For many of Utah's endemic plant taxa, critical data gaps remain regarding distribution ranges, threats, taxonomic status, population trends and life history traits. Utah currently has 26 listed species under the ESA, more than any other species group in the state. In 2016, an influential NGO placed 1,300 Utah taxa on its rare plant tracking list with associated conservation priorities. As this publication has a wide distribution, these species' profiles may be elevated to increase their conservation status, even to potential listing under the ESA given the aforementioned data gaps. In order to address these data gaps as comprehensively as needed to reduce the state's vulnerabilities for potential listings under the ESA, the program needs knowledgeable, educated and experienced botanists to carry out this critical goal of the program. To address Utah's high rate of plant endemism and to both work toward delisting and avoid potential listings, the Utah Species Recovery Office (part of UDWR), in cooperation with Utah State University, has assumed responsibility as the premier provider of rare plant species distribution and abundance through its highly functional observation database. As a strategic long-term goal to reduce the financial burden of rare plants on the sate, the Species Recovery office hopes to be able to permanently employ one full-time cooperatively funded position among partners.

The overarching goal of the Utah Rare Plant Program is to encourage partner participation in the prioritization and the formulation of recovery actions for plants currently listed under the ESA and conservation actions on plants most at risk of becoming listed under the ESA. Several objectives stem from this goal: 1) Assure decisions are being made on the most current and comprehensive information possible; 2) Assure that all funding for potentially rare plant taxa is spent toward effective and efficient work and 3) Increase partner participation and funding for the state rare plant program to create a sense of ownership in rare plant work across agencies. Relationship and trust building is an integral piece of increasing partner participation and funding for the program. This takes a concerted effort by the entire rare plant team to: a) communicate regularly and clearly; b) assure the program as a whole follows through with all obligations; c) initiate and prioritize work needed to accomplish goals; and d) answer data requests and questions in a timely fashion and in compliance with the state's GRAMA laws. Task 1- Field effort- Field Data collection on prioritized species. Summer 2021 and Spring 2022. The majority of the prioritized species listed below have been put forward by consensus between the BLM, USFWS, USFS and the Utah Rare Plant Program. Some field work effort will be funded by our partners such as the BLM, USFS and the Utah Reclamation Commission, thus less financial burden on the state. It is hoped with adequate support from ESMF and partners that one additional field technician (including an additional truck) can be hired for the field season to enable more coverage of the state. It should be noted that sometimes priorities change depending upon the season's precipitation and temperature that can change the phenology of the target plants enough to render them difficult to impossible to correctly identify. Additional funding from other partners is always pursued throughout the fiscal year. Requests from USFWS for specific work including mandated post delisting monitoring for Deseret milkvetch and surveys for Ute Ladies' Tresses in the Silver Creek area continue, but no funding for this work from the USFWS is expected. Target taxa for survey and monitoring FY2022 include: Scientific Name Land Ownership Reason(s) for data needs Astragalus desereticus UDWR, Private USFWS De-listing monitoring data needed Oreoxis bakeri, Erigeron melanocephalus, Saxifraga cernua, Saxifraga flagellaris ssp crandallii, Synthrys alpina USFS MLSNF Forest Planning, USFS 'sensitive' species, needed monitoring Eriogonum smithii BLM, SITLA BLM sensitive, little data available Euphorbia nephradenia BLM, SITLA BLM sensitive, little data available Astragalus anserinus BLM Conservation Agreement species, continuation of monitoring study Astragalus sabulosus, A. vehiculus, A. iselyi BLM, SITLA, UDOT Potential Conservation Agreement species, USFWS listing workplan species Loan Peak endemic species (11 to 12 species) USFS Baseline data needed prior to potential Mtn Goat release Astragalus loanus BLM BLM sensitive, little data available Spiranthes diluvialis URMCC Listed threatened, Diamond Fork monitoring and USFWS and EPA Superfund Site outside Park City needs a survey for mitigation purposes Allium geyeri var chatterleyi, Penstemon navajoa, Erigeron Abajoensis USFS MLSNF forest planning/ 'sensitive' species -- Abajo range Penstemon tidestromii, Cryptantha creutzfeltdii, Hedysarum occidentale var canone, Aquilegia rubicunda USFS, BLM MLSNF forest planning/ 'sensitive' species -- foothills of Wasatch Plateau Penstemon grahamii, Penstemon albifluvis BLM, SITLA Participation in the Penstemon Conservation Team for range-wide monitoring Centarium namophilum BLM Listed species in CA and NV, reported near Deep Creeks, need to revisit Task 2 - Winter office work Due to the large amounts of data the crew and other botanists generate over the field season and the interest in these data from our partners, time is needed to perform various office tasks such as organize, ingest and analyze data, generate reports, work on our common field guide, continue conservation priority rankings, outreach to partners and the public, support program goals, update AGOL applications used by our team and partners, and develop species distribution models. The participation of the rare plant team is also valuable for fulfilling duties for the Penstemon Conservation Team, updating and refining our Collector app, and presenting our work at various meetings. Task 3 - URMCC Spiranthes work The Utah Reclamation and Mitigation COnservation Commission has contracted with the Utah Rare Plant Team to survey for and map Ute Ladies' Tresses and its habitat in FY22 during peak flowering - usually in early August. Task 4 - Data collected over the last 5 years for Astragalus anserinus (under Conservation Agreement) will be analyzed in detail and final report will be generated.

