In 2020, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources recognized that big game populations in the 12-mile canyon area were below objectives. Therefore, the UDWR, USFS, and sportsman organizations joined forces to begin efforts to improve the deer and elk populations in the 12-mile canyon area. Predator control methods were implemented to reduce mortality rates, but the major concern was that if the habitat was not also improved that populations could spike and then crash. Therefore, with predator control efforts underway it became all the more important to ensure that habitat loss and degradation were not the limiting factors as populations began to rebound. Sportsman groups donated significant funding to jump-start the permitting and NEPA process so we could begin the on-the-ground work as soon as possible. Once that funding was received, DWR and USFS staff sprang into action and began contracting cultural and biological surveys and planning treatment areas. The USFS staff worked diligently to complete the NEPA process in a responsible and efficient manner. We went above and beyond to ensure that critical resources would not be negatively impacted by this project, and ensure that this work would be a benefit to the watershed health. The NEPA was signed and finalized in the summer of 2022 and the first phases of work to thin overgrown conifers in aspen stands began in the fall of 2022. (See Documents Section for NEPA and SHPO Concurrence Documents) We cut and piled over 200 acres in the fall of 2022 and we will complete another 200 in the spring of 2023. This funding and NEPA effort was an impressive example of collaboration by all involved and much appreciation goes out to the USFS and to all the sportsman partners who contributed funds to make it possible. Thanks to these efforts we now have thousands of acres approved for treatments to improve watershed health. All we need now is the funding to do these treatments. Because WRI and partners have already made such great investments to prepare the way for treatments, it is essential that this project be funded to ensure that we capitalize on those investments. The big game and other wildlife species' habitat in this area is currently in poor condition for several reasons. First, the winter range is not as good as it could be because of fire suppression, which has allowed the encroachment of pinyon and juniper trees into shrub-steppe habitat zones. Because of this PJ encroachment, we have lost most of our understory vegetation which is important for big game to survive the winter. This encroachment is especially bad on the Twelve Mile wildlife management area (See Photos). This property's primary role is to benefit wildlife and should be a shining example of optimal habitat, but there is much work to be done to get to that point still. We need to implement this project to ensure that this wildlife management area is providing the wildlife benefits for which it was purchased. Second, conifer encroachment in the high-elevation aspen zones has diminished the amount and quality of this important habitat type for big game in the summer. Instead of thick and dying conifer stands that cover the landscape, we should have a patchwork or mosaic pattern of different tree and understory vegetation types. The conifer stands can provide shelter and cover but most wildlife species do not get their food from conifer species; they instead depend on the food found in the aspen and the understory vegetation in open meadows, and riparian zones along streams and ponds. When conifer stands out-compete these other vegetation types, there is a loss of food for wildlife that results in smaller population numbers and lower diversity. The key to optimal watershed health is to maximize vegetation diversity across the landscape. That is the objective of this project. We have collared multiple mule deer with GPS collars in the 12-mile through the wildlife migration initiative and we can see that most of the deer are not utilizing these thick conifer areas in the 12-mile canyon. Attached in the images/documents section is a video I made from the wildlife tracker system that shows a mule deer utilizing the edges of one of these thick conifer areas, but it seems to avoid it and stay in the more open aspen areas. This is most likely because of a lack of food located within the conifer stand. This project will reduce the thickness of these conifer stands to increase the available food and habitat for big game. Lastly, because of the historic over-trapping of beavers and continued poaching of beavers to this day, we have lost most of our beaver populations which has resulted in a degradation of high-quality riparian habitats that beavers create with their dams. Big game, fish, amphibians, birds, etc. all key into beaver pond areas as a high-quality habitat zone. As I have been working in this watershed planning and implementing projects over the last few years I consistently have noticed that near beaver ponds there is a concentration of wildlife. Especially during the fawning period in early June and July, I find doe deer within close proximity of these historic beaver ponds. I believe that they select for beaver ponds because of their increased need for nutrient-rich vegetation that is located there and to address their increased need for water to provide milk for their young. Many of these old beaver ponds are draining and going dry however because the beavers have been removed. Also, many of the streams are eroding and channelizing because the beaver dams are no longer there to slow the water down. In this project, we will install man-made beaver dams called BDAs to mimic what beavers would do until we can get beaver populations back to where they were historically. I have met with the Mayfield and Gunnison irrigation companies this past year to inform them of our plans to build BDAs and increase beaver populations. I have explained to them the benefits that these things wll bring to them through increased water storage and improved water quality. They have been supportive and seem to understand the benefits that they will gain from BDAs and healthier beaver populations. We will continue to involve them closely as we work to improve their watershed health. Beyond the need to improve big game species populations, many other fish and wildlife species need help in this area that will be benefited from these habitat restoration efforts. A lot of focus is given to the importance of old-growth trees for the nesting of goshawks and other raptor species, but that is just one component of their habitat needs. These raptor species also need open aspen stands, open meadows, and riparian and aquatic zones for their hunting grounds. The rodents, lagomorphs, and upland game birds that provide a large part of their diets depend on these other habitat types for food and cover. By working to reduce juniper cover in the sagebrush areas and conifers in the high-elevation aspen zones we will increase the prey species population numbers which will in turn provide more food for vulnerable raptor species as well. This project will help provide this diversity of habitat and benefit raptors as well as their prey. Thick stands of continuous PJ is also problematic for even those species that are obligate or prefer these habitat types, such as pinyon jays. Pinyon jays utilize pinyon pine for their nuts and junipers for their berries and are typically found in this habitat type. However, not all of their food comes from pinyon pine nuts or juniper berries, and we need to consider all of the spatial and temporal dietary needs of pinyon jays throughout the year. For example, it is known that they will eat berries from shrubs, other seeds from grasses and forbs, and even insects, lizards, snakes, nestling birds, and small mammals. These food sources will be increased through PJ removal or thinning treatments. Edge habitat and transitional