This project's goal is to improve the overall health of the Mill Creek Canyon watershed including riparian, stream, wetlands, and upland sites. To accomplish our landscape-scale goals, we have relied on coordination and planning between many stakeholders including landowners, government entities, and non-profit organizations. Since settlers first entered the Salt Lake Valley in the mid-1800s there have been many negative human impacts on the Mill Creek Canyon watershed. There is a heavily traveled two lane road running down the canyon that brings with it many issues, there have been many historic uses from overgrazing and clear-cut logging that have had impacts. Weed introductions such as myrtle spurge, phragmites, garlic mustard, and yellow star thistle are major concerns. Improper forest management practices of wildfire suppression have led to unnatural and unhealthy forests. Stream channelization and overgrazing along riparian areas has degraded streams and led to sub-optimal habitat conditions for many fish and wildlife species. These human impacts all need to be rectified and similar projects in Parley's Canyon to the north have made great progress in that watershed. This project will extend those efforts into Mill Creek Canyon by treating weeds, building Beaver Dam Analogs (BDAs), and removing problematic vegetation to restore a healthy balance and species diversity to forests. Restoration work is needed to return the watershed to more resilient ecological function. In addition to improving watershed health, the project area serves as an important destination for recreation in the region (e.g., skiing, hiking, fishing, biking, picnicking, hunting, recreation residence cabins, a large Boy Scout camp, and two popular restaurants). A large part of the area's economy is driven by recreation and protecting this watershed will help preserve those sustainable uses. One hundred years of successful fire suppression has resulted in an accumulation of dead fuels on the ground raising the likelihood that in the instance of a wildfire, the effects would be of a catastrophic level. This is concerning for people who live in Lambs Canyon, Summit Park, Park City, and Mount Aire; along with recreational cabin owners, business owners, and Scout camp associates in Mill Creek Canyon itself. The cost associated with property damage could be extreme, not to mention the potential risk to the lives of workers, campers, visitors, and firefighters. Additionally, the long-term effects from a catastrophic wildfire would have downstream consequences for irrigation water users in the Salt Lake Valley, and the associated infrastructure costs to reduce erosion and make the area safe again for recreators could be prohibitive. Efforts are needed to reduce fuel loads, build fire breaks, and create defensible space. This project will work to address these needs and minimize future wildfire threats. Insect infestations from beetles and the non-native insect balsam woolly adelgid (Adelges piceae) in the conifers are of great concern, and the older age class of the watershed makes it more susceptible to these infestations. Removing mature and dying trees will improve the forest's resilience to insect infestations, while also mitigating wildfire risk. The aspen in this watershed are also beginning to die from disease, insect infestations, and are being out-competed by conifer trees. This project will work to improve the health of aspen components by thinning conifer stands, thereby improving wildlife habitat. This watershed provides irrigation water to Salt Lake Valley users. By doing this project we will help to improve water quality and protect this essential resource from catastrophic wildfires. In conclusion, this is an important watershed for both humans and many fish and wildlife species. There is a great need for this project because of the many negative impacts that humans have caused. Similar projects in the Parley's Canyon watershed to the north have successfully moved that watershed in a positive, more resilient direction, so it is reasonable to expect that this project will improve Mill Creek Canyon in a similar fashion. The many partners on this project ask for funding to begin restoring the health of this watershed to its optimal state.

This project's main goal is to improve the watershed health in Mill Creek Canyon. The project has multiple objectives designed to address all of the Watershed Restoration Initiative's priorities and the Shared Stewardship program. 1. Protect the lives of residents and firefighters from catastrophic wildfire 2. Reduce fire risk to communities and infrastructure and reduce costs of post fire rehabilitation. 3. Improve forest health. 4. Reduce and eradicate noxious weeds from the watershed. 5. Improve fish and wildlife habitat, especially for boreal (western) toad and Bonneville cutthroat trout. 6. Improve water quality and increase water quantity 7. Address threats to species identified in the Wildlife Action Plan. 8. Addresses specific objectives identified in local, state, and federal resource management plans. 9. Increase forage for wildlife and livestock where grazing is possible. 10. Increase and protect recreational opportunities such as hiking, skiing, hunting, fishing, and others.

