The purpose of the project is aspen restoration. Aspen is an important forest community in the Interior West, supporting significant biological diversity and providing increased water yields and ecosystem resiliency to fire. Aspen ecosystems can support a wide array of plant and animal species due to their high productivity and structural diversity. Many consider it the most important deciduous forest type in western North America. In addition, aspen stands play an increasingly important role in the suppression and management of wildfires because they can act as natural fuel breaks. Many aspen populations across the west are declining due to drought, ungulate browsing, and lack of disturbance, particularly fire, requiring active restoration efforts to maintain and improve aspen forest health in the region. The primary method for aspen reproduction is suckering from the clonal root system. Therefore, any decline in aspen is concerning because the loss of aspen presence is not easily recovered and may be permanent. This project will help maintain and improve the health of aspen communities across the Logan and Ogden Ranger districts preventing further decline.

Conduct wildlife, botany, and archeological surveys for future aspen restoration projects on the Logan and Ogden Ranger districts. Treatment methods will include lop & scatter, cut, pile & burn, mastication, or other mechanical thinning. Wildlife, botany and archeological surveys are needed to decide which treatment method will be applied to each polygon and complete the required NEPA. The objectives of the project are to move aspen forests closer to the desired future conditions and: 1. Increase aspen resilience and improve wildlife habitat by increasing the age-class diversity of aspen on the landscape. Restoring and maintaining self-replacing aspen stands 2. Increase Forest resistance to uncharacteristically large and severe wildfires and increase opportunities for managing wildfires for natural resource objectives by expanding the extent of aspen on the landscape.

In the persistent aspen, where mature stands are declining, we are typically seeing successful regeneration. However, without active treatments in these stands, the skew towards a landscape with mature and old stands would continue for long time periods. In the seral aspen, there is an abundance of late seral conditions and moderate to extensive colonization by conifers. Eventually, these stands with a conifer component would continue through succession to a conifer dominated cover type and possible the long-term loss of the aspen clone if not treated or disturbed by natural events such as fire.

Forest Plan of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest Forest wide Goal 2-Watershed Health-Maintain and/or restore overall watershed health (proper functioning of physical, biological and chemical conditions). Provide for longterm soil productivity. Watershed health should be addressed across administrative and political boundaries. Goal 2a. Identify areas not in properly functioning condition. Improve plant species composition, ground cover and age class diversity in these areas. Forest wide Goal 3-Biodiversity & Viability- Provide for sustained diversity of species at the genetic, populations, community and ecosystem levels. Maintain communities within their historic range of variation that sustains habitats for viable populations of species. Restore or maintain hydrologic functions. Reduce potential for uncharacteristic high-intensity wildfires, and insect epidemics. To achieve sustainable ecosystems, meet properly functioning condition criteria for all vegetation types that occur in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. Focus on approximating natural disturbances and processes by restoring composition, age class diversity, patch sizes, and patterns for all vegetation types. Goal 3d. Restore or maintain fire-adapted ecosystems (consistent with land uses, historic fire regimes, and other Forest Plan direction) through wildland fire use, prescribed fire, timber harvest or mechanical treatments. Goal 3e. Maintain or restore as mature and old age classes 40% of total conifer and 30% of total aspen cover types, well distributed across the landscape. Goal 3f. Maintain or restore species composition, such that the species that occupy any given site are predominantly native species in the kind and amount that were historically distributed across the landscapes. Forest wide Goal 4-Fire and Fuels Management- Wildland fire use and prescribed fire provide for ecosystem maintenance and restoration consistent with land uses and historic fire regimes. Fire suppression provides for public and firefighter safety and protection of other federal, state and private property and natural resources. Fuels are managed to reduce risk of property damage and uncharacteristic fires. Forest wide Subgoal- Fuel reduction Goal 4d. Reduce hazardous fuels (prescribed fire, silvicultural and mechanical treatments) with emphasis on interface communities (wildland/urban) and increase proactive participation of communities at risk. Forest wide Goal 9-Heritage Resources- Inventory, evaluate, protect and enhance heritage sites and landscapes. Goal 9b. Fully integrate the Heritage Program into land and resource management. The project is consistent with the following Forest Plan Objective: 3.b. Stimulate aspen regeneration and reduce other encroaching woody species in aspen by treating approximately 3,200 acres average annually for a 10-year total of 32,000 acres. GRSG-GRSGH-O-026-Objective -- Every 10 years for the next 50 years, improve greater sage- grouse habitat by removing invading conifers and other undesirable species based upon the number of acres shown in Table GRSG-GRSGH-O-026 (Amendment #13 September 16, 2015). DEER HERD UNIT MANAGEMENT PLAN Deer Herd Unit # 2 (Cache) Summer range habitat concerns are mainly the loss of aspen stands due to conifer encroachment. It is recommended that work to reduce conifer encroachment (bullhog, chaining, lop and scatter, etc. and prescribed fire in aspen) continue or begin in these communities-Aspen regeneration prescribed fire in Card Canyon, near Old Ephraim's Grave, Tony Grove, and Franklin Basin. Statewide Elk Management Plan---update. There will be a new plan in 2023. Habitat Objective B. Habitat Management a) Coordinate with land management agencies and private landowners to properly manage and improve elk habitat, especially calving and wintering areas C. Watershed Restoration Initiative a) Increase forage production by annually treating a minimum of 40,000 acres of elk habitat. b) Coordinate with land management agencies, conservation organizations, private landowners, and local leaders through the regional Watershed Restoration Initiative working groups to identify and prioritize elk habitats that are in need of enhancement or restoration. i) Identify habitat projects on summer ranges (aspen communities) to improve calving habitat. ii) Encourage land managers to manage portions of forests in early succession stages through the use controlled burning and logging. Controlled burning should only be used in areas with minimal invasive weed and/or safety concerns. Statewide Management Plan for Mule Deer Habitat Objective 1. Strategies: B. Habitat Management and Conservation a. Work with local, state and federal land management agencies via land management plans and with private landowners to identify and properly manage crucial mule deer habitats, especially fawning, wintering, and migration areas Habitat Objective 2: Improve the quality and quantity of vegetation for mule deer on a minimum of 500,000 acres of crucial range by 2024. Strategies: A. Watershed Restoration Initiative a. Continue to support and provide leadership for the Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative, which emphasizes improving sagebrush-steppe, aspen, and riparian habitats throughout Utah b. Work with land management agencies, conservation organizations, private landowners, and local leaders through the regional Watershed Restoration Initiative working groups to identify and prioritize mule deer habitats that are in need of enhancement or restoration. Emphasis should be placed on crucial habitats including sagebrush winter ranges and aspen summer ranges Improve the quality and quantity of vegetation for mule deer on a minimum of 500,000 acres of crucial range by 2024. d. Initiate broad scale vegetative treatment projects to improve mule deer habitat with emphasis on drought or fire damaged sagebrush winter ranges, ranges that have been taken over by invasive annual grass species, and ranges being diminished by encroachment of conifers into sagebrush or aspen habitats, ensuring that seed mixes contain sufficient forbs and browse species e. Encourage land managers to manage portions of pinyon-juniper woodlands and aspen-conifer forests in early successional stages using various methods including timber harvest and managed fire Utah Sage grouse Management Plan 4c. Using Utah's Watershed Restoration Initiative (WRI), remove conifer as appropriate in areas protected in 4(b) to ensure that existing functional habitats remain intact. 4d. Using the WRI, maintain existing sage-grouse habitats by offsetting the impacts identified in 1(f) by creating additional habitat within or adjacent to occupied habitats at an equal rate each year--or 25,000 acres each year--whichever is greater. 4e. Increase sage-grouse habitats by using the WRI--and other state, federal and private partnerships--to restore or create 50,000 acres of habitat within or adjacent to occupied habitats each year, in addition to those acres identified in 4(d).