zones have also been identified as preferred habitat by pinyon jays. In a recent publication, it states pinyon Jays used a distinct subset of available pinyon-juniper woodland habitat, which suggests that Pinyon Jays used different but overlapping habitats for seed caching, foraging, and nesting. Caching was concentrated in low-elevation, relatively flat areas with low tree cover, WHICH HABITAT TYPE WE WILL CREATE THROUGH OUR BULLHOG TREATMENTS TO THIN THE PJ. This paper also stated that foraging occurred at slightly higher elevations with generally moderate but variable tree cover. This treatment will also create this habitat, as we thin and remove juniper but leave dispersed pinyon pine throughout the treatment area. Nesting was concentrated in slightly higher areas with high tree and vegetation cover, which we will leave as part of this project the trees in the higher elevation areas naturally because of the steepness of those slopes and ruggedness of that terrain, which makes it impossible for equipment to access. All three of these Pinyon Jay behavior types were highly concentrated within the lower-elevation band of pinyon-juniper woodland close to the woodland-shrub land ecotone, which is where we will be working. (Boone et al. 2021) Through our project, we will create the diversity of these other habitat types that are essential to pinyon jays for caching and foraging as well as increase the proximity of these areas to their nesting habitat types, with increased edge and transitional zones throughout the landscape. This project will therefore greatly benefit this PJ obligate species as well as their food sources and prey species. UDWR aquatics biologists have identified multiple ponds in this watershed that are draining and drying up because of the removal of beavers. In addition, the streams are blowing out and eroding deeper and deeper channels each year because the water is not slowed down from beaver ponds that would naturally be ubiquitous across all streams. Historically, it is estimated that beaver populations were in the 100s of millions and that every stream and water body across Utah would have had beavers in it. Imagine how different the landscape would have looked and how that would have benefited wildlife and the watershed health. Beaver dams and their ponds create a diversity of habitat structures in streams where there is slower moving water, plunge pools, and riffles. The loss of these habitats and the draining of historic ponds result in fish die-offs and a loss of potential areas where additional fish populations can be established for native and sportfish species by the UDWR. This means fewer places where the public can enjoy fishing or see wildlife that rely on fish for food. These ponds also provide essential habitats for native amphibian species like tiger salamanders or boreal toads that are extremely rare already and can be at risk of extinction in the near future. These amphibian species rely on slow-moving or stable water that has aquatic vegetation where they can lay eggs and escape from predators. Many rare and struggling bat species also depend on these beaver pond habitats for a place where they can fly down and grab water in their mouths or where they can find concentrations of insects for food. Waterfowl and shorebirds also depend on these beaver ponds for food, protection from predators, and nesting habitat. Many important or rare plant species are also dependent on the increased soil moisture that beaver dams and ponds create. These plants, such as cottonwoods, aspens, willows, birch, elderberry, chokecherry, golden currants, etc. provide food and nesting habitat for many bird species. Wild turkeys utilize these tall cottonwoods that are increased by beaver pond activity to roost in. As we build BDAs and work to restore beavers to this landscape we will help fish and these other species have the habitats types which they need. Erosion and poor water quality are major concerns for this watershed. There have been several large landslides in recent years and the ground continues to be unstable. The town of Mayfield and other neighboring communities depend on the water from this watershed for culinary use and irrigation. The continued erosion and stream-down cutting result in poor water quality issues, which are causing problems for these water systems and users. We are partnering with the NRCS, the USFS, and the community of Mayfield to develop infrastructure, such as a short diversion pipeline, to take water around the most vulnerable areas. As part of the NRCS project, there will be seeding and other erosion control structures to help reduce the erosion and mudslides. This WRI grant will work to complement these other efforts by the NRCS. This project will also improve soil stability as additional grass and other understory vegetation's roots hold the soil in place better. Catastrophic wildfire is a major concern for this watershed. There are nearby cabin communities as well as the town of Mayfield that are at risk. Areas, where PJ will be removed, are identified as a very high threat on the fire threat index. This threat is mainly to the town of Mayfield and the homes that are in the foothills on the edges of town. This project will help to reduce these direct fire risks. In addition to the direct threats of fire, there is extreme concern about post-fire flooding and mudslides. With the soils that are, already eroding, there is an extreme risk of a major mudslide and flooding that would be devastating to infrastructure and threaten life and property if a wildfire were to burn across the entire watershed. Our project will work to remove fuel loads in these areas of concern little by little so that a large fire would not be able to travel as well and burn large areas. Our treatments will allow the forest to let natural fires burn without the risk of catastrophic fire damages. In Utah, we strive to have sustainable uses of our natural lands and watersheds. One of the goals of WRI is to help achieve this goal. Responsible livestock grazing on our public lands is one of these sustainable uses of our public lands that can help provide additional funding revenue for low-income families, especially in rural Utah. This livelihood is threatened as our watersheds are degraded and available feed for livestock is lost. This project will help to address these threats by removing encroaching conifer and PJ which will increase the feed on the landscape. Through the BDAs and other water developments, we will increase water availability and disperse it across the landscape. By doing the treatments we will also increase the resiliency of the habitat to cattle grazing so that there will not be as much damage from livestock that can give ammunition to critics of grazing on public lands. This project will help demonstrate that ranchers and livestock practices can coexist with wildlife and still have healthy watersheds through restoration efforts and proper management. This will hopefully help ensure that livestock grazing on public lands can continue for many years to come in the future. As mentioned previously the big game and sportfish populations are diminishing in this watershed which results in a loss of hunting and fishing opportunities. One of the goals of WRI is to increase and preserve the sustainable practice of hunting and fishing on our landscapes. This project will help increase hunting and fishing opportunities and preserve this sustainable use. In conclusion, there are many reasons why we need to do this project and this has been a well-planned and coordinated project that will address a wide variety of watershed health needs. We hope that this project will be funded this year so that investments that have already been made towards the health of this watershed can be capitalized upon and so we do not cross over ecological thresholds, which will make this work more difficult and expensive in the future.

