Pinyon/juniper expansion on the western slopes of the Deep Creek Mountains has degraded sagebrush habitat and greatly increased the risk of severe wildfire. This effort builds on previous treatments in the area to reduce pinyon/juniper which will enhance wildlife habitat, prevent ecosystem degradation, and reduce the buildup of hazardous fuels. Healthy sagebrush ecosystems should consist of a diverse array of plants and support a wide variety of wildlife species. However, sagebrush habitat on the western side of the Deep Creek Mountains is degraded due to pinyon/juniper expansion and infilling. Where trees dominate, they outcompete understory species for light, moisture, and nutrients eventually resulting in nearly complete removal of the understory. Without understory vegetation the native seed bank is depleted and the site becomes susceptible to soil erosion and invasion by cheatgrass. Excessive fuel buildup can eventually lead to high severity wildfire which may threaten property and further degrade the ecosystem by promoting the growth and expansion of cheatgrass. Once established, cheatgrass becomes a major obstacle preventing the recolonization and growth of native perennial vegetation. In order to curb this process of degradation it is essential that action be taken. Degraded sagebrush habitat can be improved by removing pinyon and junipers and seeding with perennial species where understory species are lacking. This proactive approach reduces the risk of wildfire and possible cheatgrass dominance by decreasing fuel loads and replenishing the seedbank with desirable species. The purpose of this project is to remove pinyon/juniper from sagebrush habitat which will decrease the risk of high severity wildfire, prevent ecosystem degradation due to tree dominance and loss of sagebrush and perennial grasses and forbs, and improve and expand habitat for sagebrush dependent wildlife.

1) Expand sagebrush habitat for greater sage-grouse that could be occupied immediately after treatment. 2) Mitigate the 3 major threats to sagebrush habitat: fire, conifer expansion, and invasive species. 3) Protect crucial winter habitat for sage-grouse, mule deer, and elk. 4) Increase available moisture for residual and seeded plant species by removing competition from trees. 5) Reduce crown fire potential and fuel loading by decreasing pinyon/juniper cover to less than 5% in treated areas immediately post treatment. 6) Improve ecosystem resiliency and meet habitat objectives defined in the BLM Utah Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment by increasing perennial grass and forb cover to greater than or equal to 8% and 4%, respectively, by 3 years post treatment.

Sagebrush habitat is threatened due to increased fuel loading from pinyon/juniper expansion and infilling, and risk of high severity wildfire. High severity wildfire could lead to an Increase in cheatgrass and loss of perennial native species. This project will decrease the risk of high severity wildfire by reducing fuel loading and promoting the growth of perennial understory species which are critical to maintaining ecosystem resilience. Implementing treatments sooner rather than later will prevent ecological thresholds being crossed that would result in additional loss of sagebrush habitat.