This project will address the long-term lack of fire in this fire-adapted ecosystem. Aspen trees are shade intolerant and without regular disturbance, conifers eventually shade them out and reduce the ecological services that aspen stands provide. Removing conifers using the different treatment methods for this project will provide the disturbance to achieve similar benefits to fire and will reduce the overall structure of the fuels. This project will increase Forest resistance to uncharacteristically large and severe wildfires and increase opportunities for managing wildfires for natural resource objectives by expanding the extent of aspen on the landscape.

This project will reduce the potential for catastrophic wildfire and its effects to water quality by utilizing mechanical treatments to reduce hazardous fuel loads and change the structure of the vegetation. Some stands of trees within the project area are susceptible to high intensity crown fire which could result in high levels of soil erosion, habitat loss and flooding. Water quantity may increase with a reduction of trees competing for available ground water.

Asking for funding for wildlife and botany surveys and archaeological clearances to complete NEPA for future aspen restoration projects.

Hire a contractor to conduct wildlife and botany surveys and archaeological clearances in summer and fall of 2023.

The purpose of this Phase of the project is to collect survey data in preparation for NEPA and cultural resource compliance. Monitoring protocols will be designed and collected before, during and after any future implementation phases of this project. These future protocols will likely include photo points, understory aspen regeneration/recruitment, ungulate browsing pressure on aspen, fuel loading and invasive and noxious weeds.

DWR and Mule Deer Foundation

This proposal is the first Phase of multiple phases for this project. Future phases will include the implementation of the restoration efforts, which include lop and scatter, cut, pile and burn and other mechanical treatments. Invasive and noxious weeds will be treated where needed.

Vegetation and fuels treatments will be designed to increase the species and age class diversity of forested lands within the project area. Treatments will increase forest health, improving resistance and resilience to future insects and diseases while reducing risk of uncharacteristic wildfires.

07/11/2023

06/30/2024

2024

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources administered a cultural contract for Class III archaeological surveys on 1743 acres in the Swan Flat area of the Logan Ranger District. One historic cabin was found in the area and will require a buffer of 100 feet of hand thinning only. It was decided to use the funding for this project on the cultural surveys, so the plant surveys were completed by the Forest Service Botanist and Botany tech. Plant surveys were conducted on the entire acreage for the project. Goshawk surveys were also completed by Forest Service wildlife techs.

The overall project is focused on the restoration of aspens, which are in decline in this area. Aspen is an important forest community in the Interior West, supporting significant biological diversity and providing increased water yields and ecosystem resiliency to fire. Aspen ecosystems can support a wide array of plant and animal species due to their high productivity and structural diversity. This project will use a mix of mechanical treatments and cut/pile/burn to improve big game habitat, restore aspen ecosystems, increase forest health, reduce hazardous fuel loads, and decrease the risk of catastrophic wildfire.

Implementation on Phase I for 603 acres of lop/scatter will begin fall of 2024. Other mechanical treatments will continue in the area in the future including ten more phases including cut/skid/deck, cut/pile/burn, post/pole and other vegetation treatments. See attached map.