1. Reduce overgrown and decadent conifer stands to promote aspen regeneration and understory establishment for the benefit of big game, water quality, fire risk reduction, sustainable uses, and other wildlife species. 2. Reduce pinyon and juniper tree cover to protect surviving understory vegetation and promote the growth of new vegetation to reduce risk of PJ crown fire, increase water quantity, and improve and protect wildlife habitat. 3. Improve the riparian zones and the health of ponds and streams throughout the watershed with the use of BDAs, for the benefit of increased food and water for big game and other fish and wildlife species, additional water quality and quantity, fire risk reduction, enhanced sustainable uses, such as fishing. 4. Partner with the NRCS, USFS, and the community of Mayfield with their work to build infrastructure to address their water erosion, mudslides, and poor water quality concerns. 5. Showcase how partnering among different government agencies and landownership boundaries; the WRI program can achieve great success at improving the overall health and value of the 12-mile watershed. 6. Help keep the 12-mile canyon watershed from crossing ecological thresholds, defined as "boundaries in time and space between two states that are not reversible on a practical time scale without management intervention" (Friedel 1991). 7. Help achieve the strategies and objectives that are outlined in a variety of management plans that pertain to this 12-mile watershed. 8. Reduce significantly the risk of catastrophic wildfire from additional fuel loading and/or continuity of hazardous fuels to the community of Mayfield and Sterling and all other infrastructure and significant watershed values. 9. Address through multiple ways the threats to water quality and work to increase the water quantity in the watershed. 10. Utilize the wildlife surveys, cultural clearances, and NEPA that has been funded with the first phase of this project to meet all necessary compliance challenges and begin returning value for that work that has been completed in the form of on the ground watershed improvements. 11. Monitor the effectiveness of our treatments and learn how to improve them moving forward into the future for other treatments. Also, be able to identify where we did not meet our objectives as outlined above, through effective monitoring. Utilize new technology and data such as the wildlife tracker and drones to monitor and determine project success. 12. Where objectives are not met or are lacking establish a way to ensure that future management continues to build upon the gains that were achieved through this project. 13. Improve the quality or quantity of sustainable uses such as grazing, hunting, fishing, recreation, etc.

