill-slope erosion' as one of the sources of pollutant loadings. The Santa Clara River is the main source of water for the town of Pine Valley and flows down into the Pine Valley Reservoir and then into Baker Reservoir. Once again, the critical importance of seeding the project area within the masticated areas to establish and improve the grass, forb and ground cover that are adjacent to the Santa Clara River drainage will help to reduce the total amount of phosphorus loading flowing down stream into Baker Reservoir. Additionally, implementing this fuel break will allow managers to plan and implement future vegetation projects within this area that will make this watershed less prone to uncharacteristically large and high severe wild fire events that would have negative impacts to water quality and quantity from high levels of erosion and run-off. The riparian areas associated with the project will be treated as well. This includes removal of juniper and white fir and thinning conifer while leaving desired riparian vegetation along the stream corridors. Bedell, T.E., Eddleman L.E., Deboodt, T., C. Jacks. 1993. Western Juniper-Its Impact and Management in Oregon Rangelands. Oregon State University-Extension Service EC 1417. Fornwalt, P. Rocca, M., Battaglia, M., Rhoades, C., M. Ryan. 2016. Mulching Fuels Treatments Promote Understory Plant Communities in Three Colorado, USA, Coniferous Forest Types. Forest Ecology and Management 385 (2017) 214-224. UDEQ, 2004. TMDL Water Quality Study of the Virgin River Watershed. Utah Department of Environmental Quality. EPA Approval Date: September 20, 2004.

NEPA was completed in 2016. SHPO-Arch clearance completed. USFWS ESA concurrence completed. The NEPA decision has been attached for reference under the Documents Tab.

The treatment will consist of hand cut, prune and pile activities. This project is an extension to WRI projects #4450 in 2018 and #4792 in FY2019. There are 754 acres available for cut, prune and pile treatments. The Forest Service is providing funds to treat approximately 367 of the 754 acres in 2021.

Forest Fuels Ecologist and District Fuels Specialist will conduct pre-treatment analysis (Brown's Transects etc.) and post-treatment analysis at 1, 3, 5 and 10 year increments. Forest Botanist will continue to monitor Long-Term Vegetation Trend data sites within and surrounding project area which includes sites #1893 and #1992. Forest fisheries biologist surveys approximately every 5 years along the Santa Clara river headwaters (Left Fork, Middle Fork, and Right Fork) and has 2-3 years of baseline data for those sites including for 2017. District biologist conducts pre and post photo points to record changes in vegetation generally within the first year and third year following treatment. Monitoring of Forest Management Indicator Species (MIS) that includes wild turkey and northern flickers occur annually within the project area. The Brown's point and Pine Valley Flicker transects are within the project boundary. Wild turkey's are counted during bald eagle surveys near Pine Valley Reservoir during the winter months, post treatment monitoring will include summer habitat conditions within the ponderosa pine vegetation type. The Forest utilizes UDWR monitoring data for mule deer and elk population status, objectives and habitat conditions that include winter surveys and Utah Big Game Range Trend Studies. Monitoring efforts and data will be gathered by District biologist and entered into the WRI database (photo's and documents).

This proposal is looking to utilize FS funds through WRI to implement this portion of the project. USFS, UDWR, USFWS, DNR, Washington County, Utah Forestry Fire and State, Pine Valley Fire Department, Special Services District, Community Wildfire Preparedness Plan-Pine Valley, Pine Valley Cattle Allotment Permitees. Scoping included at least two public town meetings at the local Fire Department building. Portions of the project where implemented during the Saddle Fire of 2016 during fire suppression efforts

Portions of the project area is within the Pine Valley cattle grazing allotment. The steep slopes and rock outcroppings along the southern portion of the project area generally make it inaccessible for livestock. Livestock tend to use the lower valleys just outside of town. The Pine Valley Recreation Area and campground within the east side of the project area restricts grazing. Project actions (seeding etc.) will include post-treatment grazing resting of two growing seasons and will be outlined in Annual Operating Instructions. Herding, salting and temporary fences will also be used to allow proper rest. This project will add to the ability for the Dixie National Forest to allow to use naturally ignited fires to be used in the Pine Valley Wilderness to move toward a more natural fuel loading and age diversity of the vegetation with in the wilderness itself. When we completed the NEPA for this project we included the ability to maintain the effectiveness of the fuel break by routine maintenance projects. This will help protect the investment in the future. The recreation aspect within this project area is huge, especially within the Pine Valley Recreation Area and campground which is one of the most used on the forest. Our trail maintenance program is on board with how these treatments will impact the recreation resource. Mitigation measures are in place (visuals and access) for future management with this resource and its complex trail/wilderness system. The Pine Valley reservoir is adjacent to this project area. Bald eagle, raptor and other wildlife surveys are performed annually at this site which will aid in determining overall forest health and habitat suitability. The Santa Clara Fuels reduction project in this area which has been ongoing since 2004 has had great success. This project has reduce fuel loading and conifer encroachment within the Ponderosa pine stands and riparian areas as well. Creating these small opening and removing encroaching conifer has yielded improve foraging areas for wildlife, this area has a plethora of wild turkeys and fawning mule deer.

The proposed action will improve foraging habitat for both wildlife and livestock. Heavy fuel loading will be reduced thus allowing sunlight to penetrate the forest floor to allow grasses, forbs and shrubs to perpetuate. Seeding the project area will further aid in maintaining and improving the palatable vegetation. Improving the quantity and quality of the grass and forb component on Forest System Lands may help elevate the grazing pressure on adjacent private lands in the town of Pine Valley.

07/01/2021

06/30/2024

2024

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