Rare and sensitive plants often need to be considered in land management planning and actions of the state, our partner agencies and/or cooperating private partners. The information generated from the proposed species updates and field surveys will assist these entities in project planning. Further, where sufficient data exist, habitat suitability models can be generated to further assist land management planning to streamline required surveys for project proponents or management actions.

The state rare plant conservation coordinator has submitted information to the BLM on personnel working on rare plant surveys for collection permits for Threatened and Endangered plant species. Collection permits are often required by the USFWS to verify species identification. Collection permits are mandatory to collect T&E species voucher specimens.

For the tasks stated above, the associated methods are proposed. Each of these protocols is applicable to each task: 1) The state rare plant conservation coordinator will engage with partners and the state rare plant committee regularly to discuss rare plant priorities as well as needs for surveys, monitoring, research and ranking. 2) Three to four part-time qualified botanists will have access to data and equipment of the Rare Plant Team through their term of employment. They will be trained on the new State database to QA/QC incoming data, query data, and ingest new data sets into the new database. This database has become essential for the state and our partners to make informed decisions on upcoming priorities for rare plant work. 3) Three to four part-time qualified botanists will be employed over the state's fiscal year to carry out carefully focused and directed field surveys and/or monitoring or other types of field work as agreed upon by the Utah Rare Plant partnership. 4) Reports from the Utah Rare Plant Program will be submitted to the appropriate partners on an agreed upon format and a contractually mandated date that meets the needs of the partners and the State. All Rare Plant team members take part in producing reports. 5) As consideration of the inclusion of plants into the State Wildlife Action Plan (WAP) moves forward, the rare plant team intends to follow the UDWR protocol for analysis of species that may be considered for inclusion in the WAP.

Monitoring efforts will be carried out for the Astragalus desereticus as part of the 5-year post delisting plan using methods consistent with past efforts to best be able to make the most reliable comparisons of population trend possible. Further, monitoring efforts will be continued for Astragalus anserinus as part of a 5-year study on the population trend for this taxon as part of a Conservation Agreement as well as range-wide monitoring for Penstemon albifluvis and Penstemon grahamii for the Conservation Agreement for those taxa.

The state office and some field offices of the BLM and the Manti LaSal National Forest are considered financial partners for FY2022 as these partners have contributed to the Utah Rare Plant team. Other partners that have been included in our partners meetings and discussions involving prioritizing work going forward include: Utah PLPco, USFS, USFWS, SITLA, NPS and NRCS

Timely management and reporting of field data are necessary for scientifically sound and defensible land use planning decisions. Management of sensitive plants within land use management plans is best informed through the ongoing efforts, administration and management of efforts such as those carried out by the Utah State Botany Team.

07/01/2021

06/30/2022

2022

For the overarching goals of the program stated above, concomitant methods are proposed. Each of these protocols/ methods is applicable to all tasks: 1) The state rare plant conservation coordinator will engage with partners and the state rare plant committee regularly to discuss rare plant priorities as well as needs for surveys, monitoring, research and ranking. 2) Three to four part-time qualified botanists will have access to data and equipment of the Rare Plant Team through their term of employment. They will be trained on the new State database to QA/QC incoming data, query data, and ingest new data sets into the new database. This database has become essential for the state and our partners to make informed decisions on upcoming priorities for rare plant work. 3) Three to four part-time qualified botanists will be employed over the state's fiscal year to carry out carefully focused and directed field surveys and/or monitoring or other types of field work as agreed upon by the Utah Rare Plant partnership. 4) Reports from the Utah Rare Plant Program will be submitted to the appropriate partners on an agreed upon format and a contractually mandated date that meets the needs of the partners and the State. All Rare Plant team members take part in producing reports. 5) As consideration of the inclusion of plants into the State Wildlife Action Plan (WAP) moves forward, the rare plant team intends to follow the UDWR protocol for analysis of species that may be considered for inclusion in the WAP.

