PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION SUMMARY: This proposal will consist of treating ~6,069 acres. The plan is to treat an estimated ~5,000-15,000 (BLM) and ~3,000-7,000 (USFS) additional acres during future phases of the project. Overall, the total estimated cost/acre is ~$418/acre for this phase of implementation. NEED FOR PROJECT: Continuing project treatments at an increased pace and scale of restoration in the Lost Creek/ Valley mountains area is needed to not only address the significant sagebrush/grass/forb decline in the area, but also to reduce the risk of fire to the numerous values in the area. The pinion/juniper (PJ) expansion and fading understory in this area is having negative impacts to Lost Creek, Sevier river tributaries water quality, Southern leatherside chub, along with numerous wildlife species (primarily Mule deer, which is a Fishlake National Forest Management Indicator Species) which are dependent upon this area and these ecosystems. Approximately 4,000 acres of the PJ are in Phase II transitioning to Phase III. On the ground surveys and site visits in these areas have allowed staffs from the Richfield Ranger District to see the lack of understory plants. Approximately 2,000 acres of the PJ are in Phase I transitioning to Phase II. Forage productivity has diminished greatly over the past century and the PJ expansion continues on a yearly basis into the more productive sage/grass/forb and mountain brush communities. This PJ expansion largely results from reduced occurrences of natural disturbance. As PJ has become dominant on the landscape and as the loss of understory vegetation increases, there will be continued increases in sediment transfer and TDS into Lost Creek and big game and small game animals will continue to experience a loss of foraging habitat. This area has a small Mule deer population which was verified by UDWR 2021 mule deer vehicle route inventory. Mule deer in the area are at historical low numbers. This expansion of more PJ and associated decreasing sage/grass/forb and mountain brush habitat has contributed to and will continue the overall decrease in Mule deer populations and other wildlife species in these areas such as the Greater sage grouse. This expansion factor also contributes to the issue of big game moving closer to higher elevation aspen and local agricultural crops in the valleys to find sustainable forage. Elk depredation issues have been a source of controversy with private landowners for several years. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Range Trend Studies #25A-4 and #25R-9 are active study sites and are found in the Lost Creek and Durfee Homestead areas. 2018 Range Trend data show that these two trend sights are in "poor-fair" and "poor" condition. Treatments in the immediate and surrounding area will have the opportunity to boost these trend conditions in a positive direction. For this reason, it is imperative that we affect as much transition and winter habitat by treating and seeding (if needed) to produce diversity across a landscape that is losing value for big game as well as a variety of small game and avian populations. Elk, mule deer, are wildlife species that have all been and continue to be studied on the Plateau/Fishlake/Thousand Lakes Elk Unit. The Lost Creek Collaborative project is part of this elk unit and is an important intermediate and winter range area for elk and deer. According to visual observations and telemetry data there is significant interchange of elk and deer between the Monroe Elk and Deer Units and the Plateau/Fishlake/Thousand Lakes Elk and Deer units. These mid 90's telemetry data (See Map in Images/Documents section) have provided much needed information on specific population dynamics that include: home range, seasonal range, migration routes, fawning and calving areas, mortality, body condition, pregnancy rates, birthing success, and other factors. During the years of 1991-1996 the US Forest Service (USFS) and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) cooperated on an intensive elk telemetry study on the Fishlake Unit. A few hundred elk were collared along with several elk caves. After approximately four to five years of data recording elk use patterns were very well defined. Even today these use patterns by elk on the Plateau/Fishlake/Thousand Lakes elk unit are still very much the same. As large acres continue to be treated with current management practices "elk use" patterns will start to change to some degree. Elk being gregarious by nature and were found to utilize (for cover or forage) a large percentage of available acres on the unit and surrounding units. Collared deer and collared cougar have been documented traveling back and forth to the Monroe Mountain Unit. It is anticipated with added acres of treatment wildlife use patterns across units will become more common. Additionally, we ran a quick query in wildlife tracker for elk, mule deer, black bear, cougar, and pronghorn. Attached is a screenshot in the image section of the proposal. It shows our project area has heavy use for all species and there is a lot of interchange between management units with animals using areas treated in previous phases. The overall end state of this project is to: 1. Improve vegetative resilience by increasing abundance and diversity of native shrubs and perennial herbs (grasses, forbs and other herbaceous vegetation). 2. Reduce risk and associated negative impacts from uncharacteristic wildfire to the public, firefighters, structures, private property, and other high values at risk. 3. Improve wildlife habitat summer, transition and winter range (i.e., Mule deer). (See attached table in documents showing species listed and benefits associated with this project proposal). 4. Improve and expand wildlife habitat for Greater sage grouse. A reduction of PJ encroachment into sagebrush communities in the Lost Creek area will also help enlarge habitat use opportunities for Greater sage grouse populations established in the area (approximately 2/3's portion of the project is within a PHMA). 5. Reduce sediment transfer and TDS into Lost Creek (TMDL for TDS) to improve water quality and improve and protect Southern leatherside chub habitat (Intermountain Region Sensitive Species). To accomplish this end state, the Richfield Ranger District of the Fishlake National Forest (USFS), Utah Forestry Fire and State Lands (UFFSLs) Color Country BLM, USFWS, and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) have determined there is a need to treat ~6069 acres of USFS, BLM SITLA and Private lands. Portions of the private land planned to be treated are part of the Boobe Hole CWMU.

