The Santaquin and Mona benches WMAs have needs for shrub restoration. From fires and historic agriculture practices the shru component has been lost or degraded. These shrub species are important for big game in the winter and many other wildlife species. Improving mule deer and elk winter range on these WMAs is important to reach the primary objective of these properties. Rabbits and other upland game will benefit from the additional cover provided by shrubs. This will benefit their populations and in turn benefit predators like golden eagles that depend on these species for food.

1. Increase the amount of shrubs to provide more food for wintering big game. 2. Maintain a diversity of age classes of shrub plants to increase resilience of native shrub community. 3. Protect sagebrush and other shrubs for sage-grouse, pheasants, quail, and other WAP species. 4. Improve health of watershed by restricting establishment of weed species. 5. Help reduce fire risk from allowing cheatgrass to establish.

By not doing this project we risk losing more of the surviving shrubs from increased browsing pressure. By losing the entire shrub communities we will cross an ecological threshold that will result in large losses of mule deer populations and require many years and more money to restore. We also by not having younger shrubs we risk having just older shrubs that will eventually die off and will be more vulnerable to disease and drought. This project will help ensure that we have more food available now for big game and other wildlife species and have food available in the future.

Utah Statewide Mule Deer Management Plan 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. b. Work with land management agencies, conservation organizations, private landowners, and local leaders through the regional Watershed Restoration Initiative working groups to identify and prioritize mule deer habitats that are in need of enhancement or restoration (Figure 6). d. Initiate broad scale vegetative treatment projects to improve mule deer habitat with emphasis on drought or fire damaged sagebrush winter ranges Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Strategic Plan. Goal A: Conserve, protect, enhance and manage Utah's wildlife. Obj. A-1:Maintain populations of harvestable wildlife species at species or drainage management plan objective levels through 2003. Obj. A-2:Increase the distribution and/or abundance of 10% of the 1998 classified state sensitive species by 2003. Obj. A-4: Maintain distribution and abundance of all other naturally occurring wildlife and native plant species through 2003. Goal B: Conserve, protect, enhance and manage Utah's ecosystems. Obj. B-1: Increase the functioning of 10% of the currently impaired ecosystems. Obj. B-2: Prevent declining conditions in both impaired and currently functional ecosystems The Habitat Management Plan for this unit states: Goal III, objective 1 "Maintain key forage species on winter range" This project will help meet some of the Habitat management strategies listed * Improve sagebrush and bitterbrush habitats with seed and/or seedling transplant projects. * Utilize mechanical treatments to enhance sagebrush seedling establishment in over mature sagebrush stands. Wildlife Action Plan 1. The project area occurs within the sagebrush steppe type which is one of the key habitats identified in the WAP. This area supports mule deer (S4), elk (SNA) and numerous other species of concern also inhabit the area including neotropical birds and raptors. WRI Focus Areas The proposed treatments lie within Central Region UPCD focus areas. Santaquin City Community Wildfire Protection Plan: 1) Community will work with county, state and federal fire officials to decrease fuels on adjacent public lands to reduce wildfire intensity, and impact in and around the community. 2)Fuels reduction project east of Exit 242 near shooting areas on DNR land. 2003 Forest Plan Uinta NF: 1) Sub-goal-2-1(G-2-1) The fuel management aspect of the fire management program is emphasized through application of hazard reduction activities. 2)Sub-goal-2-8 (G-2-8) Ecosystem resilience is maintained by providing for a full range of seral stages and age classes (by cover type) that achieve a mosaic of habitat conditions and diversity to meet a variety of desired resource management objectives. Recruitment and sustainability of some early seral species and vegetation communities in the landscape are necessary to maintain ecosystem resilience to perturbations. 3)Sub-goal-2-25 (G-2-25) Maintain stable and upward conditions in big game winter range habitats and improve downward trend sites. 4)Objective-2-17 (O-2-17) By 2018, complete 1,000 acres of big game winter range habitat improvements to reach desired future conditions. Statewide Turkey Managment Pan III. ISSUES AND CONCERNS High Priority: Urgent and Important Issue H2. Insufficient Winter Habitat Concern A. Starvation during severe weather. Concern B. Winter overutilization of urban and agricultural areas Objective 1.Stabilize populations that are declining outside of natural population fluctuations; especially through catastrophic events (i.e. following fires, severe winters, etc.). Strategy c: Conduct habitat projects to address limiting factors. Objective 2.Increase wild turkey habitat, quality and quantity, by 40,000 acres statewide by 2020.Strategy d:Conduct habitat improvement projects in limiting habitat(s). Objective 1.Decrease the number of chronic material damage complaints per turkeys by 25% by 2020. Strategy Improve habitat to draw wild turkey populations away from conflict.