The project area occurs within the sagebrush steppe type which is one of the key habitats identified in the WAP. This area supports elk, mule deer (Tier III) and Greater sage grouse (Tier II). Numerous other species of concern (Tier III) also inhabit the area including neotropical birds and raptors. The proposed treatments lie within Central Region UPCD focus areas. 12 management plans/policies are referenced, some with multiple objectives. 1) House Range Resource Area Resource Management Plan (BLM 1987), as amended: a) Wildlife: Manage wildlife habitat to favor a diversity of game and non-game species; Improve habitat in poor and fair condition on crucial and high priority habitat; Improve riparian and fisheries habitat currently in poor or fair condition; and Protect all T&E and sensitive species habitats. b) Fire: The goals and objectives of the program will be to reduce human and ecological losses; complement resource management objectives and sustain productivity of biological systems through fire management. 2) Utah Greater Sage-Grouse Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment (BLM 2019): a) Objective SSS-1: Maintain and/or increase GRSG abundance and distribution by conserving, enhancing or restoring the sagebrush ecosystem upon which populations depend in collaboration with other conservation partners. b) Objective SSS-3: In PHMA, where sagebrush is the current or potential dominant vegetation type or is a primary species within the various states of the ecological site description, maintain or restore vegetation to provide habitat for lekking, nesting, brood rearing, and winter habitats. c) Objective SSS-4: Within PHMA, increase the amount and functionality of seasonal habitats by: i) Maintaining or increasing sagebrush in perennial grasslands, where needed to meet the Habitat Objectives for Greater Sage-Grouse, unless there is a conflict with Utah prairie dog. ii) Reducing conifer (e.g., pinyon/juniper) from areas that are most likely to support GRSG at a rate that is at least equal to the rate of encroachment. iii) Reducing the extent of invasive annual grasslands. iv) Maintaining or improving corridors for migration or movement between seasonal habitats, as well as for long-term genetic connections between populations. v) Maintaining or improving understory (grass, forb) and/or riparian condition within breeding and late brood-rearing habitats. vi) Conducting vegetation treatments based on the following 10-year (decadal) acreage objectives: For the Ibapah population area for mechanical treatments the objective is 17,900 acres; for annual grass treatments the objective is 2,100 acres. vii) Outside PHMA (in adjacent opportunity areas) improve and restore historical GRSG habitat to support GRSG populations and to maintain or enhance connectivity. d) Objective SSS-5: Participate in local GRSG conservation efforts (e.g., the appropriate State of Utah agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and local working groups) to implement landscape-scale habitat conservation, to implement consistent management to benefit GRSG, and to gather and use local research and monitoring to promote the conservation of GRSG. e) MA-VEG-1: In PHMA, where necessary to meet GRSG habitat objectives, treat areas to maintain and expand healthy GRSG habitat (e.g., conifer encroachment areas and invasive annual grasslands). f) MA-VEG-2: Remove conifers encroaching into sagebrush habitats, in a manner that considers tribal cultural values. g) MA-VEG-4: In PHMA, include GRSG habitat objectives in restoration/treatment projects. Include short-term and long-term habitat conditions in treatment objectives, including specific objectives for the establishment of sagebrush cover and height, as well as cover and heights for understory perennial grasses and forbs necessary for GRSG seasonal habitats (see Objective SSS-3). h) MA-FIRE-3: In PHMA, fuel treatments will be designed through an interdisciplinary process to expand, enhance, maintain, or protect GRSG habitat. 3) Rangeland Health Standards and Guidelines for Healthy Rangelands. BLM Utah State Office (1997). Standard 3: a) Desired species...are maintained at a level appropriate for the site and species involved. As indicated by frequency, diversity, density, age classes, and productivity of desired native species necessary to ensure reproductive capability and survival. 4) Utah Conservation Plan for Greater Sage-Grouse (UDWR 2019): a) Conservation goal: Protect, maintain and increase sage-grouse populations within the established SGMAs throughout Utah. b) Habitat Objective: Protect, maintain and increase sage-grouse habitats within SGMAs at or above 2013 baseline disturbance levels. c) Conservation Strategy 2: Implement the actions outlined in EO/002/2015 and related MOUs, along with the Governor's Catastrophic Wildfire Reduction Strategy, relevant sections of State code, and the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy, to reduce the size, severity and frequency of wildfires in and adjacent to SGMAs: i) 2A. Coordinate across relevant state agencies to ensure maximum conservation and risk reduction benefit to sage-grouse populations on all land management projects, prescribed fires, and fire suppression actions in and adjacent to SGMAs. d) Conservation Strategy 4b: Work with federal, state and private landowners to protect an average of at least 5,000 acres annually of the highest-priority habitats identified in 4(a) through voluntary conservation covenants, leases, easements, transfers, acquisitions or other legal or regulatory tools. e) Conservation Strategy 4c: Using Utah's Watershed Restoration Initiative (WRI), remove conifer as appropriate in areas protected in 4(b) to ensure that existing functional habitats remain intact. Conservation Strategy 4e: Increase sage-grouse habitats by using the WRI--and other state, federal and private partnerships--to restore or create 50,000 acres of habitat within or adjacent to occupied habitats each year, in addition to those acres identified in 4(d). 5) Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) Conservation Objectives: Final Report. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Denver, CO. February 2013: a) General Conservation Objectives: 1. Stop population declines and habitat loss. 2. Implement targeted habitat management and restoration. b) Specific Conservation Objectives: 1. Retain sage-grouse habitats within PAC's. 3. Restore and rehabilitate degraded sage-grouse habitats in PAC's. c) Conservation Objective: Maintain and restore healthy native sagebrush plant communities within the range of sage-grouse d) Conservation Objective: Remove pinyon/juniper from areas of sagebrush that are most likely to support sage-grouse (post-removal) at a rate that is at least equal to the rate of pinyon/juniper incursion. i) Prioritize the use of mechanical treatments. ii) Reduce juniper cover in sage-grouse habitats to less than 5% but preferably eliminate entirely. iii) Employ all necessary management actions to maintain the benefit of juniper removal for sage-grouse habitats. 6) Utah Wildlife Action Plan. DWR Publication Number 15-14, State of Utah, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife Resources, Effective 2015-2025: a) The proposed action supports mitigating threats to Lowland Sagebrush including: i) Promoting policies and management that allow fire to return to a more natural regime. ii) Promoting policies that reduce inappropriate grazing by domestic livestock, feral domesticated animals, and wildlife. iii) Promoting and funding restoration that reduces the Uncharacteristic class, including cutting/mulching/chaining of invading pinyon and juniper trees, herbicide or mechanical treatment of non-native invasive species such as cheatgrass and secondary perennial weed species, and rehabilitation of burned areas following wildfire. iv) Promoting management that includes seeding a diversity of grasses, forbs and shrubs that will lead to increased resiliency and resistance in the plant community. 7) Utah Mule Deer Statewide Management Plan. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources: a) Section IV Statewide Management Goals and Objectives. This proposal 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 (see pages 19 and 20). i) Strategy 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 need enhancement or restoration. ii) Strategy D: 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. iii) Strategy F: Encourage land managers to manage portions of pinion-juniper woodlands and aspen/conifer forests in early successional stages. 8) Utah Elk Herd Management Plan. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Elk Herd Unit #19, West Desert, 2016. Unit Management Objectives; Habitat: Maintain a stable or improving range trend on the important areas of elk habitat; Achieve an improving range trend on the important winter range areas on the Deep Creek Mountains; Work with the BLM on habitat improvement projects on winter ranges. Limit winter range conversion from wildfires to cheat grass, juniper encroachment, control ATV use. 9) The Utah Smoke Management Plan (1999, 2006 revision): a) By using mechanical mastication this plan will accomplish Goal #5, Use of alternative methods to burning for disposing of or reducing the amount of wildland fuels on lands in the State (p3). 10) State of Utah Hazard Mitigation Plan (March 2011): a) This plan accomplishes statewide goals including, 1) Protection of natural resources and the environment, when considering mitigation measures and 2) Minimize the risk of wildfire (p12). 11) A Collaborative Approach for Reducing Wildland Fire Risks to Communities and the Environment 10-Year Comprehensive Strategy Implementation Plan (U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service 2002): a) 1) Improve fire prevention and suppression; 2) Reduce hazardous fuels; and 3) Maintain and restore fire adapted ecosystems. 12) Secretarial Order 3336 -- Implementation Plan: Rangeland, Fire Prevention, Management and Restoration. a) Section 7b(iii) -- Expand the focus on fuels reduction opportunities and implementation b) Section 7b(iv) -- Fully integrate the emerging science of ecological resiliency into design of habitat management, fuels management, and restoration projects.