PROJECT GOALS: 1) With the numerous acres that have been treated adjacent to this project on both USFS and BLM Lands, the overall goal of this project is to continue to implement a collaborative landscape level ecosystem restoration project with an increased pace and scale of implementation across boundaries. 2) Promote treatment efforts onto private and state lands with a collaborative effort between the USFS, BLM, SITLA, UDWR, UFFSLs, USFWS and Private Landowners. 3) Minimize project costs by promoting cost effective treatments along with increased scale and size of treatments that will reduce overall cost per acre. 4) Manage forest cover types to provide variety in stand sizes shape, crown closure, edge contrast, age structure and interspersion. 5) Implement a landscape level ecosystem restoration project that will reduce risk of catastrophic fire. PROJECT OBJECTIVES: 1) Improve and/or maintain the quality of habitat on big game winter and transition habitat by thinning or removing PJ with prior seeding. Design forage to cover ratios to benefit a variety of wildlife species. 2) Improve and expand habitat for sensitive, threatened and endangered species such as Sage Grouse and other declining sagebrush obligate songbirds by increasing acres of shrub grassland ecological sites. 3) Improve or maintain quality of habitat for wild turkeys by increasing acres of grass and forb communities. 4) Reduce hazardous fuels while maintaining and improving fire resilient landscapes by improving the fire regime condition class to FRCC 1 and FRCC 2. 5) Increase overall forage production, habitat quality, and species diversity by treating in a mosaic pattern of 60% treated and 40% untreated that will create biodiversity across the landscape. 6) Minimize project costs by promoting cost effective treatments along with increased scale and size of treatments that will reduce overall cost per acre. 7) Enhance habitat on USFS, BLM, SITLA and private lands to promote increased utilization of big game animals and lessen the impact on private agricultural lands. 8) Enhance habitat for southern leatherside chub in riparian areas. 9) Reduce sedimentation through erosion into Sevier River drainage.

Ground surveys and site visits have allowed us to see the lack of understory plants in the PJ complex in the Lost Creek area. Forage productivity has diminished greatly over the past century and the PJ encroachment continues on a yearly basis into the more productive sage/grass/forb communities. Some areas within the project have lost a majority of the understory sage/grasses/forbs, but other areas have not completely lost the understory. One of the biggest threats realized in this area is if left untreated these areas with some understory of sagebrush/grasses/forbs left will eventually be gone as well. This will continue to be "poor" habitat and range for ungulate animals. The area serves as transition range and winter range for big game and because it is in poor condition animals fail to remain in this zone for the season of use that should be normal. Just under half (~4,000 acres) of the PJ in the project is in phase II but is about to cross the threshold into phase III dominated PJ and lose the remaining understory. The other portion (~2,000 acres) of this project is in phase I with portions about to cross the threshold into phase II. If left untreated these areas with productive sage/grass/forb communities will degrade in productivity and treatment costs in the future will go up dramatically. As PJ has become dominate on the landscape and the loss of understory vegetation increases, big game and small game animals are experiencing a loss of foraging habitat. This entire area is at risk of large catastrophic wildfires that could adversely affect entire watersheds. This project will reduce the ecological risk of: 1) Current sediment transfer and associated increasing TDS and 2) Potential catastrophic impacts of increased sediment transfer and degradation of Southern leatherside chub habitat and population in the event of a wildfire. As Lost Creek and its tributaries are improved and potential catastrophic ecological impacts in the event of a wildfire are reduced, sediment transfer into Lost Creek and subsequent Sevier River will likely be reduced as well. Restoring uplands will reduce impacts from future wildfires by reducing risk of future impairment. This project reduces the threat to sensitive riparian ecosystems located in Lost Creek and Little Lost Creek that hold the Southern leatherside chub fish species. Refer to the "Water Quality/Quantity" section for more detail. Although it was determined by the USFWS that listing under the ESA was not warranted for Greater sage grouse there is an impending review to see if further action or protection is needed. Continuing to do work as identified in the Statewide Sage Grouse Management Plan to conserve sage grouse will support a continued "not warranted" status. The threat of development is at an all time high in this area as the private land would be ideal for high value cabin or camper lots. This area has extremely high visitation for outdoor recreation. Every Thursday night through Sunday night the two lane highway to the fishlake forest is packed with people coming to recreate for weekend in the area. Plainly stated, development is an immediate threat to the ecology of this landscape. Helping private land ag producers remain profitable as a livestock operation and from outdoor recreation (primarily hunting) here is important to reduce the risk of landowners selling the lands for development. This project focuses on juniper removal as a means to mitigate threats to critical Mule deer summer/winter range, elk winter range. Sagebrush habitat is at risk of being lost due to excessive pinyon and juniper, wildfire, and high potential for invasive vegetation. 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. This project will increase the availability of a diverse suite of vegetational communities. As stated earlier the dominant vegetational state is pinyon and juniper woodland. A healthy landscape has a diversity of vegetational states. A diverse landscape benefits a larger community of wildlife and people. A diverse landscape is also more resistance and resilient to disturbance. By allowing this landscape to continue to move further into a dominant PJ woodland it increases the risk of its resistance to disturbance and its resilience to bounce back and heal after a disturbance. Numerous projects have been implemented in the area with more planned to be implemented in the near future. The combination of all these projects is in effort to increase the pace and scale of implementation to help disperse browse pressure for both wild and domestic ungulates. Valley Mountain northwestern portion of project. Species Threats: This area has been identified as priority for restoration of CRUCIAL mule deer habitat under the Statewide Mule Deer Management Plan. "Crucial" means the areas habitat is necessary to sustain the areas mule deer herd. Allowing the area to move into phase 2 and 3 pinyon and juniper encroachment will mean less quality habitat to meet mule deer objectives. Elk and Mule Deer: The Lone Cedar area of the Valley Mountain range is very important for mule deer and elk. From higher to lower elevations elk and deer depend on the habitat with it's available forage and cover to complete their life cycle requirements. This project will greatly improve available forage for elk and deer populations. Treatments patterns will play an important role within the treatment implementation. One of the primary objectives of this project is to improve habitat for elk and deer. Winter range improvements from this project will benefit elk and deer populations for decades to come. Future monitoring and maintenance of the project will be essential to prolong the integrity of the treatment and health of big game populations. It has been said by land managers, biologist, and researchers familiar with the project area that this area is very important because Mule Deer are space limited here, meaning available habitat and water seem to be the limiting factor for population growth. As habitat is made available by doing this project, we are addressing an immediate threat to one of the primary limiting factors for this population. Ferruginous Hawk: Decreasing populations are commonly attributed to loss of habitat, and lack of secondary prey species. Ferruginous hawk is closely associated with open landscapes offering good visibility and prey resources In Utah, these conditions are often provided by lowland sagebrush, mountain sagebrush, and desert grassland habitats (UDWR 2015). Drought conditions over the past two decades have contributed to sagebrush die-offs, increased fire intensity and frequency, and increased invasive plants. These in turn lead to habitat fragmentation, decreased plant community vitality and decreased prey populations. This project will offer good visibility for foraging and nesting with a mosaic pattern and limit the risk of high intensity wildfire with increased invasive plants. The project will open foraging opportunities for prey such as lagomorphs, ground squirrels, birds and reptiles. Breeding success and population status have been tied to prey abundance and cycling. Wild Turkey: Newly treated areas through fire or mechanical means will attract use by wild turkey. Insects and new growth will be readily available to support turkey populations. This project will provide more foraging opportunities for wild turkey as grasses and forbs provide insects and seed. The project area also provides important recreational hunting for the local communities and people travel from all over the state (and from other states) to hunt here for elk, and mule deer. The highly sought-after hunting opportunities within the project areas provide a financial boost to local economies in several ways. Continuing to do work to maintain the habitat in this area will help to perpetuate the recreational and economic benefits. Financial thresholds need consideration when funding habitat conservation. The type of pro-active work we are proposing reduces future cost from becoming prohibitive.