By delaying this project, we risk crossing ecological thresholds that will take millions of dollars and decades for the ecosystem to recover. 1. The project area is one of the most at-risk areas in Utah for catastrophic wildfire that threatens human life and infrastructure. The forest condition is nearing an ecological threshold that makes it highly vulnerable to catastrophic fire. Every year that we do not treat the vegetation in the project area the threat and risk increase. 2. Catastrophic wildfire will damage the water quality in the watershed. The damage to streams (i.e., mudflows and sediment loading) would result in lost aquatic habitat and crucial Bonneville cutthroat populations. The damage to aquatic habitat would be severe, and for the Bonneville cutthroat trout, represent crossing an ecological threshold they could not recover from naturally. Previous efforts made by the Division of Wildlife Resources and sportsman's groups to improve trout habitat and populations are at risk. 3. Many wildlife species rely on healthy forests. The loss of habitat from catastrophic wildfire poses a major threat and risk and may lead to decreases in wildlife populations. While Recovering wildlife habitat under current conditions is difficult, but after a large wildfire would be even more prohibitive. 4. Managing noxious weed species (e.g., garlic mustard and myrtle spurge) before they have reached an ecological threshold and out-compete native vegetation is essential to maintain ecosystem function. Once noxious weeds have reached an ecological threshold, control may be impossible. 5. The threat and risk of post-wildfire debris flows in Mill Creek Canyon is significant. The cost of debris flows can result in major damage (i.e., millions of dollars) to the MIll Creek Canyon road, the utility corridor, and structures and other infrastructure in and below the canyon. 6. The streams in the project area are moderately degraded and are becoming more incised and losing riparian vegetation. Once these ecological thresholds are crossed in degraded streams, low-tech-process-based restoration cannot be effectively used to restore ecological function of streams. Healthy streams via riparian buffers often mitigate wildfire threat and risk, and can reduce the threat of a large fire occurring.