One of the major threats to sagebrush habitat is fire. The Ibapah lek complex is near the proposed treatment and sage-grouse regularly occupy the surrounding area. The proposed treatment areas are within crucial winter habitat for sage-grouse, mule deer, and elk. This project will help protect winter habitat by decreasing both fuel loading and fire potential. Although the western and northern portions of the Deep Creeks area appears to be within historic values for fire regime (the Fire Regime is currently classified as III and IV which is defined as "low and mixed severity" and "replacement" fire respectively, occurring between 35-200 years) the condition class (CC; IIA) is moderately departed from historic norms (LANDFIRE 2016). Removing the pinyon/juniper will help improve the condition class and promote ecosystem resiliency.

A recent publication by Roundy et al. 2014 (Pinyon-juniper reduction increases soil water availability of the resource growth pool. Range Ecology and Management 67:495-505) showed that phase 3 pinyon/juniper removal can increase available moisture for more than 3 weeks in the spring. And removing trees from phase 1 and 2 stands can increase water from 6-20 days respectively. Because pinyon/juniper are prolific water users they readily outcompete understory species which eventually die off. Removing pinyon/juniper is critical for restoring sagebrush habitat and ecosystem resilience because of the water available to other species once they're gone. The scale of this project (>5,000 acres of tree removal) will contribute greatly to overall water availability and also help decrease erosion by promoting perennial grasses and forbs which help stabilize soils. Decreased erosion potential may help improve water quality.