1 This action responds to the goals and objectives outlined in the Fishlake National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (1986) (LRMP). The purpose and need for this project are consistent with Fishlake National Forest goals and objectives found in Chapter IV of the Forest Plan. The proposed treatment units are within the following management areas: * 5A- Big Game Winter Range (majority of proposed acres) and * 4B - Habitat for Management Indicator Species. This proposal is consistent with and it responds to Fishlake Forest Plan direction for wildlife management in areas 5A and 4B. * Reduce hazardous fuels: consistent with forest and MA emphasis and direction (Utah Fire Amendment, pg. A-41) 2) Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Elk Management Plan: This project will help introduce species diversity back into the Lost Creek areas, supporting local elk populations and enhancing elk habitat. NF. 3) The Greater Plateau Elk Complex Elk Management Plan (2016) lists range improvements in the habitat objectives section. This project specifically addresses the components listed under range improvements in that it enhances forage production and habitat quality through direct range improvements on winter range within the unit. The Greater Plateau Elk Complex goes on to mention that "focus will be on high use areas especially where we can entice animals away from agricultural areas." 4) Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Mule Deer Management Plan: This project will help introduce species diversity back into the Lost Creek area. A mosaic design is part of the implementation strategy to create a pattern of treated and un-treated acres that will create an increase of biodiversity. Mule deer population numbers are low in the Lost Creek areas. Habitat improvement from this project will help provide quality habitat to improve the viability of local Mule deer populations. 5) Utah Wild Turkey Management Plan: Newly treated areas through fire or mechanical means will attract use by wild turkey. Insects and new growth will be readily available to support turkey populations. This project will provide more foraging opportunities for wild turkey as grasses and forbs provide insects and seed. 6) UDWR Wildlife Action Plan: This project is geared toward meeting the goals found within this plan for a variety of wildlife species from large too small. a. Threat - Inappropriate Fire Frequency and Intensity: i. Objective #1 for Inappropriate Fire Frequency and Intensity 1. Fire is excluded from habitats in which potential burns now would be frequent, large, and destructive to soils and native vegetation; the habitats are being actively managed (treated) to reduce components or factors that promote risk of catastrophic fire, such as cheat grass, excessive conifer encroachment, or unnaturally large stands of mature Gamble oak. 7) National Cohesive Strategy: This project is in line with the strategy. By means of prescribed fire and mechanical thinning at a landscape scale, the resulting mosaic of early and late successional forests will work toward the goal of restoring and maintaining resilient landscapes. 8) State of Utah Catastrophic Wildfire Reduction Strategy: The Lost Creek Collaborative Project aligns with the mission of the State of Utah's Catastrophic Wildfire Reduction Strategy. The project reduces the risk of a catastrophic wildfire occurrence negatively affecting property, air quality and water systems. 9) Grazing Allotment Plans: The amount of forage available to livestock within the affected allotments in the Lost Creek area is expected to increase significantly as a result of this project. With the removal of pinion/juniper, the amount of grasses and forbs in the sagebrush is also expected to increase significantly. With increased forage, ungulate distribution is expected to improve. 10) Bald Eagle Management Plan and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 668-668d) is a United States federal statute that protects two species of eagle. Bald eagles migrate to the area in late October and remain through late March. Treatments will attract wildlife species that are common prey to eagles and other raptors. Wintering Bald Eagles utilize the project area and treatments would improve life cycle opportunities for them. 11) Sevier County Resource Management Plan; This project is congruent with the policies and desired management practices found in Sevier County's Resource Management Plan. Policies (all from pages 6-7) a. Support the removal of conifers and manage land to promote the establishment of aspen cover and attendant grass, brush, and forbs. 12) Central Utah Fire Management Plan (FMP): a. Greater use of vegetation management to meet resource management objectives b. Hazardous fuels treatments will be used to restore ecosystems; protect human, natural and cultural resources; and reduce the threat of wildfire to communities. Sagebrush steppe communities will be a high priority for ESR and fuel reduction to avoid catastrophic fires in these areas. Hand treatments of pinyon and juniper in riparian areas in Lost and Little Lost Creeks supports objectives to enhance habitat for southern leatherside chub as indicated in the Southern Leatherside Conservation Agreement and Strategy (included as attachment). Treatments fulfill the strategy's objective B. to enhance and /or restore habitat conditions in designated areas throughout the historical range of southern leatherside by 2. restoring habitat where possible, creating habitat complexity... for southern leatherside and by 3. implementing habitat enhancements that may include... enhancement of native vegetation. The project falls within the Central Mountains, Nebo unit management plan. Current winter range surveys show that mule deer winter range in this area is poor. This unit identifies habitat as a limiting factor and states that "P/J encroachment on traditional winter rangelands is decreasing diversity and vigor of browse plants." and then identifies as a habitat management objective: *Winter range restoration efforts must be completed for this deer herd to reach its population objectives. Pinyon and juniper reduction treatments and sagebrush restoration are necessary to stabilize winter range conditions and allow this herd to withstand heavy winters. *Continue to be committed to the statewide goal of supporting habitat projects that increase forage for both big game and livestock. Discourage the encroachment of Pinyon and Juniper (PJ) trees into sagebrush and other habitats. Seek opportunities to improve habitat through grazing practices and mechanical treatments to improve habitat where PJ encroachment is occurring. Wildlife Action Plan: Improving Conditions Lowland Sagebrush: *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. *Continuing the development of new plant materials and restoration techniques suited to this habitat. *Developing and deploying techniques to diversify the understory species composition and age classes of decadent even-aged sagebrush stands. *Developing and deploying techniques to diversify species composition in monoculture or near monoculture stands of seeded non-native plants (e.g., crested wheatgrass). *Promoting management that includes seeding a diversity of grasses, forbs and shrubs that will lead to increased resiliency and resistance in the plant community. Mountain Sagebrush: Improving Condition *Promoting policies and management that allow fire to return to a more natural regime. *Promoting policies that reduce inappropriate grazing by domestic livestock and wildlife. *Promoting and funding restoration that reduces the Uncharacteristic and surpluses of older age class, including Dixie/chain harrow, brush mowing or other treatments that reduce the older age class and stimulate the younger/mid age classes; herbicide or mechanical treatment of non-native invasive species such smooth brome; single tree mulching/cutting of invading conifer. *Continuing the development of new plant materials, especially native forbs. *Promoting zoning/policies/laws that lead to responsible human/energy intrusion and development. *Promoting management that includes seeding a diversity of grasses, forbs and shrubs that will lead to increased resiliency and resistance in the plant community. Gamble Oak: Fire is excluded from habitats in which potential burns now would be frequent, large, and destructive to soils and native vegetation; the habitats are being actively managed (treated) to reduce components or factors that promote risk of catastrophic fire, such as unnaturally large stands of mature Gamble oak. Gambel oak resprouts after fire, so other types of vegetation generally do not replace it following burning. Gambel oak stands are susceptible to cheatgrass invasion, especially on drier sites. Changes in fire regime may not replace the dominant oaks but are likely to have effects on other important members of the plant community that defines this key habitat. Utah Wild Turkey Management Plan: Newly treated areas through fire or mechanical means will attract use by wild turkey. Insects and new growth will be readily available to support turkey populations. This project will provide more foraging opportunities for wild turkey as grasses and forbs provide insects and seed. Sanpete County RMP *Support the removal of conifers and manage land to promote the establishment of attendant grass, brush, and forbs. *Sanpete county encourages federal and state agencies to adopt and maintain scientifically sound forest management policies based on high quality, recently acquired data, and to pursue multiple use of public forest resources to provide sustainable and continuous yield of timber, forage, firewood,wildlife, fisheries, recreation, and water. *Support managing forest cover types to perpetuate tree cover and provide healthy stands, high water quality, and wildlife and fish habitat. *Support agencies in providing for harvest of forest products when the activity would improve water production and does not adversely affect water quality. *Support the management of forests and woodlands for healthy conditions that contribute to healthy habitat for animal and plant species, proper watershed functioning conditions, and riparian restoration and enhancement. *Support agencies in prioritizing fuel reduction treatment in high value/high-risk areas. Implementation of fuels management actions should be prioritized using the following criteria: *Wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas. *Areas with fuel loading that could potentially result in the loss of ecosystem components following wildland fire. *Support the prioritization of using native seeds for fuels management treatment based on availability, adaptation (site potential), and probability of success. Where probability of success for native seed is low, desirable non-native seeds may be used to trend toward restoring the fire regime. When reseeding, use fire-resistant native and desirable non-native species, as appropriate, to provide for fire breaks. *Hazardous fuels reduction treatments should be used to restore ecosystems, protect human, natural, and cultural resources, and reduce the threat of wildfire to communities. *Support the reduction of fuel loading conditions in forests and woodlands.

