The East Fork area consist of open grass and wet meadow bottomlands surrounded by ponderosa pine parklands on pink Claron formation soils. The proposed treatment area serves as a connection for UPD to other meadows on the Paunsaugunt portion of the UPD recovery unit. 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 nearby. The brush 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. The stream flowing through the treatment areas (East Creek) provides high quality habitat for a native Bonneville trout fishery. Replacing upland vegetation with hydric species will improve habitat for native trout and native speckled dace in the 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 maintenance as well as possible 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 have occupied the project area on and off for the last 10 years consistently. Over time and with plague abatement efforts the colony has grown. The objectives of the project are to: 1) Reduce rabbit brush and sagebrush across 89 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 brush, and 4) Improve forage capacity for livestock and wildlife by increasing grasses and removing brush.

Continued expansion and establishment of rabbitbrush and native sage within the project area is a threat as these shrub-types are 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 greatly increases the likelihood that UPD will abandon the area instead of expanding or maintaining their range in this meadow complex. Timely treatment is necessary as the area provides a corridor to other colonies. Because the area has limited connectivity to other large colonies it is more critical that this project happens immediately. Some invasive non-native musk thistle is also found at the proposed treatment site but is limited. UPD will not tolerate the taller vegetation (brush) and will eventually leave the are if it becomes to brushy. 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 that are now utilizing the East fork and Blue fly areas,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.

1)Utah's Wildlife Action Plan (WAP): The WAP identifies the following key habitats that would be addressed by this project: Riverine, and Mountain sagebrush. The WAP lists Inappropriate Fire Frequency and Intensity a high-level threat for BCT and mule deer. Actions supported by the project include: 2.3.14 Conduct upland vegetation treatments to restore characteristic upland vegetation, and reduce uncharacteristic fuel types and loadings, 2.3.15 and 2.3.17 Apply or allow more fire in habitats/locations where fire was historically more frequent or intense. The WAP lists Problematic Plant Species - Native Upland as a Very High-level threat to Mountain sagebrush communities. The proposed project reduces risk from invasive species by addressing the invasive rabbitbrush and catastrophic fire issues by mechanically removing rabbitbrush. The proposed mowing and herbicide treatments addresses several key issues by removing the threat from fire, reducing impact followed with noxious weeds, improving grazing distribution on the cattle allotment, reduces sediment and run-off into the east fork of the Sevier river, and improves overall habitat effectiveness for the Utah Prairie dog, Greater Sage grouse, and Mule deer. The project has been coordinated with the Utah Prairie dog recovery team and will be discussed with COCARM Greater Sage grouse working group. 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 Greater 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.

Rabbitbrush can be a highly volatile fuel type with extreme flame length. When fires burn in rabbitbush they are intense, hot, and deadly to small mammals. More importantly fire does not kill rabbitbrush and it generally sprouts back from roots immediately. The proposed mastication and herbicide treatment is a proven technique that works to address this issue. Fuels characteristics can be altered through changing the structure of the fuel type. While rabbitbrush can be highly flammable, removing it will create more of a grass fuel type where flame lengths and fire intensity is diminished and make suppression efforts much easier. Nearby vegetation and other wildlife habitat will be protected by minimizing the potential for long flame lengths and extreme fire behavior.

The project area is in the East creek drainage which encompasses many small perennial tributaries. The East Fork Sevier River is 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 contribute to fine sediment loading reductions in this project area. 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 east creek drainage and entire Paunsaugunt plateau there have been head cuts 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.

Within the proposed 89-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 will 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 2021. 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 vegetation trend studies nearby to help monitor vegetation response and impacts from ungulates. These sites are monitored on a 5-year intervals. 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. East fork was last monitored in 2017. The results of Forest monitoring are published in a biennial monitoring report that can be uploaded from the UWRI web site. UDWR aquatics monitors this stream on a regular basis as well. 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 East Fork 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).