This project complies with guidance and addresses objectives outlined in the following management plans: 1. The Boreal Toad (Anaxyrus boreas boreas) Conservation Plan (Utah Division of Wildlife Resources 2005) 3.1 Fire Management. 3.1.1 Protect habitats in forest stands adjacent to and within 2.5 miles of breeding sites. 3.1.2 Restrict burns to late fall through early spring during which time boreal toads are inactive in known occupied areas. 3.1.3 Determine impacts of fire through monitoring of known breeding sites. 3.2 Habitat Fragmentation. 3.2.1 Prevent further habitat fragmentation of breeding populations. 3.2.1.a Identify and preserve dispersal corridors. 3.2.1.b Identify and preserve metapopulation structure. 3.2.2. Restore historic dispersal corridors where possible. 3.2.2.a Identify where migration and gene flow among occupied habitats should be facilitated. 3.2.2.b Improve habitat conditions in degraded dispersal corridors where appropriate 3.3.1.c Minimize depletion of boreal toad prey base. 3.3.1.d Minimize degradation of bank conditions. 3.3.1.e Minimize degradation of water quality. 3.3.1.f Minimize depletion of emergent and riparian vegetation. 3.9.2 Minimize habitat loss and degradation associated with water management. 3.9.2.a Minimize stream channelization. 3.9.3 Create, restore, and maintain new habitats through water management. 3.9.3.a Create shallow shoreline margins in new impoundments. 3.9.3.b Deepen impoundments to maintain sufficient water levels through metamorphosis. 3.9.3.c Create new wetlands according to boreal toad breeding habitat requirements. 2. Deer Herd Unit 17a Management Plan 1. Maintain mule deer habitat throughout the unit by protecting and enhancing existing crucial habitats and mitigating for losses due to natural and human impacts. 2. Seek cooperative projects to improve the quality and quantity of deer habitat. 3. Provide improved habitat security and escapement opportunities for deer Future habitat work should be concentrated on the following areas.: 4. Quaking aspen forests unit wide. We will be working in the quaking aspen stands to reduce conifer competition. 5. Anywhere along the front that would avert deer from entering cities. By improving the habitat condition up higher in the canyon we will hopefully keep deer from going down into the city. 3. Utah's Wildlife Action Plan A. The Threats, Data Gaps, and Action section of The Plan contains lists of Essential Conservation Actions for each identified Threat. These Actions are intended, in large part, to "restore and improve degraded wildlife populations and habitat conditions or functions". Restoring watershed health, which is the project's main goal, can be considered synonymous with the intention of restoring and improving degraded habitat conditions or functions. B. Aquatic Key Habitats included in this project are Aquatic - Scrub/Shrub, Aquatic - Forested, and Riverine. These three Habitats include the Threats of Sediment Transport Imbalance (medium) and Channel Down-Cutting (High). Actions taken to mitigate these threats in this project include stabilizing stream banks with vegetation and rocks, and raising water levels to restore floodplain characteristics and reduce channel downcutting. Additional Threats include Inappropriate Fire Intensity / Frequency and Vegetation Removal (both Medium), which present a Threat conflict given the understory thinning Action of this project; so the reduction of vegetation removal in and around Aquatic Habitats becomes important in balancing these Threats. Finally Channelization / Bank Alteration (High) is another Threat where project details matter, since stabilizing stream banks needs to be balanced with raising water levels to improve floodplain characteristics to reduce this Threat. C. Terrestrial Key Habitats included in this project are Aspen-Conifer and Mountain Shrub. These Habitats include the Threat of Inappropriate Fire Intensity / Frequency (Very High), which the understory thinning Action of this project directly addresses. 4. Statewide Moose Management Plan 1. Population Management Goal: Achieve optimum populations of moose in all suitable habitat within the state. 2. Habitat Management Goal: Assure sufficient habitat is available to sustain healthy and productive moose populations. 3. Recreation Goal: Provide high-quality opportunities for hunting and viewing of moose. 5. Statewide Mule Deer Management Plan Habitat Objective1: Maintain mule deer habitat throughout the state by protecting and enhancing existing crucial habitats and mitigating for losses due to natural and human impacts Habitat Objective 2: Improve the quality and quantity of vegetation for mule deer on a minimum of 500,000 acres of crucial range by 2019. 6. Statewide Elk Managment Plan 1. Increase forage production by annually treating a minimum of 40,000 acres of elk habitat. 2. Maintain sufficient habitat to support elk herds at population objectives and reduce competition for forage between elk and livestock. 7. Salt Lake County Integrated Watershed Management Plan 1. Identifies "Prepar[ing] sub-watershed planning and implementation strategies in coordination with municipal and agency partners to support preserving, restoring, and enhancing water quality and watershed functions" as a Priority Implementation Recommendation (#7, page 166). This project will help accomplish the recommendation by reducing catastrophic wildfire risk and implementing BDAs to improve watershed functioning. 8. Salt Lake City Watershed Management Plan Although Millcreek is not currently utilized as a culinary source of water, the Plan contains recommendations that preserve the City's water rights in Millcreek Canyon and encourage managing the canyon to maintain optimal water quality. (page 80). The reduction of catastrophic wildfire risk and effects, along with improving watershed functioning through the installation of BDAs and stream channel strengthening, is in line with the recommendations of this plan. 9. Utah Administrative Code R68-9 (Utah's Noxious Weed Act): Utah Noxious Weed Act and the Summit County Code, Title 4, Chapter 4. The Act states that local governments are directed to take the necessary steps to manage the noxious weeds within their jurisdiction and provides specific authorization for local enforcement. 10. Utah Forest Action Plan 2016: Distribute materials to community members, individual landowners, public officials, interagency partners and media for further dissemination and outreach. Increase participation in state and national programs including Utah Living with Fire, Ready, Set, Go!, Firewise USA and Fire-Adaptive Communities. Use all available management tools, including forest industry, to restore and maintain healthy ecosystems. 11. Treatments lie within Central Region UPCD/UWRI focus areas. 12. UDWR Strategic Management Plan Objective R2 Maintain existing wildlife habitat and increase the quality of critical habitats and watersheds throughout the state. Objective R4 Decrease risks to species and their habitats through integrated implementation of the WAP, Objective C6 Increase hunting and fishing opportunities 13. Utah Shared Stewardship Agreement (May 2019) - Project is within Shared Stewardship priority areas. We have applied for Shared Stewardship as well and working with USFS and FFSL to do this. Meets objectives to reduce hazardous fuels. 14. Forest Wide Goal Wasatch Cache NF 1. Watershed Health Maintain and/or restore overall watershed health (proper functioning of physical, biological and chemical conditions). Provide for long-term soil productivity. Watershed health should be addressed across administrative and political boundaries. Sub Goal's 2b, 2i. Objective to Desired condition 3.b, 3.c. 2. 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 (PFC) 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. Sub Goal's 3.d, 3e, 3n, 3s. Objective to Desired condition 3.b, 3.c. 3. 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. Sub Goal's 4a,4d. Objective to Desired Condition 4.a.