Completed treatments along with planned and future treatments reduce the risk of fire at a landscape level while promoting resilient landscapes. Wildfire suppression costs are extremely high especially when suppressing fires in similar fuel types and loadings as present on this project. When wildfires occur, this could result in increased erosion, greater opportunities for noxious weed establishment, impacts to available short-term forage, stream sedimentation, and possible mud slides/flooding events. Enhancing the habitat in these areas will result in multiple benefits, which also include reducing hazardous fuel accumulations and breaking up the continuous fuel bed of PJ that currently exist in the Lost Creek area. This treatment will promote a fire resilient environment that reduces the risk for large scale, intense wildland fires, with less risk to public and firefighter safety. Fire risk would be reduced to multiple watersheds and communities located in the Lost Creek and also Gooseberry Creek areas with. The communities of existing wildfire risk index in the project area ranges from moderate-high to very-very low. It compliments completed BLM and USFS treatments located in the area. All these projects combined reduce the risk of fire at a landscape level to the communities and watersheds across the Lost Creek and Gooseberry Creek areas while promoting resilient landscapes. The dominant southwest wind flow in conjunction with associated fire behavior expected from the PJ and mountain shrub fuel types pose significant wildland fire risk to these areas and values. The large, treated areas will create buffers in and around values at risk and will significantly reduce the risk of fire to these values. About half this project is within fire regime III -- 35-100+ year frequency and mixed severity (less than 75% of the dominant overstory vegetation replaced); The Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC) is estimated to be both moderate (FRCC 2) and high (FRCC 3) departure from the central tendency of the natural (historical) regime. The central tendency is a composite estimate of vegetation characteristics (species composition, structural stages, stand age, canopy closure, and mosaic pattern); fuel composition; fire frequency, severity, and pattern; and other associated natural disturbances. The other half of this project would be in FRCC 3. This project will improve the fire regime condition class to FRCC 1 and FRCC 2. The District has seen success (Dixie Harrow transects) in treatment areas, both fire and mechanical, on the Forest and BLM that have initially shown cheat-grass response, but after the re-seeding has time to establish, cheat-grass has decreased dramatically thus reducing this potential increased risk of fire.

