The Southern Leatherside Chub (Leatherside; Lepidomeda aliciae) is a small fish endemic to streams within the southern portion of the Bonneville Basin, and is considered a Species of Greatest Conservation Need by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources because of population and range declines. Recent evidence indicates the Southern Leatherside is one of two taxa formerly known as Leatherside Chub (Gila copei) and qualifies as a unique species (Johnson and Jordan 2000, Dowling et al. 2002, Belk et al. 2005, Johnson et al. 2004). The need for conservation actions to address the decline of Leatherside was evaluated for the entire historical range of the species and conservation needs are now assessed for each species within their range. In 2010, the State of Utah initiated the Conservation Agreement and Strategy for Leatherside. The goal of this agreement is to ensure the long-term persistence of Leatherside within its historical range and support development of statewide conservation efforts (UDWR 2010). In order to achieve the goals outlined in the Conservation Agreement and Strategy, the Washington County Field Office of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources proposes to work with Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service biologists to survey Bear Creek and its tributaries for Leatherside. A current habitat restoration project funded by the Watershed Restoration Initiative (WRI) includes the area surrounding Bear Creek (WRI Project 5638). This project aims to improve sagebrush steppe as well as spring and riparian areas. Evaluating the current status of Leatherside in Bear Creek is vital for establishing a preproject baseline to understand if restoration activities will have benefits or negative impacts on the population.

Objective: Conduct population surveys for Leatherside in Bear Creek (tributary of the Middle Sevier River) to determine baseline status prior to riparian restoration.

Identifying Leatherside presence/ absence within each HUC helps managers to evaluate and mitigate threats and restore Leatherside to historic habitats.

Conservation Agreement and Strategy for Southern Leatherside Chub (Lepidomeda aliciae) in the State of Utah (2010) This project would fulfill goals outlined in the Conservation Agreement and Strategy for Leatherside, specifically: Objective 1) Determine the existing range of the species. Objective 2) Maintain and monitor the currently known and newly discovered or established Leatherside populations and their habitat. Objective 3) Identify, prioritize, and implement actions to reduce threats to Leatherside populations and habitat and evaluate the effectiveness of these actions. Utah Wildlife Action Plan (Utah Wildlife Action Plan joint team 2015): The goal of the Wildlife Action Plan is "to manage native wildlife species and their habitats, sufficient to prevent additional listings under the Endangered Species Act." Many of the habitat restoration actions being implemented are outlined in the Wildlife Action Plan.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

These activities are conducted under authority of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to manage wildlife populations.

Electroshocking will be used to conduct qualitative sampling at stations distributed throughout Bear Creek to determine abundance and distribution of Leatherside post restoration.

Monitoring is conducted at long-term stations in the East Fork, Upper, and Middle Sevier River HUCs. Tributaries are inventoried on a rotational basis throughout historic range as identified through Conservation Team recommendations. These are completed with the cooperation of partner agencies.

Partners in this project include the Southern Leatherside Chub Conservation Team, U.S. Forest Service (Dixie National Forest and Fishlake National Forest), and Bureau of Land Management. All partners support the objectives of this project.

A combination of long-term monitoring will direct management actions and decisions in the most cost efficient and ecologically effective manner.

Not applicable

07/01/2023

06/30/2024

2024

Restoration efforts in Bear Creek were completed on private lands and U.S. Forest Service; however, efforts on BLM land were delayed due to water rights issues. Since restoration on BLM was not completed as scheduled in 2023/2024 (WRI Project #5638), Southern Leatherside post-restoration surveys could not be conducted in FY24, as a majority (60%; n=6) of the sampling stations are located on BLM.

Prior to restoration efforts of riparian areas in Bear Creek, baseline distribution and abundance surveys for Southern Leatherside were conducted in FY23 (WRI Project # 6120). However, due to delays in restoration efforts on BLM during 2023 and 2024, post-restoration surveys to evaluate native fish response could not be completed in FY24. Since post-restoration surveys in Bear Creek were not possible in FY24, other Leatherside work prioritized under the ESMF Block was conducted with this funding. Projects completed included post-translocation Leatherside surveys in Clear and Shingle Creek (Middle Sevier River) and Deer, Cottonwood, Blubber, and Upper Kanab Creek (East Fork Sevier River). Allocating this projects funding to the Leatherside priorities under the ESMF Block allowed additional funding for Leatherside work as well as other ESMF Block projects within the Southern Region and resulted in a return of unspent funding at the end of FY24.

Ongoing ESMF support is necessary for Southern Leatherside management. Future actions include: 1) Including native fish monitoring efforts (both pre and post-restoration) in future restoration proposals. 2) Conducting post-restoration monitoring in Bear Creek once restoration efforts are completed. 3) Coordinate post-restoration monitoring in Bear Creek among various partners including USFS, BLM, and private landowners.