The combination of an essential watershed, high recreation use, and a high to extreme wildfire risk rating according to UWRAP designated Mill Creek Canyon a priority area for WRI and the Shared Stewardship program. In these high-priority areas, fire has been suppressed to such a degree, the resulting stand dynamics is dominated by disease and insect infestation full of dead and down and dying conifers that are prone to catastrophic wildfires This is extremely concerning for people who live in nearby communities. In the instance of a wildfire, both public and firefighter lives would be at risk. This project will build on last year's efforts of thinning the forest and reducing the fuel loads as part of the Parley's Project. It will 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.

Currently, stream water is used for irrigation and not for culinary purposes and is therefore not regulated as a drinking water source protection area by Salt Lake City. However, Salt Lake City owns water rights in the canyon, a draft plan for a water treatment plant exists, and the City's Watershed Management Plan recommends managing Millcreek Canyon to maintain optimal water quality. Forest management (e.g., thinning conifers) will reduce wildfire risk. Wildfires would cause soil erosion and debris flows that would degrade water quality and complicate future culinary water development. Using low-tech, process-based restoration to improve stream health will capture sediment and improve water quality. Healthy streams also store more water in the watershed longer and increase the quantity of water throughout the year. Intact, healthy riparian corridors are more resilient to wildfires because riparian vegetation such as willows and cottonwoods thrive after disturbance, and have been known to inhibit wildfire growth because of the presence of increased moisture both in the stream channel and within riparian vegetation itself. Intact root systems in riparian corridors stabilize streambanks and are more resilient to flooding (i.e., down-cutting and incision), when post-fire rains cause erosion water and sediment flows increase. Conversely, degraded riparian corridors are not resilient to wildfire and will require extensive efforts to restore vegetation and hydrologic function due to deep incision and down-cutting. Riparian habitats can be resilient to wildfire and generally do not require extensive restoration (Halofsky and Hibbs 2009). A dense stand of degraded vegetation along a streambank could result in high fire severity burning, severely impacting the ability for natural recovery, increasing sediment flows, affecting aquatic wildlife, and complicating future water development.

The first phase of this project funded the cultural surveys on USFS lands and supported compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). All NEPA requirements were completed on 03/2021. We will acquire individual stream alteration permits (PGP010) and any necessary municipal permit requirements for each low-tech process based stream restoration implementation.

Forest Management The project includes lop and scatter and cut, pile, and burning of dead or dying conifer in strategic areas that have been impacted by infestation and disease, mostly targeting species in areas of high use or travel corridors. These activities will be done on USFS and Salt Lake County lands at the top of Mill Creek Canyon. Chipping and or burning of fuels has been ongoing on non federal lands and will continue to maintain fuel breaks. Best management practices for myrtle spurge include both manual removal and chemical control in the early spring prior to seed dispersal. In areas where plants are growing on steep slopes and where manual removal could increase erosion, chemical control is preferred using a mix of 2,4-D and dicamba with a surfactant. If the plants can be removed manually with limited disturbance to soils, best management practices include removing at least four inches of the root with care not to get the sap in the eyes or on skin. Low-tech, Process-based Stream Restoration Low-tech structures (i.e., beaver dam analogs and post-assisted log-structures) will be constructed using the methods described in Low-tech, Process-based Restoration of Riverscapes (Wheaton et al. 2019). Untreated wooden fence posts approximately 3-4" in diameter will be used in construction. Posts will be driven into the stream bed with a gas or hydraulic post pounder. The posts will extend approximately one meter above the channel bed and be spaced approximately 0.5 - 0.8 meters apart, and driven to a depth of approximately one meter into the streambed. Then, native vegetation, rocks, and mud will be weaved between the posts to create a structure that will resemble a beaver dam. The structure will slow water flow, but allow fish to pass through. The structures will be placed 10-30 meters apart within the stream reaches. After a year the health of the stream will be evaluated, and future actions can be planned. Additionally, willows or other native plants may be planted at the restoration sites to improve the establishment of riparian vegetation.