WATER QUALITY: This project is located in the Lost Creek watershed including Lost Creek and Little Lost Creek which are perennial streams/riparian systems. Lost Creek and its tributaries are listed as impaired with a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). This project as it's proposed will improve ground cover and thereby reduce sediment transfer into the lower watershed system. The project proposed will reduce sediment transfer. Restoring uplands will reduce the impacts of future wildfires and reduce the risk of future impairment. Treatments will considerably lessen the risk of catastrophic large scale high severity fires that could result in long-term watershed degradation. By maintaining watershed function, long-term water quality will be maintained or enhanced. The Bald knoll and Red Canyon Units of project is located within the Sevier River 19 Water Quality Assessment Unit which includes west side Sevier River tributaries from Sevier Bridge Dam to Salina Creek Confluence. The condition of the assessment unit has not been determined because insufficient water quality data are available. The assessment unit drains into the Sevier River - 17 assessment unit which is listed as an impaired water due to violations for Total Phosphorus, Sedimentation, and Total Dissolved Solids. The Project would stabilize soils and reduce runoff and therefore would benefit the adjacent assessment unit. Completion of this project would reduce flooding and runoff from heavy rainstorms by depositing woody debris in the gullies to slow and hold back the water. Currently with the pinyon and Juniper on site there is a lot of bare ground available for erosion. By planting this treatment with a variety of grasses, forbs and shrubs the ground cover will be greatly increased, which will decrease the potential for erosion. Areas that become dominated by pinyon and juniper out compete understory herbaceous species and leave bare soil prone to erosion. This herbaceous vegetation is important to reducing overland flow and reducing soil loss. WATER QUANTITY: By removing PJ it is anticipated that water quantity will be enhanced (seeps, springs, bogs--improved) in the short and long term. Some research indicates that PJ removal in mountain sagebrush can increase soil water availability (Roundy et al. 2014). PJ removal activities should have a net positive effect on increasing water yield/availability as fewer conifer trees use water. Risk of fire will be reduced within multiple watersheds. Since the area suffers from a diminished understory of grass and forbs, the planned aerial seeding will be an important factor to establish future soil stability and reduce the risk of erosion. By maintaining watershed function, long-term water quality will be maintained or enhanced. Both the potential increase in herbaceous vegetation and the masticated or chained tree material should help stabilize the soils by reducing erosion and protect the water quality throughout the watershed. By removing PJ this should allow for more precipitation to contact the soil and increase biomass on the ground. In areas where hand thinning will be used there should be adequate vegetation to avoid soil erosion but this should increase the amount of water into the system instead of evaporating before it reaches the ground. Wet meadows and upland plants benefit by utilizing the increase soil moisture, providing for better resiliency during drought years. This provides for an increase in water quantity for herbaceous plants on sites where PJ is removed. Treatments on this project will be occurring in sagebrush and mountain mixed brush ecological communities. Restoring uplands within all of these ecological communities will reduce impacts from future wildfires along with reducing risks of future impairment to the watersheds. Sevier County: In Sevier County's Water Quality and Hydrology section under Desired Management Practices the statement below supports these types of projects. 3. Where water resources on public lands have diminished because grasses have succeeded to pinyon-juniper and other woody vegetation, a vigorous program of mechanical treatments should be applied to promptly remove this woody vegetation and biomass, stimulate the return of the grasses to historic levels, and thereby provide a watershed that maximizes water yield and water quality for livestock, wildlife, and human uses. (pg. 24).

USFS: The Fishlake National Forest Pinyon and Juniper Project Decision Notice was signed on December 5th, 2019 which covers the USFS portion of this project. The Fishlake National Forest has begun consultation with the State Historic Preservation Office. Archaeological surveys will occur prior to implementation. BLM: Cedar Mountain Fuels Reduction and Habitat Improvement EA completed and signed January 2018, Valley Mountains EA DOI-BLM-UT-C0202012-0011-EA Signed November 12,2013. Arc and wildlife survey's will be completed before implementation. Arc clearance will be completed on all BLM managed lands inside the proposed project boundary prior to implementation. The remaining FS managed areas have cultural surveys under contract to be completed by June 2022. All other necessary clearances will be completed prior to the 2023 fiscal year. Culture Resource Inventory surveys will be completed by June of 2023 on the Private Bullhog portions of this project. This will be conducted through State of Utah Purchasing and UDWR. USFS and private lands would be rested from any livestock use for a period of two growing seasons to help establish seeded-treated areas.

In this phase of the project, planned treatment will include ~6,069 total acres ( USFS ~1,968ac, BLM ~ 3578 ac, Private ~332 ac, SITLA ~191 ac) Treatment methods will include the following: USFS 1) aerial seeding followed by a mastication contract for approx. 545 acres. (Fall 2023). USFS 2) USFS IDIQ hand thinning contract for approx. 1,423 acres to be completed Spring 2024). BLM 1) aerial seeding followed by a mastication contract for approx. 2811 acres (Fall 2024). BLM 2) Lop and scatter contract for approx. 767 acres (Fall 2024). BLM 3) Archeological clearence of 5465 acres. 2025 BLM 1) 2654 acres of aerial seeding followed with mastication Fall of 2025. 2024 SITLA 1) Arc clearance of 592 acres, aerial seeding followed with mastication of 191 acres (Fall 2024) 2025 SITLA 2) Aerial seeding followed by a mastication contract for approx. 401 acres (Fall 2025). UDWR/USFWS 1) Aerial seeding followed by Bullhog Mastication of approximately 213 acres on the Boobe Hole CWMU and 118 on the valley mountains private (Fall 2023). Slopes over 40% and/or areas classified as phase I PJ expansion will be hand thinned utilizing chainsaws, and/or lopped/scattered. Slopes under 40% or classified phase II or III PJ expansion will be thinned utilizing mastication and chaining methods by machine. A mosaic treatment pattern combined with travel corridors will be designed into the project to allow some hiding, thermal and migration cover for big game. This diversity will help create a mix of life cycle benefits for a variety of wildlife and insect species. Curl-leaf mahogany and other key brush species will be designed away from fire opportunities to maintain browse integrity. The USFS, UDWR, UFFSLs and BLM will seed with a mix of brush, grass and forbs.