As identified in objective number six, we want to ensure that ecological thresholds are not crossed in the 12-mile canyon watershed. The tree removal treatments on the 12-Mile WMA require periodic maintenance. Approximately 1,200 acres of lop & scatter treatments were done in 2007 and 514 acres of anchor chaining were finished in 2008. Some of these old treatments require additional lop & scatter treatments. Re-growing pinyon and juniper trees are getting larger and if not treated soon, will be more expensive to treat and may require a more expensive treatment type. The proposed bullhog area is mostly phase 2 juniper that is transitioning into phase 3. If it continues to infill with juniper trees more of the remaining sagebrush and mixed browse communities will be lost and cross an ecological threshold. The sooner this area is treated, the more sagebrush and other preferred shrubs will survive. If we do not treat these areas it will be more expensive and will take decades to get the shrub communities back. A similar thing is occurring in the conifer and aspen zones. If we do not treat these areas we continue to lose more and more of our aspen and understory vegetation to competition from conifer species. By treating now we can save many of the remaining plants and dramatically reduce the recovery time. By thinning these trees we also will help reduce the threat of a catastrophic wildfire that can remove more vegetation from a larger area than is natural or desired. Also, a large fire like this could cause devastating mud slides and erosion that would be an impossible ecological threshold to fix. The continued erosion and degradation of streams that has partly resulted from the removal of beavers will continue unless we install BDAs. Every year the cost and time to restore these stream systems increase. Also, our fish populations are dropping lower and lower every year that we do not restore these beaver dam structures to help provide the habitat necessary for survival. The work that the NRCS is planning will help stop the continued mudslides and massive erosion that if not addressed can lead to crossing an extreme ecological threshold.