The project will be monitored for success in the short and long term and will be reported back to WRI. We are requesting funds for a DWR seasonal employee to help with collecting pre- and post-monitoring data that will include photo points as well as some line transect vegetation data. Forest health monitoring will consist of repeat photography at designated points and the use of vegetation plots to determine stand density and species composition. Each vegetation plot will estimate both over-story and under-story vegetation change for percent cover, stand density and species richness. Monitoring will occur before treatment, both one-year and five years after treatment. Stream Restoration: Effectiveness of stream restoration (e.g., BDAs) will be monitored using the Rapid Stream-Riparian Assessment (RSRA) survey. The RSRA generates a score for water quality, hydrogeomorphology, fish and aquatic habitat, riparian vegetation, and terrestrial wildlife habitat. This method was selected because it is both a time and cost-efficient means to monitor restoration projects. Salt Lake County is committed to collecting long-term water quality data. We will compare pre-treatment data to post-treatment. BDA monitoring Pre and post- restoration Rapid Stream-Riparian Assessment (RSRA) monitoring survey has already been conducted on 15 streams across Utah, including five sites with two or more years of post-restoration monitoring. This data shows how the system has changed over two years following BDA implementation. Utah's Hogle Zoo has helped us collect amphibian data here this past year to get a baseline data of what amphibain species are located here previous to treatments. We will continue to collect this data. See attached reports in the documents. Citizen Science Monitoring for Future Treatments Sageland Collaborative will also help collect Rapid Stream Health Assessments prior to BDA construction and will continue to monitor changes to stream health post project.

UDWR Habitat Restoration Biologist, Robby Edgel, is taking the lead as the project manager on this project this year to help coordinate efforts between multiple agencies. Robby will run contractors through state purchasing for the forest thinning work and the BDAs. USFS, Bekee Hotze (Salt Lake District Ranger), Guy Wilson (USFS), and Bryan Thompson have been working to get the NEPA done for this work and planning forest health treatments. They will help with monitoring contractors and ensure that the work is done properly. FFSL has been helpful in planning projects as well and supporting efforts through the Shared Stewardship/Forest Health aspects of the project. Rose Smith and Mary Pendergast from Sageland Collaborative are partnering on this project to help with the monitoring of stream health and amphibian species. As well as helping to get volunteer labor to build BDAs and help manage contractors. They are extremely supportive of this work and are helpful in gaining public support. Kayleigh Mullen from Hogle Zoo is also a key partner in helping to collect the before and after amphibian data with surveys and other wildlife presence with wildlife cameras. Sage Fitch, the Salt Lake County Bee and Noxious Weeds Program Manager has been involved in planning the weed control aspects of the myrtle spurge.

This project is part of a multi-year effort to improve watershed health. We will continue to monitor the outcomes of this project in the long-term to evaluate results and inform future management. We will continue to monitor Noxious Weeds, insect infestations, and the success of stream restoration efforts to reach objectives and will make any future repairs or adjustments as needed to ensure their success. The Forest Service will follow the understory treatments with an overstory treatment of dead and dying conifers, once piles from the understory treatments are burned. USFS will continue to work with the UDWR to build upon these improvements to benefit the habitat and reduce fire intensity in this area. There may be further work to introduce boreal toads as well as other native species in future initiatives depending on the results of surveys and the overall effectiveness of planned actions.

This project will improve many sustainable uses of the area. As outlined in the description of what sustainable uses are it identifies recreation as a sustainable use. This project will greatly benefit recreational uses such as hunting and fishing by increasing opportunity for these activities. It will also benefit the experience that mountain bikers, hikers, snowshoers, cross country and downhill skiers will have by ensuring its resiliency to fire, infestation and disease. The overall experience will be improved beyond it simply remaining accessible. There will be an increase in forage availability by reducing the canopy cover and allowing more light to enter the forest floor. Additionally, BDAs will increase forage and disperse water. This will largely be a grazing benefit for wildlife since most of the project area is not currently grazed other than by horseman.