USFS: Throughout implementation of this project elk, deer, and other Management Indicator Species along with range conditions will continue to be monitored annually, following USFS Wildlife and Range Protocols (vegetation monitoring cages and vegetation transects). Areas as needed would be temporarily rested from domestic ungulate use, for 2-3 growing seasons, to allow vegetation time to establish. Post season deer counts in 2021 show historical low numbers of deer in the area. We will continue to conduct this route as well as the in conjunction with UDWR route to monitor deer and elk use within the treatment areas. If noxious and/or invasive weeds are detected, the District will take the appropriate actions to control spread and eliminate the noxious and/or invasive weeds from the treatment areas. The District has seen success (Dixie Harrow transects) in treatment areas, both fire and mechanical, on the Forest and BLM that have initially shown cheat-grass response, but after the re-seeding has time to establish, cheat-grass has decreased dramatically. Since the area suffers from a diminished understory of grass and forbs seeding will be an important factor to establish future soil stability and forage opportunities. Seed and mechanical treatment on Mormon Peak (Monroe Unit across to the West) proved to be very successful and preventative against domination of cheat grass. See data set in documents. Fuels treatment monitoring will take place involving multiple repeatable photo points. Plots will be visited post 1 year, 3 year, and 5 year, monitoring vegetation response and ground cover. This will be accomplished by the Forest Service SCA Monitoring Crew. Wildlife and aquatics monitoring data collected from this phase of treatment will be included in the documents section of the WRI database. BLM: Vegetation and ground cover data will be collected using the line-point intercept method and nested frequency. Photos will be taken and a qualitative site condition assessment completed. This area is also a designated mule deer route for BLM wildlife biologist and is monitored yearly. This year, each BLM Field office will have entire team devoted to the Assessment, Inventory and Monitoring program (AIM), and although the sample points are random, it is likely that some of these points will fall within the project area. This monitoring program uses standard core indicators and methods to provide a statistically valid sampling design across the landscape. Private Lands: When the original hand thinning project was done pre and post-treatment range assessment and woodland surveys were conducted by NRCS staff. Photo point will be established in the new treatment on private lands. Landowners will sign an agreement with USFWS and as part of the USFWS landowner agreement USFWS biologist will visit the site at minimum once per year to assess needs, success, failures, and need for any follow-up treatments/maintenance for the duration of the 10 year Landowner Agreement. UDWR Annual aerial and ground mule deer and Elk counts and classifications.

One of the main goals for this project is to promote treatment efforts at a landscape level with a collaborative effort between the USFS, BLM, SITLA, USFWS, UFFSL's, UDWR and private landowners. Several coordination meetings have taken place and will continue to take place to collaboratively determine future treatments that will mutually benefit all agencies and private landowners along with promote landscape-level restoration. This multi-agency collaborative project is located in Sevier County and includes USFS, BLM, SITLA, USFWS, and several private lands. Some USFS/BLM/Private across boundary work has already been completed adjacent to this project. These treatments will compliment previously accomplished treatments and wildlife benefits from the numerous treatments that the USFS and BLM have already completed in the Lost Creek area. The USFS, BLM, SITLA, USFWS, UDWR, and UFFSLs, are not only collaborating on this project but are also consulting about future treatments in the area. Multiple meetings with private landowners have been held and future meetings with them are planned to discuss further details of this project. During project planning the local UDWR biologists offered suggestions that were incorporated and offered support for the project. The Sevier County Commission are supportive of this project. Local ranchers are also supportive of this project. During project scoping, no opposition from the public was shared. The Grand Canyon Trust NGO is also in support of this project and voiced their support. Those in attendance during planning and the decision signing of the "Fishlake National Forest Pinyon and Juniper Project" expressed their support for active management.