Garfield county has begun to support Utah Prairie dog translocation projects on public lands within the project area. In 2020 USFS and Garfield county signed an agreement to partner on Utah Prairie dog conservation. Garfield county has witnessed the commitment to improve vegetation resources and has recognized that projects such as PJ removal can benefit both UPD/Sage grouse and livestock grazing at the same time. Garfield county has contributed over $20 K to conservation efforts involving trapping UPD, and other conservation efforts within the proposed Mud Springs Conservation area. USFS recently attended a Garfield County commission meeting in December of 2021 and they have committed to fund an additional $30 K towards UPD conservation efforts. WRI funding of projects within Garfield county has helped them contribute and partner with USFS on the conservation efforts within this area. 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. In addition to these partners Utah Endangered Species Mitigation Fund has been an active partner on multiple projects throughout the Paunsaugunt recovery unit for Utah Prairie dog. Funding from this group has paved the way for increased conservation for the last 10-15 years. There is an on-going partnership now between the Dixie National Forest, and Garfield County to work together towards Utah Prairie Dog conservation. Because of past vegetation improvement projects funded by UWRI and the USFS, Garfield county now recognizes the benefits that UPD conservation efforts can have on the landscape. This partnership and signed agreement have allowed for further UPD and Greater Sage grouse conservation. In 2020 the USFS partnered with Garfield county to install a UPD translocation site on Garfield County Conservation Easement property. To further that conservation effort the USFS again partnered with Garfield county in 2021 to install an additional UPD translocation site on BLM land. WRI funding of projects within Garfield county has helped them contribute and partner with USFS on the conservation efforts within this area. The primary partnership focus of the proposed rabbit-brush reduction project is to improve occupied UPD habitat. Additional UPD conservation activities are now funded through this new partnership with Garfield County, including: Counting UPD, plague abatement activities on USFS, County, and private lands, trapping and translocating UPD to approved sites and on existing public lands/occupied sites.

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. The Dixie National Forest is encouraged 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. Increases in livestock forage capacity and overall improvements in watershed health are expected outcomes 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 critical occupied 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 2022 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 the uplands and riparian's are stabilized in this area proper grazing will remain key to providing habitat for critical species such as UPD that are also in the treatment area. As habitat improvements are made increases in population numbers are expected.

The proposed project would be expected to enhance wildlife habitat effectiveness on over 89 acres of USFS administered land. The area is also managed for livestock grazing and is part of the East Fork and Robinson/Robinson C & H allotment. This allotment is managed for 308 head under an 8 pasture deferred grazing system from June 16 through October 5 annually. It is expected that the 89 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.

11/01/2023

11/30/2023

2024

This was a follow-up from a 2022 treatment project. The contractor Todd Lloyd / Bonneville services was contacted in fall of 2023 to retreat. The contractor mowed the rabbitbrush areas and then treated the area with Tordon 22k. Curtis Roundy/UDWR helped with getting the contractor to cooperate and retreat the area. The contractor showed up late in October 2023 to retreat the project area. The project was completed to spec and forest service staff inspected and documented the project. The contract was finalized in November of 2023 as a successful project.

The goal of this project was a rabbit brush treatment project where herbicide was applied after mowing the rabbit brush in late fall. This will improve habitat for the Utah prairie dog, sage grouse and other wildlife species along the East Fork of the Sevier River. The project area had been treated in a previous phase during the fall/winter of 2022 however the contractor came too late in the year and was stopped by deep snow. Some of the area had to be re-treated a 2nd time as the treatment the first year did not have a good kill rate due to deep snow. Lessons learned are to not allow for treatment when there is significant snow depth. USFS facilitated supplying chemical, Tordon 22k twice for the project. The contractor was to apply this chemical at a rate of 2 quarts per acre after the brush was mowed with heavy tractor. He arrived late again the 2nd year and had mechanical issue with equipment while treating the area. Forest service staff were on site to inspect, document the operation to assure that spec was met. The outcome of this project has been a success.

There should not be much future treatment needed. USFS will monitor for rabbitbrush re-growth. Several trips have been made to the area to inspect the progress of treatment. We are very pleased with this project for the future habitat.