This project will help meet objectives and strategies from the following plans: The San Pitch River Watershed, DWQ Water Quality Management Plan (See Documents) Objective 1: Improve stability of the stream channel and tributaries to enhance the riparian corridor and buffer zones to proper functioning condition. Objective 2: Obtain funding to implement BMPs for greatest improvement in the San Pitch River Watershed. Objective 3: Improve and conserve wildlife habitat in the watershed. The Utah Statewide Elk Management Plan: * Habitat Objective 1. Maintain elk habitat throughout the state by identifying and protecting existing crucial elk habitat and mitigating for losses due to human impacts. * Habitat Objective 2: Improve the quality and quantity of forage and cover on 250,000 acres of elk habitat with emphasis on calving habitat and upper elevation elk winter range by the end of this plan. The Utah Statewide Mule Deer Management Plan: * Habitat Objective 1. Maintain mule deer habitat throughout the state by protecting existing critical habitats and mitigating for losses due to human impacts. * Habitat Objective 2. Improve the quality of forage and vegetation for mule deer on 200,000 acres of critical range. Mule Deer Management plan for herd unit 16 Central mountains: HABITAT MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES - Deer Plan * Protect, maintain, and/or improve deer habitat through direct range improvements to support and maintain herd population management objectives. HABITAT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES * Continue to improve, protect, and restore sagebrush steppe habitats critical to deer. Cooperate with federal land management agencies and private landowners in carrying out habitat improvements such as pinion-juniper removal, reseedings, controlled burns, grazing management, water developments etc. on public and private lands. Habitat improvement projects will occur on both winter ranges as well as summer range. This project will also address some of the objectives and strategies listed in the elk management plan for unit 16 Central mountains including: Elk Management Plan for Central Mountains Manti Unit: * Manage for a population of healthy animals capable of providing a broad range of recreational opportunities, including hunting and viewing. Consider impacts of the elk herd on other land uses and public interests, including private property rights, agricultural crops and local economies. Maintain an elk population consistent with the available range resources and which is in balance with other range users such as domestic livestock, other big game and the need for watershed protection. * Maintain and enhance existing elk habitat through vegetative manipulation, sound domestic grazing practices, and other management techniques that will meet habitat objectives UNIT MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES * Protect and maintain existing habitats that are functioning properly. Enhance elk habitat on a minimum of 20,000 acres during the next 5 years through direct range improvements. This will include the following specific objectives. * Remove pinion-juniper encroachment into winter range sagebrush parks and summer and transitional range mountain brush communities. Approximately 2,000 acres per year will be targeted using primarily mechanical treatments. The Division of Wildlife Resources Strategic Management Plan: Resource Goal: expand wildlife populations by protecting and improving wildlife habitat. Objective 1: protect existing wildlife habitat and improve 500,000 acres of critical habitats and watersheds throughout the state. Constituency Goal: Achieve broad-based support for Division programs and budgets by demonstrating the value of wildlife to all citizens of Utah. Objective 2: improve communication with wildlife organizations, public officials, private landowners, and government agencies to obtain support for Division programs. South Sanpete County WMAs Habitat Management Plan: 1. Improve browse communities. 2. Maintain previous restoration projects.

Catastrophic wildfire is a major concern for this watershed. There are nearby cabin communities as well as the town of Mayfield that are at risk. Areas, where we will be removing pinyon and juniper trees, are identified as a very high threat on the fire threat index. This threat is mainly to the town of Mayfield and the homes that are in the foothills on the edges of town. This project will help to reduce these direct fire risks by removing pinyon and juniper trees which will reduce fire risk and make it easier for firefighters to protect homes. In addition to the direct threats of fire, there is extreme concern about post-fire flooding and mudslide potential, especially in the higher elevations. With the soils that are already eroding, there is an extreme risk of a major mudslide and flooding that would be devastating to infrastructure and threaten life and property if a wildlife were to burn across the entire watershed. Our project will work to remove fuel loads in these areas of concern little by little so that a large fire would not be able to travel as well and burn as large of areas. Our treatments will allow the USFS to feel more comfortable letting natural fires burn without the risk of catastrophic fire damages. The unnatural fuel loads and fire risk in the 12-mile canyon area have occurred because of more than 100 years of fire suppression. This has resulted in old, diseased, and dead stands of conifer forests throughout the project that are more prone to burn with greater intensity as well. This project will begin the process of thinning the forest and reducing the fuel loads to reduce the fire danger and make it safer for firefighters and communities. This project will also pave the way for future fire risk reduction efforts including possibly controlled burns through the USFS. The BDAs and stream restoration will also help increase riparian wet areas and green vegetation which will act as green strips or fire breaks to slow and stop catastrophic fire spread.

As part of our partnership with the NRCS on this project, there will be the construction of a new reservoir at the mouth of 12-mile canyon. This project will dramatically increase the amount of water that is able to be stored in the watershed before it drains down into the valley bottoms. The reservoir surface area will be 12- 15 acres and will hold 465-acre feet of water. This reservoir will be located at the bottom of all of our other efforts that will be upstream and will serve as the last catchment of water and sediments before it enters the culinary and irrigation systems of the community of Mayfield. This phase of the project is to do the cultural surveys and design of this reservoir, which will be paid for 100% by the NRCS. Erosion and poor water quality are major concerns for this watershed. There have been several large landslides in recent years and the ground continues to be unstable. We do not want our reservoir to be filled with sediments and lose its storage capacity. So through WRI funding we will construct a series of multiple BDAs in the stream moving upstream. These BDAs will be able to store additional water as well as catch sediments that would otherwise end up in the reservoir. Above these BDAs at the top of the watershed is the final installment in-stream to help reduce landslides and erosion. We are partnering with the NRCS, the USFS, and the community of Mayfield to develop a short diversion pipeline, to take water around the most vulnerable areas soils that are actively sliding. As part of the NRCS project, there will be seeding and other erosion control structures to help reduce the erosion and mudslides as well. Outside of the stream and riparian areas the work that WRI is funding in the uplands will also improve soil stability as additional grass and other understory vegetation's roots hold the soil in place better. UDWR aquatics biologists have identified multiple ponds in this watershed that are draining and drying up because of the removal of beavers. In addition, the streams are blowing out and eroding deeper and deeper channels each year because the water is not slowed down from beaver ponds that would naturally be ubiquitous across all streams. Historically, it is estimated that beaver populations were in the 100s of millions and that every stream and water body across Utah would have had beavers in it. Imagine how different the landscape would have looked and how that would have benefited water quality and quantity. Beaver dams have been shown to slow down the rate of spring runoff and allow that water to reach downstream water users longer into the summer. This will increase the quantity of water for ranchers and farmers and the duration for how long they can grow their crops. This project will be constructing BDAs to mimic the benefits of beaver dams to begin to restore the water storage properties that this watershed historically had when there were thousands of beavers and thousands of beaver dams. BDAs create a diversity of habitat structures in streams where there is slower moving water, plunge pools, and riffles. We will also be laying the ground work with our partners to begin efforts to restore actual beavers to help maintain these efforts in perpetuity. This project will also significantly increase water quantity by preparing to remove juniper trees which can use around 32 liters of water per day. That savings in soil moisture can be used by other plants and recharge springs and aquafers. The reduction in tree cover will also reduce bare ground and allow for grass and forbs to stabilize the soil with their roots, which will result in a decrease in soil erosion potential and improve water quality.

