Both the Uinta Wasatch Cache National Forest and the UDWR have an interest in collecting baseline and monitoring data on USFS special status plant species in the Logan Ranger District. This interest is currently being driven by a possible augmentation of mountain goats in this area and whether these special status plants may be affected where habitats may overlap.

The main objective of this project is to provide baseline and potentially monitoring data on select USFS special status plant species in the Logan Ranger District where habitat for these plants intersect with potential habitat for mountain goats. This information will be needed to be better able to determine whether mountain goats have an effect on these special status species.

This project is only tasked with collecting baseline data on select special status plants in the Logan Peak area

The Logan Ranger District in the Uinta Wasatch Cache National Forest currently has many baseline data and trend monitoring needs for these important resources as well as many management plans, directions, standards and guidelines from the Forest that pertain to these resources. Management Direction * Endangered Species Act: Current FWS recovery criteria for the threatened Maguire's primrose (Primula maguirei) states "ensure...habitat is protected from environmental degradation through section 7 of the Act" (i.e., actions carried out are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any threatened or endangered species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of their critical habitats). * Forest Service Manual (FSM) 2670: The Forest Service will develop and implement management practices to ensure that sensitive species do not become threatened or endangered because of Forest Service actions, maintain viable populations, and avoid or minimize impacts to species whose viability has been identified as a concern. * R4 Sensitive Plant Program Handbook 2609.25: All necessary steps will be taken to assure that agency actions do not jeopardize the continued existence of the sensitive species or result in the destruction or modification of their essential habitat. * FSM 2551.03: The Forest Service will ensure soil resource management is consistent with the goal of maintaining or improving soil quality and soil hydrologic function. * Wasatch-Cache National Forest Plan: Desired Condition - Management activities within rare plant habitats will maintain or restore and provide for recovery of populations of current and proposed sensitive plant species at risk. - Proper stocking levels and utilization intensities of wildlife will maintain and protect rare plants and their associated habitat. - Protective measures will be provided for Maguire's primrose and Frank Smith's violet populations in the lower portions of Logan Canyon. - Logan Canyon Botanical Special Interest Area will be maintained to ensure continuance of ongoing natural conditions and processes. It is desirable to maintain habitat for pollinators here and continue carrying out recovery plan for Primula species. - Allow management activities to result in no less than 85% of potential ground cover for all vegetation types. - Remnant tall forb communities will be maintained and protected from levels of use that could cause negative changes in plant composition. - Soils have adequate physical properties for vegetative growth and soil-hydrologic function. - Maintain pollinators and minimize impacts to pollinators or their habitats. - Wilderness is managed and protected, for the plants and animals that live there and their habitat, the preservation of large, intact ecosystems, clean air and water, and primitive recreation opportunities. Natural ecological processes are dominant. Ecosystems are influenced by natural process with little or no intervention. Forest-wide Sub-goals-Biodiversity and Viability - 3b. Maintain pollinators and minimize impacts to pollinators or their habitats. - 3g. Maintain and/or restore tall forb communities to mid-seral or potential natural community (PNC) status. - 3i. Maintain viability of species-at-risk (including endangered, threatened, and sensitive species and unique communities). Standards and Guidelines - Standard 7: Allow management activities to result in no less than 85% of potential ground cover for each vegetation cover type. - Standard 14: Allow no net decrease in areal extent of tall forb communities. - Guideline 14: Manage vegetation for properly functioning condition at the landscape scale. Desired structure and pattern for tall forb cover type is a minimum ground cover of 90% leading into the winter season. - Guideline 23: Avoid action on the Forest that reduce the viability of any population of plant species classified as Threatened, Endangered, Sensitive, or recommended sensitive. Use management action to protect habitats of plant species at risk from adverse modification or destruction. For species that naturally occur in sites with some disturbance, maintain the appropriate level of disturbance. Management Goal The Forest Service management goals for botanical resources on the Logan Ranger District: * Rare and sensitive plant populations and distributions increase or remain stable. * Tall forb plant communities increase or remain stable * Native pollinator populations increase or remain stable. * Soil quality and hydrologic function are maintained or improved in rare and sensitive plant habitat.

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Since distribution nor density of populations of the target plants is not clear, time will be needed to both locate populations, as well as evaluate those that are dense enough (and accessible) to allow for a good baseline characterization as well as to hopefully detect trends. Monitoring target plants, particularly in rock outcrops, should be considered a 'pilot' monitoring program this year. We will gather data on priority species in these habitats that are safe to access, however, appropriate and effective marking of plots, reaching sampling adequacy, and assessing repeatability remains unknown. Thus, much time this field season will be needed to concentrate on locating suitable and feasible monitoring sites that will serve our sampling objectives. For rough baseline characterizations, other rare plant teams in surrounding states have used high resolution binoculars to survey for and count plants on a particular rock face. This may be an option, provided high resolution binoculars could be made available for the team. It is hoped to establish plots of target species and/or communities in 2 to 3 different populations in the region so as to not state baseline conditions nor base any conclusions from a single population.