FUTURE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT: By continually promoting a collaborative effort between USFS, BLM, SITLA, UDWR, UFFSLs, USFWS, and Private Landowners, it is anticipated that a long term level of success will be obtained on all the current and future treatments. Future maintenance of projects to protect investments made by USFS, UWRI, BLM, SITLA, and Private landowner have been addressed and allowed through the project planning document (NEPA). Adaptive management has been allowed for in the NEPA documents. Many tools have been analyzed in the NEPA planning process to allow other methods in the future. USFS: Treatment areas will be monitored post-implementation. If noxious and/or invasive weeds are detected, the District will take the appropriate actions to control spread and eliminate the noxious and/or invasive weeds from the treatment areas. Implementation of this project will reduce the risk of catastrophic high severity wildland fire; thus reducing the risk to the public and firefighters. Health and public safety is improved. With this reduced risk, future management of naturally caused fires on USFS lands may be possible to allow fire to play greatest feasible natural role in the environment, thus potentially further reducing risk to public and firefighters. As habitat is improved for ungulates (deer, elk, cattle, sheep) and additional forage becomes available, the USFS expects the flexibility and management of ungulates will improve; hopefully with less controversy. Maintaining healthy populations of wildlife while also responding to the needs of livestock permittees is expected to become easier. As future PJ expansion occurs, maintenance/re-treatment of this project via hand thinning of new PJ growth/whips is expected to be implemented to maintain the integrity of this project and the anticipated continued PJ expansion. Increased pace and scale of restoration type projects in this area is currently underway. Multiple projects have been, and are currently being implemented and more are being planned in this area. With numerous projects and thousands of acres treated in the surrounding area, this project compliments this completed restoration work at a large landscape scale and will hopefully promote future restoration projects to landowners on more of the surrounding private property. Also this project is in a continued effort to disperse browse pressure of both wild and domestic ungulates and improve watershed health. FUTURE RANGE MANAGEMENT: USFS: Forest lands would be rested from any livestock use for a period of two growing seasons to help establish seeded treated and treated areas. The District will ensure a temporary resting of treatment areas (2 to 3 years) which will be incorporated into Annual Operating Instructions. These actions will help ensure that permittees are in the communication loop and will give them enough time to plan for the resources they need to continue their operations. Impacts to permittees will be minimized by the use of herding and temporary electric fences so that treatment areas can be temporarily rested while non-treatment areas can continue to be grazed. BLM: This project area is within two grazing allotment. All areas seeded will be rested for a minimum of two complete growing seasons or until the seedlings become established and set seed. Once seeding establishment has been confirmed, BLM may authorize grazing according the Utah's Fundamentals of Rangeland Health and Guidelines for Grazing Management (2007). Vegetation will continue to be monitored for utilization, cover and trend. Following the rest period, the current management plan will govern. If needed, grazing adjustments would be made in Grazing Allotment Plans and through the grazing permit renewal process. USFWS/Private: The private landowners will enter into a contract with USFWS if funded. As part of the landowner agreement with USFWS the landowner agrees to leave the habitat restored in place for a 10 year period and during that time will work with the USFWS biologist to monitor and access needs, success, and any needed adaptive management. Landowners have committed to resting seeded areas as needed for seeding establishment. Permitee/Landowner: The landowner/permitee signed agreement that Lost Creek project will be rested for a minimum of two complete growing seasons if deemed necessary. USFWS and UDWR along with the Boobe Hole CWMU Private Landowner's have agreements signed and in place moving forward that grazing will be deferred for up to two growing seasons.

PUBLIC and ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY: The project areas are very popular for camping, hiking, sight-seeing, wildlife viewing, fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, and ATV trail riding. Miles of hiking and prominent ATV trails exists. Treatments will promote a renewed resilient beautiful sustainable forest that will be enjoyed by future generations. Multiple contracts are planned during this phase of treatment along with future planned phases. This project benefits the local communities by providing private companies work and associated economic benefits. Efforts are being made to promote commercial sale of Juniper fence posts from project areas. This project promotes sustaining hunting of big game such as elk and deer along with small game such as wild turkey. Treatments like this have potential to increase wildlife numbers and potential hunting opportunities to future generations. A main goal of these treatments is to enhance habitat at a landscape scale rather than at a jurisdictional level to promote increased utilization of big game animals and lessen the impact on private agricultural lands. Other sustainable uses towards this project will be the use of additional firewood that will be available, cutting of cedar post, access to additional hunting opportunities for big game such as mule deer and elk. Additional opportunities will be opened up for turkey hunting and upland game hunting as well. With the Sevier County ATV Jamboree each year, riders from across the country enjoy riding trails in this area and enjoy camping and recreating. FORAGE PRODUCTION or IMPROVED DISTRIBUTION: Forage productivity has diminished greatly over the past century and the PJ expansion continues on a yearly basis into the more productive sage/grass/forb communities. As PJ is thinned, understory vegetation increases, wild and domestic ungulates will experience an increase in foraging habitat. Through the mechanical thinning, PJ expansion is addressed, and sagebrush, grasses, and forbs are promoted. This in return moves the sage/grass/forb ecosystems in the Lost Creek area on a trajectory toward improved forage conditions thus improving ecosystems for both wildlife and livestock. Portions of the project are currently not being grazed due to the lack of understory and PJ expansion. This project has the potential to improve distribution of domestic livestock into new areas. The amount of forage available to livestock and wildlife is expected to increase significantly as a result of this project. With the removal of PJ, the amount of usable grasses and forbs in the and sagebrush is expected to increase significantly. With increased forage, ungulate distribution is expected to improve. Many areas that are currently unproductive due to overgrowth will soon become desirable for future uses by ungulates.

06/15/2023

04/24/2024

2024

On the Bald Knoll portion of the project, contractors masticated pinyon pine/juniper trees (PJ) on ~1,831 acres. The landownership breakout was BLM (~1,390 acres), Private (~212 & 84 acres), State (~145 acres). The area was cultural surveyed and seed was applied via fixed wing aerial contract through the DWR prior to implementation. Mastication completed spring of 2024. Red canyon Arch clearance was completed on 2,811 acres. The landownership breakout was BLM (2,532 acres), SITLA (274 acres) and will be masticated fall/winter of 2024-2025. No work was completed on USFS due to lack of funding.