As part of the first phase of this WRI project that was funded last year, we secured the funding to complete all of the cultural and wildlife surveys needed to help complete the NEPA. Dru Crane, the wildlife biologist from the USFS is actively working on the NEPA and plans to have it completed by the time WRI funding is awarded in July of 2022. We have been working closely with Charmaine, the USFS archaeologist, and Arie, the UDWR archaeologist, and we have plans to complete the cultural surveys this spring for not only this phase of the project for all future phases as well. Some of the proposed lop & scatter tand bullhog aresa on the twelve mile WMA have already been surveyed and treated and so that reduces our costs significantly.

On the 12-Mile WMA, hand crews will be hired to cut (lop & scatter) surviving pinyon and juniper trees on the 2008 chaining polygons. A bullhog contractor will be hired to remove juniper trees within the proposed bullhog treatment area on the 12-Mile WMA. Pinyon pine trees will be retained. About 25 to 30% of the Gambel oakbrush will also be treated to create some stand diversity. We will aerially seed a mixture of mostly grasses and forbs on the bullhog areas prior to mastication so that the bullhogs can drive over the seed and help incorporate it into the soil. Second, we will improve the summer range by removing conifer species from locations that should be primarily aspen stands and meadows. This will increase the amount of available ground vegetation that big game utilize for food. We will also rejuvenate old decadent aspen stands with young saplings that provide high nutrition value for big game. We will accomplish this by utilizing bullhog masticators to target the smaller diameter conifer trees that are encroaching in more level areas. Then with hand crews, we will cut, pile, and burn the areas that are too steep for heavy equipment and where we want to take out bigger trees. Lastly, we will work to increase the available water and high nutrient content riparian vegetation that is associated with stream floodplain habitat. This will be done with the construction of man-made beaver dams (BDAs) or in-stream habitat restoration structures. These BDAs will serve to replace the function that beavers would provide for the ecosystem until we can re-introduce actual beavers. We will hire contractors to first pound in 2" diameter wood posts, spaced 2' apart, into the stream beds. Then we will come in with either volunteers or contractors to cut branches and weave them between the posts until it forms a beaver dam-looking structure. We lastly, will apply a biodegradable blanket on the upstream side of the dam to better capture sediment. This will be held in place with rocks and mud. The cultural surveys and design of the reservoir and the pipeline will be done by Jones and DeMille engineering and their subcontractors. In later phases, the work to construct the pipeline and reservoir will be done by engineers and contractors. .

Monitoring of the higher elevation conifer removal treatments will be done by the USFS biologists, foresters, geologists, and by UDWR habitat biologists, and by utilizing the wildlife tracker data. We will mostly utilize photo points taken at representative sites in the treatment areas to compare before and after. We will also monitor collar data movements over time to see if we are impacting the movements and behavior of collared mule deer. Big game biologists will continue to monitor big game populations in the 12-mile area and report increases in populations as detected in relation to our project. We have already completed goshawk surveys and no nests were detected in the treatment areas. The USFS will continue to monitor if new nests are created. USFS staff will continue to monitor whether we are increasing soil moisture and how we are impacting soil stability. The BDAs will have photo points taken to show the progress we make over time to aggrade the stream and reduce downcutting. For the lowland PJ treatments, we will have DWR's highly skilled range trend team establish a range trend study site that will be monitored every 5 years for perpetuity. We want to observe whether we reach our desired goals of less than 1% PJ on historic chaining polygons and approximately less than 10-20% on bullhog treated areas. Also, to get a rough estimate of whether we achieve our goal to increase perennial forb cover within the bullhog treatment area to a cover value of at least 10% by the third growing season after treatment. Increase perennial grass cover within the bullhog treatment area to a cover value of at least 15% by the third growing season. Preserve existing sagebrush and other shrub species within PJ removal areas and have new shrub recruitment visible by the third growing season. Additional photo points will be established prior to treatment by UDWR biologists and retaken after the project every few years and uploaded onto this project on the WRI database.