Cultural clearances will be completed prior to implementation. NEPA will begin in early spring 2021 and be completed no later than August 2021.

Use rubber-tired or tracked bullhogs to masticate about 5,400 acres of phase 2-3 pinyon/juniper. The treatment will remove up to 100% of trees in select areas. Other areas will be identified for selective removal, taking all juniper and leaving pinyon within a certain size class. Residual trees are to be of varying size and age classes. The edges of the treatment that border Wilderness Study Areas will be designed to blend into the natural landscape. Trees with old-growth characteristics will be avoided. Areas where perennial grasses and forbs are lacking will be seeded prior to mastication to increase perennial plant cover and diversity. Areas of low-density trees will be cut using contracted hand crews with chainsaws. Approximately 4,000 acres have been identified for hand cutting. The work will be contracted and should begin in fall of 2021.

Multiple 3-spoke monitoring plots will be established and read within the project area. Vegetation and ground cover data will be collected using the line-point intercept method and nested frequency. Photos will be taken and a botanical survey of the plot completed. Sagegrouse occupancy will also be assessed within our plots. Data will be collected pre, 1, 3, and 5 years post treatment. Reports will be generated as data are collected and summarized and uploaded to the WRI database. We will work with UDWR biologists to monitor for pinyon jays and other bird species prior to implementation of the project. We will utilize BLM and UDWR staff to conduct these surveys. We will do a series of transects within the project areas prior to mastication. We hope to get two surveys prior so that we can compare the results before and after. We will also survey areas adjacent to the project area to serve as a control.

BLM and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources representatives did a site tour in October 2020. UDWR provided potential treatment polygons which BLM later refined. Coordination with SITLA has occurred and they are supportive of the project. BLM will meet with Confederated Tribe of the Goshutes to seek their approval and discuss potential leave areas for wood cutting. Meetings with BLM grazing permittees will occur prior to implementation so that rest from grazing can be coordinated. BLM has reached out to the private land owner on the Ibapah side whose land falls within the identified treatment area and they have agreed to participate in the project and allow their land to be treated.

The treatments will occur within the Ibapah, Ochre, and Clifton allotments. Pinyon/juniper encroachment is listed as a threat to native and seeded areas on the allotment. The mastication treatment would improve the demand for forage among livestock and wildlife and would move the area towards the attainment of rangeland health standards (43 CFR 4100-0-2). The treatment will reduce competition with the existing understory thereby allowing it to "release" naturally. Grazing may be controlled through manipulation of watering troughs within the allotment. This area will be maintained as sagebrush habitat. Potential threats include noxious weed invasion, cross country OHV use, and reinvasion of pinyon/juniper. Periodic visual inspection, photo points, and vegetation monitoring will occur to assess current conditions and track trends over time. The longevity of the treatment will be maintained by slashing young junipers that resprout within the project area. Slashing could occur in 10 to 15 year intervals post-treatment. Seeded areas will be rested from grazing for a minimum of two growing seasons. A grazing rest agreement will be signed by permittees prior to treatment initiation.

Where pinyon/juniper dominates they outcompete understory vegetation for water and nutrients. Over time, these understory species become less productive and vigorous and eventually die out. Removing juniper releases understory grasses and forbs from competition which increases plant vigor and rangeland productivity. Pinyon/juniper removal treatments alone help increase forage quantity and quality for livestock but are especially effective when combined with seeding perennial grasses and forbs where depleted. These treatments will increase forage value within the Ibapah, Ochre, and Clifton allotments. These treatments will also help support recreation and hunting by maintaining healthy sagebrush ecosystems which are critical to wildlife such as mule deer, elk, and others.

07/14/2021

04/25/2022

2022

SWCA was awarded the contract for $31/acre to complete 4,336 acres of Class III survey. SHPO concurrence was received 04/25/2022.

SWCA was awarded the contract on 07/14/2021 for 4,336 acres split between the Ibapah and Clifton Flat project areas. Acres were adjusted to 3,976 after private landowners withdrew their land from being treated. Field work was completed in late November 2021 with deliverables provided to BLM in early April of 2022. SHPO concurrence was received 04/25/2022.

SHPO concurred with the determination of "No Historic Properties Affected". All eligible sites will be removed from mastication treatment areas.