Bald Knoll and Red Canyon were put out in two separate arch contracts. Both contracts were finished by October 15, 2024. Bald Knoll was aerially seeded on Oct 16, 2024 by fixed wing aircraft. The bullhog contractor started the same day. Mulching was finished on March 17, 2024. The contractors did a excellent job and finished two weeks early. The bullhog on private land near Koosharem Reservoir was completed through state purchasing with a seeding and mastication contract. Contractors did an excellent job. No work was completed on USFS due to lack of funding. WHY: Ground surveys and site visits have allowed us to see the lack of understory plants in the PJ complex in the Lost Creek area. Forage productivity has diminished greatly over the past century and the PJ encroachment continues on a yearly basis into the more productive sage/grass/forb communities. Some areas within the project have lost a majority of the understory sage/grasses/forbs, but other areas have not completely lost the understory. One of the biggest threats realized in this area is if left untreated these areas with some understory of sagebrush/grasses/forbs left will eventually be gone as well. This will continue to be "poor" habitat and range for ungulate animals. The area serves as transition range and winter range for big game and because it is in poor condition animals fail to remain in this zone for the season of use that should be normal. Just under half (~4,000 acres) of the PJ in the project is in phase II but is about to cross the threshold into phase III dominated PJ and lose the remaining understory. The other portion (~2,000 acres) of this project is in phase I with portions about to cross the threshold into phase II. If left untreated these areas with productive sage/grass/forb communities will degrade in productivity and treatment costs in the future will go up dramatically. As PJ has become dominate on the landscape and the loss of understory vegetation increases, big game and small game animals are experiencing a loss of foraging habitat. This entire area is at risk of large catastrophic wildfires that could adversely affect entire watersheds. This project will reduce the ecological risk of: 1) Current sediment transfer and associated increasing TDS and 2) Potential catastrophic impacts of increased sediment transfer and degradation of Southern leatherside chub habitat and population in the event of a wildfire. As Lost Creek and its tributaries are improved and potential catastrophic ecological impacts in the event of a wildfire are reduced, sediment transfer into Lost Creek and subsequent Sevier River will likely be reduced as well. Restoring uplands will reduce impacts from future wildfires by reducing risk of future impairment. This project reduces the threat to sensitive riparian ecosystems located in Lost Creek and Little Lost Creek that hold the Southern leatherside chub fish species. Refer to the "Water Quality/Quantity" section for more detail. Although it was determined by the USFWS that listing under the ESA was not warranted for Greater sage grouse there is an impending review to see if further action or protection is needed. Continuing to do work as identified in the Statewide Sage Grouse Management Plan to conserve sage grouse will support a continued "not warranted" status. The threat of development is at an all time high in this area as the private land would be ideal for high value cabin or camper lots. This area has extremely high visitation for outdoor recreation. Every Thursday night through Sunday night the two lane highway to the fishlake forest is packed with people coming to recreate for weekend in the area. Plainly stated, development is an immediate threat to the ecology of this landscape. Helping private land ag producers remain profitable as a livestock operation and from outdoor recreation (primarily hunting) here is important to reduce the risk of landowners selling the lands for development. This project focuses on juniper removal as a means to mitigate threats to critical Mule deer summer/winter range, elk winter range. Sagebrush habitat is at risk of being lost due to excessive pinyon and juniper, wildfire, and high potential for invasive vegetation. 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. This project will increase the availability of a diverse suite of vegetational communities. As stated earlier the dominant vegetational state is pinyon and juniper woodland. A healthy landscape has a diversity of vegetational states. A diverse landscape benefits a larger community of wildlife and people. A diverse landscape is also more resistance and resilient to disturbance. By allowing this landscape to continue to move further into a dominant PJ woodland it increases the risk of its resistance to disturbance and its resilience to bounce back and heal after a disturbance. Numerous projects have been implemented in the area with more planned to be implemented in the near future. The combination of all these projects is in effort to increase the pace and scale of implementation to help disperse browse pressure for both wild and domestic ungulates. Valley Mountain northwestern portion of project. Species Threats: This area has been identified as priority for restoration of CRUCIAL mule deer habitat under the Statewide Mule Deer Management Plan. "Crucial" means the areas habitat is necessary to sustain the areas mule deer herd. Allowing the area to move into phase 2 and 3 pinyon and juniper encroachment will mean less quality habitat to meet mule deer objectives. Elk and Mule Deer: The Lone Cedar area of the Valley Mountain range is very important for mule deer and elk. From higher to lower elevations elk and deer depend on the habitat with it's available forage and cover to complete their life cycle requirements. This project will greatly improve available forage for elk and deer populations. Treatments patterns will play an important role within the treatment implementation. One of the primary objectives of this project is to improve habitat for elk and deer. Winter range improvements from this project will benefit elk and deer populations for decades to come. Future monitoring and maintenance of the project will be essential to prolong the integrity of the treatment and health of big game populations. It has been said by land managers, biologist, and researchers familiar with the project area that this area is very important because Mule Deer are space limited here, meaning available habitat and water seem to be the limiting factor for population growth. As habitat is made available by doing this project, we are addressing an immediate threat to one of the primary limiting factors for this population. Ferruginous Hawk: Decreasing populations are commonly attributed to loss of habitat, and lack of secondary prey species. Ferruginous hawk is closely associated with open landscapes offering good visibility and prey resources In Utah, these conditions are often provided by lowland sagebrush, mountain sagebrush, and desert grassland habitats (UDWR 2015). Drought conditions over the past two decades have contributed to sagebrush die-offs, increased fire intensity and frequency, and increased invasive plants. These in turn lead to habitat fragmentation, decreased plant community vitality and decreased prey populations. This project will offer good visibility for foraging and nesting with a mosaic pattern and limit the risk of high intensity wildfire with increased invasive plants. The project will open foraging opportunities for prey such as lagomorphs, ground squirrels, birds and reptiles. Breeding success and population status have been tied to prey abundance and cycling. Wild Turkey: Newly treated areas through fire or mechanical means will attract use by wild turkey. Insects and new growth will be readily available to support turkey populations. This project will provide more foraging opportunities for wild turkey as grasses and forbs provide insects and seed. The project area also provides important recreational hunting for the local communities and people travel from all over the state (and from other states) to hunt here for elk, and mule deer. The highly sought-after hunting opportunities within the project areas provide a financial boost to local economies in several ways. Continuing to do work to maintain the habitat in this area will help to perpetuate the recreational and economic benefits. Financial thresholds need consideration when funding habitat conservation. The type of pro-active work we are proposing reduces future cost from becoming prohibitive.

Resting from grazing in the masticated and seeded areas is being incorporated into the annual operating plan for associated allotments. Planning future treatments on both BLM, private and USFS land in Phase 3 and 4 of this projects. Future planned treatments will include seeding and mastication along with more hand thinning as well in Phase 1 PJ areas. Overall future management in these areas is to increase overall fooprint of treatments at a more landscape level with the use of prescribed fire in conjunction with needed mechanical treatments in the lower elevations around values at risk. The landowner is also committed to resting the seeded area on private for at least 2 growing seasons. Kendall Bagley will ride his horse and chase cows out if needed. The private landowners have a history of working with conservation partners and future projects are being discussed and planned as mentioned above. The private landowners have a 10-year agreement with USFWS Partners Program to leave restored habitat in place. During this time USFWS will periodically check on the project and communicate with the landowner on future needs.