The field data collection effort resulted in 964 recorded rare plant observations from the Rare Plant Team, approximately 14,000 acres surveyed and thousands of other observations ingested into our database as associated species. In Spring of 2022, notable findings included several new populations/ sub-populations of Jones Cycladenia (Cycladenia humilis var. jonesii) -- a federally listed species -- in the Desolation Canyon Area. Two of the crew joined a river trip, while 3 others accessed the canyon from the top (Range Creek area). Access to these populations was difficult as it tends to call very steep rocky outcrops home. Additionally, an additional population of Shivwits milkvetch (Astragalus ampullarioides) was located in Washington County on BLM lands. The species is very close to Astragalus eremiticus, so a specimen was collected, however, it would be good to grab another specimen when the plants are in full flower and another in fruit. The rare plant team established a first monitoring plot for one of the milkvetchs covered in a new Conservation agreement (signed by BLM, USFS, USFWS, UDOT and UDWR in May of 2022). This monitoring plot for stage station milkvetch (Astragalus vehiculus) was placed near the Courthouse Wash campground. Summer and Fall of 2021, the team spent some time up on Logan District looking for the endemics of Logan Canyon and found additional populations of Mt Naomi musineon and Frank Smith's violet -- 2 species of interest to both the UDWR and the USFS in an area of a potential mountain goat augmentation. October of 2021 the Rare Plant team visited the San Raphael desert and found 2 new small populations of Flattop Buckwheat (E. smithii), extended existing known populations, and attempted to validate previous observations. The new populations were found 2 miles west and 4 miles southwest of The Flat Tops -- these populations suggest the potential for a larger distribution of Flat Top Buckwheat. Additionally, a large population was confirmed and recorded on the southern slopes of The Flat Tops. The Sweetwater Reef population was greatly extended eastward. Existing observations made near Dell Seep Road and 6.5 miles north of The Flat Tops were revisited but the plants were not relocated. These plants may no longer be present in those areas, possibly due to dune shifting. Winter Office Work Since the Utah Plant Rare Team is mostly funded on a project by project basis, the ESMF monies allow the team to complete the work to convert the valuable survey work into usable data. These usable data include such as new distribution maps, add to our web-based field guide for partners and project proponents, conservation rankings, and sharing our findings with partners in meetings and reports. Additionally, the ESMF allows the 25% match for Section 6 monies from the USFWS. Added a total of 10,126 records to database since July 1, 2021, 5,193 of which are SGCN or PSGCN. Added a total of 35 species to our common field guide (not sure if Jen has the dates finished in her excel spreadsheet on google drive -- I would say she finished maybe half of the listed species and anything on top of that... A total of 60 conservation rankings using the NatureServe calculator (October 2021 to April of 2022) A final report for 5 years of Goosecreek milkvetch (Astragalus anserinus) monitoring was generated for the BLM. This report has been submitted has been filed. The combination of the 1/10 th acre count plots, 30 1-meter square demography plots, seed viability tests from seeds buried in the field has been helpful in evaluating the long term viability of the species in its current habitat. Data ingested into the rare plant database varies in form and source. However, data generated by the rare plant field maps app and data from SEINET constitute a large number of records created, as well as a significant time investment. As such, two tools were created for Esri ArcPro to facilitate quality assurance and ingestion of data into the rare plant database. The first tool created takes point data, in the form of a FGDB, created by the Esri field maps app and reformats it to fit the rare plant database schema. During the 'crosswalk' data from a field in the FGDB file is placed in the corresponding place in the ingestion file. Additionally, any rote calculations or substitutions are performed. This has resulted in dramatically decreased time invested in record reformatting and quality assurance. As the rare plant Field Maps app is continuously improved to better meet the needs of the field crews and partners a more generalized version of this tool is needed. The second iteration of the tool will be able to dynamically handle differences between Field Maps' data between years. The second tool takes data exported from SEINet and reformats and performs rote calculations on that data. Data from SEINet is exported as a csv in a format that is incompatible with the Rare Plant database. This tool takes the csv data, extracts needed data from the notes field, performs calculations, reformats the data, and displays the data in ArcPro to be visually checked against existing records.

All data and reports generated feed important information into the always changing and evolving prioritization and recovery actions for Utah's most at-risk plants for potentially needing protection under the Endangered Species Act. A full stand alone report will be uploaded to this site during the week of Sept 12, 2022