By having younger shrubs and forbs that are not as decadent and dry as older dying shrubs it will reduce the risk and severity of fire. Hopefully it will serve as green strip areas where fires will slow or stop. By maintaining healthy stand of shrubs and native plants it will prevent annual grasses from establishing that can increase the fuel load and dryness of plants that increase fire risk. We will be planting forbs that will serve as strips of greener vegetation that will also help reduce fire spread.

By having a healthy diversity of age class shrubs it will prevent a mono-culture of old decadent plants which can die off and result in invasion of weedy plants such as cheatgrass. Cheatgrass will absorb all of the available water and decrease the plant diversity. By doing this project there will be more available water for native understory plants to increase diversity. This will also help prevent cheatgrass from establishing and creating an unnatural fire regime that will result in greater increases in erosion and sedimentation that will reduce water quality.

All necessary cultural clearances will be conducted prior to implementation of this project. This project is on UDWR properties and NEPA will not be necessary.

We will use a dozer with a harrow on the back that makes a 2' wide scalp to remove grass competition. The bare soil will reduce competition from grasses and allow for naturally seeding to occur. We will also broadcast shrub and forb seed and use dribblers to augment the amount of seed and diversity of species. We will be planting two year old shrubs with vexar mesh protectors to help increase survival. These plants will be planted with volunteer help from sportsman and other groups as well as hired contractors and paid seasonals.

We will use photo points before and after project implementation to determine the success of these plantings.

The UDWR will partner with sportsman groups to fund the project and get volunteers to help plant shrub seedlings. We have not expanded the project beyond UDWR land ownership boundaries on WMAs because the cost and time to plant such a large area is not feasible in a single year. We will work with USFS and other adjacent landowners in the future once we have completed all desired planting areas on UDWR lands.

hese properties are wildlife management areas that are protected for the benefit of wildlife. They will not be developed and the benefits we are trying to accomplish for the ecosystem will be preserved. We will continue to graze in early spring and summer with cattle to help to hit those undesired grasses to remove competition with the shrubs plantings. If we see that cattle are disturbing the plantings we can place electric fence around the plantings to further protect them. We will continue to do future plantings as needed until we have achieved the desired range conditions.

This will help to improve the diversity and quantity of browse species on these WMAs. The WMAs are all actively grazed. This project will help to establish native grasses and forbs as these shrub communites establish. This will help increase the available forage as less palatable annual grasses are displaced. This project will also increase the value of these properties for hunting big game and upland game birds.

10/19/2022

11/19/2022

2023

In October of 2022, we used a dozer with a plow on the back to remove grass competition that makes a 2' wide scalp. This creates bare soil, which allows for natural seeding to occur. We broadcast shrub and forb seed by using dribblers to augment the amount of seed and diversity of species within these plowed rows. In November of 2022, we planted 14,000 5-7 month old shrubs with vexar mesh protectors to help increase survival. We planted two seed harvesting plots that come from palatable shrub sources at Hobble Creek and Gordon Creek WMAs. These were planted in PL 50pots. We also did a section of PL 50 pots with multiple different seed sources to see if there is a difference in survival. The remainder were planted in d-40 pots. We hired contractors to plant all of these plants. They used hand augers and shovels. We had frost come early and some of the plants seemed to be frozen in the containers while waiting to be planted. This may have caused some damage to the roots when planted. We also had the contractor plant 7,000 seedlings at our Spencer Fork WMA. We also scalped and seeded (See photos).

For this project, we focused on the shrub component of the Santaquin and Mona benches WMA, which has been lost or degraded due to fires and historic agricultural practices. Through shrub restoration, mule deer and elk winter range is improved. Additionally, rabbits and other upland game benefit through the additional cover provided by the planted shrubs, which increases the population. This benefits predators such as golden eagles, which depend on rabbits for food.

These properties are wildlife management areas that are protected for the benefit of wildlife. They will not be developed and the benefits we are trying to accomplish for the ecosystem will be preserved. We will continue to graze in early spring and summer with cattle to help to hit those undesired grasses to remove competition with the shrub plantings. If we see that cattle are disturbing the plantings, we can place electric fence around the plantings to further protect them. We will continue to do future plantings as needed until we have achieved the desired range conditions.