We have multiple partners involved in this project. The NRCS has a PL 566 watershed planning grant and has already received $500,000 for the NEPA and 30 percent design. The plan is to receive an additional $3million for design and $25 million for the total construction of the reservoir and landslide prevention pipeline and infrastructure. Jacob Hall our NRCS/DWR biologist is also working on this project to help facilitate cooperation between NRCS and DWR on this project. Jones and Demille Engineering has been hired by the NRCS to conduct the NEPA and design and we have been working closely with them to collaborate our efforts. The USFS is the major landowner for all of the BDA and higher elevation conifer removal work. DWR habitat biologists have had multiple meetings with the USFS over the past couple of years to plan all the necessary surveys, permitting, NEPA, and to plan treatment areas and techniques for the work on the USFS lands. Dru Crane, from the USFS has been working hard along with many other specialists from the USFS and the district ranger Johnny Collin to get the NEPA completed. Sportsman groups have been highly interested in this project and provided significant funding for the first phase of this project and we anticipate that they will be big contributors of funding again for this next phase of on-the-ground treatments. The community of Mayfield has been working closely with the NRCS and Jones Demille Engineering on their portion of the project as well. We have reached out to all landowners within the watershed and are working across boundary lines to do a landscape-scale watershed restoration project.

The12-Mile WMA is covered by the South Sanpete WMAs Habitat Management Plan and will continue to be managed for wildlife with an emphasis on mule deer and elk winter/spring habitat. This comes with an assurance of funding and manpower from the UDWR of active management to ensure the success of this project and to invest in further work as needed to achieve the desired goals for the WMA. Similarly, the work we are doing on the USFS brings with it the added assurance that there is funding and personnel available to monitor and are heavily invested in achieving the goals of multi-use management for their lands. As was indicated above we will have lots of monitoring that can help inform us whether we need to do added actions in the future.

In Utah, we strive to have sustainable uses of our natural lands and watersheds. One of the goals of WRI is to help achieve this goal. Responsible livestock grazing on our public lands is one of these sustainable uses of our public lands that can help provide additional funding revenue for low-income families, especially in rural Utah. This livelihood is threatened as our watersheds and landscapes are degraded, from the loss of feed that results from PJ and conifer encroachment. This project will work to remove these threats and increase the available forage to livestock. The work to restore beaver processes through BDAs will also help disperse water across the landscape for livestock and will increase the amount and quality of forage for livestock. The pipeline to divert water from high-risk erosion areas will also have water troughs to help disperse water across the landscape. Another very important sustainable use of our natural resources is hunting and fishing. As I just mentioned the use of BDAs and the restoration of beavers will help increase hunting and fishing opportunities. Restoring and enhancing the summer ranges big game species will be able to transition to their winter ranges with higher body fat and body condition. This will help them survive through the winter. Also, by improving our winter ranges the body fat will not diminish as quickly and that is the final key to helping big game survive very harsh winters. In addition to surviving the winter they will not abort fetuses and may be able to have twins. Fawns and calves will be born with better health. This will greatly increase their populations, which will provide enough food for predators and allow more hunters to have the opportunity to harvest animals. The quality of mule deer and elk with larger antlers and more meat will also increase. The UDWR may also be able to release more moose to the area and have better success of them staying and surviving. This will increase hunting opportunity for this once in a life-time species. The Ponds created by BDAs and potential future beaver releases will create habitats where we can stock fish and increase opportunities for anglers. Also, the construction of the reservoir will create a large opportunity for anglers and other outdoor recreational opportunities, like non-motorized boating. This project will pave the way for large areas of timber harvest to be conducted. We will mostly be targeting areas and trees that will not be good for timber harvest and allow for greater access to those trees that are desired for timber harvest. Also, there will be lots of biomass material that can be used if there is a market for it.

09/01/2023

06/25/2024

2024

We did multiple treatments on this project to improve the entire health of the watershed. We first did the cut and pile work in the high elevations to improve mule deer summer range habitat which started in August of 2023 and was completed in September of 2023. We cut and piled 751 acres of thick conifer stands in the higher elevations to improve mule deer summer range. The USFS also went in and burned the 403 acres of piles from 2022 and approximately 300 of the acres that were cut and piled in 2023. The remaining acres of piles will be burned in the winter of 2024. By the summer of 2024 we are already seeing a massive amount of aspen saplings that are being regenerated within the areas that were cut piled and burned. As part of this project we also completed 1,563 acres of cultural surveys to allow us to thin out pinyon and juniper woodlands with a bullhog masticator in the fall of 2024. That work is currently being solicited for contracts and will begin by October of 2024. The USFS also utilized an in-house feller buncher, bullhog, and USFS personnel to cut and pile large conifer trees within approximately 287 acres of high-elevation conifer and aspen stands. These piles will be burned in the winter of 2024. This work greatly opened up the tree canopy and reduced the conifer competition with the aspen trees and other understory vegetation. This will greatly increase the amount of forage available for mule deer and livestock. The NRCS and Jones Demille Engineering continued to work on the NEPA document to allow for major improvements to the watershed and even a new reservoir. WRI gave the Sanpete Water District $5,000 to add a watershed health component to their NEPA document; that will allow us to gain up to $5,000,000 in future NRCS funding for forest health projects. Lastly, we built approximately 60 post-assisted log structures near the Pinchot Pond area to reduce erosion of the stream channels and to improve the water storage capacity of the watershed to provide more water to users downstream.