08/01/2023

06/20/2024

2024

In August of 2023, the UDWR worked with Sageland Collaborative to construct 32 BDAs in the headwaters of Millcreek. The BDAs were designed to increase the amount of habitat diversity on the stream and to hopefully benefit the Bonneville cutthroat trout. In September and October of 2023, the USFS utilized their fire crews to lop and scatter 520 acres of mixed conifer and aspen stands. The goal of this was to reduce the risk of wildfire and to improve and protect wildlife habitat from conifer encroachment and habitat loss. In May of 2024, the UDWR contracted a spray crew to spray herbicide on the myrtle spurge infestation on 206 acres near the mouth of Mill Creek Canyon. We had backpack sprayers that were spot-spraying the myrtle spurge and we also utilized a drone to spot-spray on portions of the project area that were too steep to reach on foot. We used a combination of roundup and telar along with a surfactant that has proven to be very successful at killing the myrtle spurge.

This project's goal is to improve the overall health of the Mill Creek Canyon watershed including riparian, stream, wetlands, and upland sites. To accomplish our landscape-scale goals, we have relied on coordination and planning between many stakeholders including landowners, government entities, and non-profit organizations. Since settlers first entered the Salt Lake Valley in the mid-1800s there have been many negative human impacts on the Mill Creek Canyon watershed. There is a heavily traveled two lane road running down the canyon that brings with it many issues, there have been many historic uses from overgrazing and clear-cut logging that have had impacts. Weed introductions such as myrtle spurge, phragmites, garlic mustard, and yellow star thistle are major concerns. Improper forest management practices of wildfire suppression have led to unnatural and unhealthy forests. Stream channelization and overgrazing along riparian areas has degraded streams and led to sub-optimal habitat conditions for many fish and wildlife species. These human impacts all need to be rectified and similar projects in Parley's Canyon to the north have made great progress in that watershed. This project extended those efforts into Mill Creek Canyon by treating weeds, building Beaver Dam Analogs (BDAs), and removing problematic vegetation to restore a healthy balance and species diversity to forests. In addition to improving watershed health, the project area serves as an important destination for recreation in the region (e.g., skiing, hiking, fishing, biking, picnicking, hunting, recreation residence cabins, a large Boy Scout camp, and two popular restaurants). A large part of the area's economy is driven by recreation and protecting this watershed will help preserve those sustainable uses. One hundred years of successful fire suppression has resulted in an accumulation of dead fuels on the ground raising the likelihood that in the instance of a wildfire, the effects would be of a catastrophic level. This is concerning for people who live in Lambs Canyon, Summit Park, Park City, and Mount Aire; along with recreational cabin owners, business owners, and Scout camp associates in Mill Creek Canyon itself. The cost associated with property damage could be extreme, not to mention the potential risk to the lives of workers, campers, visitors, and firefighters. Additionally, the long-term effects from a catastrophic wildfire would have downstream consequences for irrigation water users in the Salt Lake Valley, and the associated infrastructure costs to reduce erosion and make the area safe again for recreators could be prohibitive. Insect infestations from beetles and the non-native insect balsam woolly adelgid (Adelges piceae) in the conifers are of great concern, and the older age class of the watershed makes it more susceptible to these infestations. Removing mature and dying trees will improve the forest's resilience to insect infestations, while also mitigating wildfire risk. The aspen in this watershed are also beginning to die from disease, insect infestations, and are being out-competed by conifer trees. This project will work to improve the health of aspen components by thinning conifer stands, thereby improving wildlife habitat. This watershed provides irrigation water to Salt Lake Valley users. By doing this project we will help to improve water quality and protect this essential resource from catastrophic wildfires. In conclusion, this is an important watershed for both humans and many fish and wildlife species. There is a great need for this project because of the many negative impacts that humans have caused. Similar projects in the Parley's Canyon watershed to the north have successfully moved that watershed in a positive, more resilient direction, so it is reasonable to expect that this project will improve Mill Creek Canyon in a similar fashion. The many partners on this project ask for funding to begin restoring the health of this watershed to its optimal state.

This project is part of a multi-year effort to improve watershed health. We will continue to monitor the outcomes of this project in the long-term to evaluate results and inform future management. We will continue to monitor Noxious Weeds, insect infestations, and the success of stream restoration efforts to reach objectives and will make any future repairs or adjustments as needed to ensure their success. The Forest Service will follow the understory treatments with an overstory treatment of dead and dying conifers, once piles from the understory treatments are burned. USFS will continue to work with the UDWR to build upon these improvements to benefit the habitat and reduce fire intensity in this area. There may be further work to introduce boreal toads as well as other native species in future initiatives depending on the results of surveys and the overall effectiveness of planned actions.