The information collected during this project will be used to initiate pilot monitoring for some of these special status plant species going forward. The monitoring methods will be designed according to habitat(s), plant abundance and life history traits to hopefully be able to pick up population and condition trends on these plants.

DWR Utah State University

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07/05/2021

06/30/2023

2023

Target plant species were first surveyed using the methods detailed below. Two different monitoring methods were then used for FSV and for CB in areas determined to be high enough density to be able to likely detect trends at a statistically acceptable power level (e.g., the ability to detect a 20% difference in density with 80% confidence). Areas of likely suitability were first determined from aerial imagery and historic point observations. These areas were then visited on foot, and if and when a target species was located, the number of individuals, habitat conditions, and associated plant species were collected using our ESRI Field Maps application. When sufficient density of target species was present for effective monitoring in a suitable site, a monitoring plot was established. At the monitoring plot installations, the origin was monumented with painted rebar, or sprayed with orange paint, marked with GPS coordinates and photographed. Due to differences in habitats of CB and FCV, two different monitoring methods were necessary. As the violet occupies vertical limestone cliffs, the point-centered quarter method (PCQM) was chosen. Since CB inhabits more level terrain a macro-plot method was employed. A detailed explanation of these two methods can be found below. 3.1 Point-Centered Quarter Method PCQM is a tool that has been used in ecology work for decades and was first published by Cottam and Curtis in 1956. It has been used as an efficient method to estimate plant density for a given area. A 25m transect was run through a representative portion of a population of VFS. At every meter mark, the distance to the nearest VFS individual was recorded in each 90-degree quadrant from the transect (Figure 4). The quadrants are read in clockwise order starting with the top left quadrant, in the case of a vertical surface. The method of mutual exclusion was used, whereby individuals could only be counted a single time throughout the survey. This required marking the individuals so as not to obscure results. Cairns and marking paint were used and photographed at the 0 and 25-meter marks. The transect origin begins at the southern end and is monumented with a piece of painted rebar. The first point is read one (1) meter from the origin. Because of the uneven surface of the cliff face, keeping the transect line flush with the surface required additional attachment points. As such, at the center of the line a rebar piece was added and the line was wrapped once around the rebar. The terminal point is also monumented with a piece of rebar, however, the rebar is several centimeters beyond the 25-meter mark as the cliff face was not amenable to rebar at that location. The final point is still read from the 25-meter mark on the tape. It has been documented that the PCQM can underestimate actual plant density when dealing with aggregate (not randomly distributed) populations (Engeman et al. 1994). This is a concern worth considering with FSV due to the nature of its habitat in higher elevation areas. The plants grow in seams and crevices between exposed limestone, and therefore are clumped together in a relatively non-random distribution. Surveyor discretion was necessary to determine whether neighboring plants were distinct individuals or connected by rhizomes.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) and the Uinta Wasatch Cache National Forest (UWCNF) both have an interest in monitoring special status plant species and other important forest resources that may be impacted by mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus) augmentation on the Logan Ranger District. Many of the special status plant species in the vicinity of Logan Canyon lack important baseline information including quantitative population estimates, current distribution, and qualitative habitat data, which can be largely attributed to the difficulty in habitat accessibility using traditional survey methods. The UDWR provided funding to the Utah Rare Plant Program (URPP) to conduct field surveys to begin to address these data gaps and identify potentially suitable areas to establish monitoring sites for these species. During the summers of 2020, 2021 and 2022, the Utah Rare Plant Program conducted field surveys and have covered thousands of acres within the UWCNF. Field surveys were focused on surveys of suitable habitat to revisit known occurrence records, discover new occurrences, as well as to locate suitable locations for monitoring of special status plant species. Field surveys concentrated on revisits to known occurrences, and locating suitable sites for monitoring. The following criteria were sought for suitable monitoring sites: High densities of one or more special status plant species, high probability of utilization by mountain goats, and accessibility. Two locations met these criteria, one near Cherry Peak for monitoring of Frank Smith's Violet and one in Davenport Hollow for Cache Beardtongue. In 2022, observations of special status plants were made at 265 points. Cumulatively, thousands of individuals of 10 different species were identified. Twenty-two collections of special status plant species were made during 2020-22 field seasons and submitted to herbaria at Utah State University and Brigham Young University. While the URPP has been very successful in finding new occurrences of special status plant species in the UWCNF, there is an abundance of suitable habitat that remains to be explored. Further, the URPP needs to conduct surveys earlier in the growing season, as the different phenology of the target species increases identification confidence more possible at this time. Surveying additional habitat and finding areas for placement of monitoring locations may require novel solutions such as developing methods utilizing drones, technical rock climbing, or high-resolution binoculars depending upon the monitoring plots needed.

There are additional locations of target species on the UWFCNF that have not been mapped due to time and/or budget limitations. These locations are on the west face of Naomi peak, and the bowl west of White Pine lake. There are very likely many more locations on the UWCNF that contain target species. Should adequate resources become available, these locations should be visited in 2023. The plots installed in 2022 must be reread in 2023 to perform power analysis and determine the number of transects need to monitor changes in plant density