In 2020, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources recognized that big game populations in the 12-mile canyon area were below objectives. Therefore, the UDWR, USFS, and sportsman organizations joined forces to begin efforts to improve the deer and elk populations in the 12-mile canyon area. Predator control methods were implemented to reduce mortality rates, but the major concern was that if the habitat was not also improved populations could spike and then crash. Therefore, with predator control efforts underway it became all the more important to ensure that habitat loss and degradation were not the limiting factors as populations began to rebound. Sportsman groups donated significant funding to jump-start the permitting and NEPA process so we could begin the on-the-ground work as soon as possible. Once that funding was received, DWR and USFS staff sprang into action and began contracting cultural and biological surveys and planning treatment areas. The USFS staff worked diligently to complete the NEPA process in a responsible and efficient manner. We went above and beyond to ensure that critical resources would not be negatively impacted by this project, and ensure that this work would be a benefit to the watershed health. The NEPA was signed and finalized in the summer of 2022 and the first phases of work to thin overgrown conifers in aspen stands began in the fall of 2022. (See Documents Section for NEPA and SHPO Concurrence Documents) We cut and piled over 400 acres in the first phase of this project in 2022. This funding and NEPA effort was an impressive example of collaboration that can happen through Utah's Watershed Restoration Initiative. Thanks to these efforts we now have thousands of acres approved for treatments to improve watershed health. The big game and other wildlife species' habitat in this area is currently in poor condition for several reasons. First, the winter range is not as good as it could be because of fire suppression, which has allowed the encroachment of pinyon and juniper trees into shrub-steppe habitat zones. Because of this PJ encroachment, we have lost most of our understory vegetation which is important for big game to survive the winter. This encroachment is especially bad on the Twelve Mile wildlife management area (See Photos). This property's primary role is to benefit wildlife and should be a shining example of optimal habitat, but there is much work to be done to get to that point still. Second, conifer encroachment in the high-elevation aspen zones has diminished the amount and quality of this important habitat type for big game in the summer. Instead of thick and dying conifer stands that cover the landscape, we should have a patchwork or mosaic pattern of different tree and understory vegetation types. The conifer stands can provide shelter and cover but most wildlife species do not get their food from conifer species; they instead depend on the food found in the aspen and the understory vegetation in open meadows, and riparian zones along streams and ponds. When conifer stands out-compete these other vegetation types, there is a loss of food for wildlife that results in smaller population numbers and lower diversity. The key to optimal watershed health is to maximize vegetation diversity across the landscape. That is the objective of this project. We have collared multiple mule deer with GPS collars in the 12-mile through the wildlife migration initiative and we can see that most of the deer are not utilizing these thick conifer areas in the 12-mile canyon. Attached in the images/documents section is a video I made from the wildlife tracker system that shows a mule deer utilizing the edges of one of these thick conifer areas, but it seems to avoid it and stay in the more open aspen areas. This is most likely because of a lack of food located within the conifer stand. This project will reduce the thickness of these conifer stands to increase the available food and habitat for big game. Lastly, because of the historic over-trapping of beavers and continued poaching of beavers to this day, we have lost most of our beaver populations which has resulted in a degradation of high-quality riparian habitats that beavers create with their dams. Big game, fish, amphibians, birds, etc. all key into beaver pond areas as a high-quality habitat zone. As I have been working in this watershed planning and implementing projects over the last few years I consistently have noticed that near beaver ponds there is a concentration of wildlife. Especially during the fawning period in early June and July, I find doe deer within close proximity of these historic beaver ponds. Sadly, many of these old beaver ponds are draining and going dry because the beavers have been removed. Also, many of the streams are eroding and channelizing because the beaver dams are no longer there to slow the water down. In this project, we installed man-made beaver dams called PALS or post assisted log structures to mimic what beavers would do until we can get beaver populations back to where they were historically. Beyond the need to improve big game species populations, many other fish and wildlife species need help in this area that will be benefited from these habitat restoration efforts. A lot of focus is given to the importance of old-growth trees for the nesting of goshawks and other raptor species, but that is just one component of their habitat needs. These raptor species also need open aspen stands, open meadows, and riparian and aquatic zones for their hunting grounds. The rodents, lagomorphs, and upland game birds that provide a large part of their diets depend on these other habitat types for food and cover. By working to reduce juniper cover in the sagebrush areas and conifers in the high-elevation aspen zones we will increase the prey species population numbers which will in turn provide more food for vulnerable raptor species as well. This project will help provide this diversity of habitat and benefit raptors as well as their prey. Thick stands of continuous PJ is also problematic for even those species that are obligate or prefer these habitat types, such as pinyon jays. Pinyon jays utilize pinyon pine for their nuts and junipers for their berries and are typically found in this habitat type. However, not all of their food comes from pinyon pine nuts or juniper berries, and we need to consider all of the spatial and temporal dietary needs of pinyon jays throughout the year. For example, it is known that they will eat berries from shrubs, other seeds from grasses and forbs, and even insects, lizards, snakes, nestling birds, and small mammals. These food sources will be increased through PJ removal or thinning treatments. Edge habitat and transitional zones have also been identified as preferred habitat by pinyon jays. In a recent publication, it states pinyon Jays used a distinct subset of available pinyon-juniper woodland habitat, which suggests that Pinyon Jays used different but overlapping habitats for seed caching, foraging, and nesting. Caching was concentrated in low-elevation, relatively flat areas with low tree cover. This paper also stated that foraging occurred at slightly higher elevations with generally moderate but variable tree cover. This treatment will also create this habitat, as we thin and remove juniper but leave dispersed pinyon pine throughout the treatment area. Nesting was concentrated in slightly higher areas with high tree and vegetation cover, which we will leave as part of this project the trees in the higher elevation areas naturally because of the steepness of those slopes and ruggedness of that terrain, which makes it impossible for equipment to access. All three of these Pinyon Jay behavior types were highly concentrated within the lower-elevation band of pinyon-juniper woodland close to the woodland-shrub land ecotone, which is where we will be working. (Boone et al. 2021) Through our project, we helped to create the diversity of these other habitat types that are essential to pinyon jays for caching and foraging as well as increase the proximity of these areas to their nesting habitat types, with increased edge and transitional zones throughout the landscape. This project has the potential to benefit this PJ obligate species as well as their food sources and prey species. UDWR aquatics biologists have identified multiple ponds in this watershed that are draining and drying up because of the removal of beavers. In addition, the streams are blowing out and eroding deeper and deeper channels each year because the water is not slowed down from beaver ponds that would naturally be ubiquitous across all streams. Historically, it is estimated that beaver populations were in the 100s of millions and that every stream and water body across Utah would have had beavers in it. Beaver dams and their ponds create a diversity of habitat structures in streams where there is slower moving water, plunge pools, and riffles. The loss of these habitats and the draining of historic ponds result in fish die-offs and a loss of potential areas where additional fish populations can be established for native and sportfish species by the UDWR. This means fewer places where the public can enjoy fishing or see wildlife that rely on fish for food. These ponds also provide essential habitats for native amphibian species like tiger salamanders or boreal toads that are extremely rare already and can be at risk of extinction in the near future. These amphibian species rely on slow-moving or stable water that has aquatic vegetation where they can lay eggs and escape from predators. Many rare and struggling bat species also depend on these beaver pond habitats for a place where they can fly down and grab water in their mouths or where they can find concentrations of insects for food. Waterfowl and shorebirds also depend on these beaver ponds for food, protection from predators, and nesting habitat. Many important or rare plant species are also dependent on the increased soil moisture that beaver dams and ponds create. These plants, such as cottonwoods, aspens, willows, birch, elderberry, chokecherry, golden currants, etc. provide food and nesting habitat for many bird species. Wild turkeys utilize these tall cottonwoods that are increased by beaver pond activity to roost in. As we continue to build PALS and work to restore beavers to this landscape we will help fish and these other species have the habitats types which they need. Erosion and poor water quality are major concerns for this watershed. There have been several large landslides in recent years and the ground continues to be unstable. The town of Mayfield and other neighboring communities depend on the water from this watershed for culinary use and irrigation. The continued erosion and stream-down cutting result in poor water quality issues, which are causing problems for these water systems and users. We partnered with the NRCS, the USFS, and the community of Mayfield to develop a NEPA project to address these erosion issues. As part of the NRCS project, there will be seeding and other erosion control structures to help reduce the erosion and mudslides. This WRI grant complements these other efforts by the NRCS. This project will also improve soil stability as additional grass and other understory vegetation roots hold the soil in place better. Catastrophic wildfire is a major concern for this watershed. There are nearby cabin communities as well as the town of Mayfield that are at risk. Areas, where PJ will be removed, are identified as a very high threat on the fire threat index. This threat is mainly to the town of Mayfield and the homes that are in the foothills on the edges of town. This project will help to reduce these direct fire risks. In addition to the direct threats of fire, there is extreme concern about post-fire flooding and mudslides. With the soils that are, already eroding, there is an extreme risk of a major mudslide and flooding that would be devastating to infrastructure and threaten life and property if a wildfire were to burn across the entire watershed. Our project helped to remove fuel loads in these areas of concern so that a large fire would not be able to travel as well and burn large areas. Our treatments will allow the forest to let natural fires burn without the risk of catastrophic fire damages. In Utah, we strive to have sustainable uses of our natural lands and watersheds. One of the goals of WRI is to help achieve this goal. Responsible livestock grazing on our public lands is one of these sustainable uses of our public lands that can help provide additional funding revenue for low-income families, especially in rural Utah. This livelihood is threatened as our watersheds are degraded and available feed for livestock is lost. This project helped to address these threats by removing encroaching conifer and PJ which will increase the feed on the landscape. Through the BDAs and other water developments, we will increase water availability and disperse it across the landscape. By doing the treatments we will also increase the resiliency of the habitat to cattle grazing so that there will not be as much damage from livestock that can give ammunition to critics of grazing on public lands. This project will help demonstrate that ranchers and livestock practices can coexist with wildlife and still have healthy watersheds through restoration efforts and proper management. This will hopefully help ensure that livestock grazing on public lands can continue for many years to come in the future. As mentioned previously the big game and sportfish populations are diminishing in this watershed which results in a loss of hunting and fishing opportunities. One of the goals of WRI is to increase and preserve the sustainable practice of hunting and fishing on our landscapes. This project will help increase hunting and fishing opportunities and preserve this sustainable use. In conclusion, there are many reasons why we needed to do this project and this has been a well-planned and coordinated project that has addressed a wide variety of watershed health needs.

The12-Mile WMA is covered by the South Sanpete WMAs Habitat Management Plan and will continue to be managed for wildlife with an emphasis on mule deer and elk winter/spring habitat. This comes with an assurance of funding and manpower from the UDWR of active management to ensure the success of this project and to invest in further work as needed to achieve the desired goals for the WMA. Similarly, the work we are doing on the USFS brings with it the added assurance that there is funding and personnel available to monitor and are heavily invested in achieving the goals of multi-use management for their lands. As was indicated above we will have lots of monitoring that can help inform us whether we need to do added actions in the future.