The fire severity was high in most areas of the fire, which killed perennials, pinyon, juniper and destroyed the overall protective vegetative cover. The fire burned 577 acres, all on BLM. Without seeding, this burned area could become dominated by undesirable annual vegetation. The emergency stabilization efforts would include an aerial seeding application of approximately 475 acres to establish perennial cover to hold the soil and help control the invasion of noxious weeds and other pervasive weeds, especially cheatgrass. In steeper slopes the sloughing of soil around the rocky surfaces will aid with providing cover for the seed. The rocky surfaces in the elevations throughout the burned area will slow channel flows, trap sediments in the major drainages of the affected area and assist in the establishment of seeded species. The fire also removed the vast majority of the sagebrush component from the plant community and the entire Bettridge Fire is within the occupied Greater Sage-grouse habitat designated as Priority Habitat Management Area as well as crucial winter habitat for elk and mule deer. The lowest portions of the fire burned in sagebrush and burned hot enough to kill existing perennials. The fire saw significant growth in the afternoons with wind driven runs, torching, and backing during the night with interior smoldering and interior flare ups. Without seeding, this burned area may cross a threshold to become a plant community dominated by undesirable annual vegetation.

The Bettridge Fire burned a portion of the east side of the Pilot Mountains. Most of the fire burned with moderate to high severity and removed the soil's protective vegetative cover and killed much of the existing perennial vegetation. These exposed soils of the burned area are also predominantly on steep slopes. Sheet and rill erosion are likely to be factors on large flat hillsides that are now fully exposed to the forces of water erosion. Larger rainfall events would likely result in channel cutting and flash flooding and more extreme losses of soil. An aerial seeding treatment is needed, at a minimum, to stabilize soils. The proposed seed mix is focused on plant species that have consistently proven effective in stabilizing soils in burned areas. Using GIS and developed models, approximately 475 of the 577 acres of public land, within the fire perimeter, was strategically selected for an aerial seeding application. These locations were chosen based on the modeled reduction in overland flow within the canyon. A helicopter more than likely would be contracted to accomplish this work, due to the steep and rugged terrain for more precise application onto the designated treatment area locations.

Aerial seed 475 acres within the 577 acre burned area of BLM land to help prevent large scale flooding and erosion and to establish perennial plants back into the community. A seeding treatment is needed to stabilize soils, promote infiltration, and mitigate the potential for flash flooding threats. Without seeding, the density and overall presence of cheatgrass, located all throughout the understory, would increase in this burned area, and the invasion of several noxious weed species would also be a concern.

These ESR treatments are consistent with the 1990 Pony Express Resource Management Plan (RMP), the 1998 Salt Lake Field Office Fire Management Plan Amendment-Alternative 2: Integrated Fire/Resources, the 2022 Salt Lake Field Office Invasive Species Management Plan (DOI-BLM-UT-W010-2018-0010-EA), and the 2010 West Desert District Normal Year Fire Rehabilitation Plan (WDD NFRP) (DOI-BLM-UT-W000-2010-0001-EA). The WDD NFRP supports: The use of various methods to plant seed into the soil, including the aerial seeding treatments included in this ESR plan. When established, these seedings prevent cheatgrass invasion, provide a protection from soil erosion, protect the burn area from large-scale invasion of non-native noxious and invasive weeds, and provide forage and nectar resources for wildlife. The WDD NFRP and SLFO Invasive Species Management Plan also supports the use of herbicides to combat noxious and invasive plant species.

The human-caused fire began on the July 27, 2023 and was declared contained on August 2, 2023. Most of the acreage burned between July 27th and August 1st. The fire quickly transitioned from a type 4 to type 3 fire by late Thursday with observed fire behaviors of active, torching, wind driven runs, short-range spotting and isolated group torching. A local type 3 team was ordered on Tuesday and stayed until the following weekend to assist with minimizing the fire size and intensity to protect greater sage-grouse habitat and big game winter habitat, limiting fire and suppression activities to protect the Lahontan cutthroat trout habitat in nearby Bettridge and Morrison watersheds, keeping the fire east of the ridgeline, logistics and dozer line rehabilitation, where appropriate. It then transitioned back to local control. A BARC map was requested by the resource advisors on the fire. BARC outputs are different than fire severity, better reflecting the soil burn severity. For BLM lands, the BARC assessment for burn severity showed the fire was unburned on 30.94%, low on 29.41%, moderate on 38.57% and high on 1.07%.

A high or perhaps even a moderate-intensity thundershower during the fall or spring over this burned area with exposed soils would likely result in a flash flooding event that could threaten human life below the burn scar. The Bettridge Fire burned a portion of the east side of the Pilot Mountains. Most of the fire burned with moderate to high severity and removed the soil's protective vegetative cover and killed much of the existing perennial vegetation. These exposed soils of the burned area are also predominantly on steep slopes. Sheet and rill erosion are likely to be factors on large flat hillsides that are now fully exposed to the forces of water erosion. Larger rainfall events would likely result in channel cutting and flash flooding and more extreme losses of soil. An aerial seeding treatment is needed, at a minimum, to stabilize soils. Additionally, the proposed seed mix is focused on plant species that have consistently proven effective in stabilizing soils in burned areas.

There are prehistoric cultural resources within the burn area that were discovered and documented by READs assigned to the fire, and the potential for more undocumented cultural resources exist. Aerial seeding will have no effect on these cultural resources and a Cultural Resources Inventory will not be conducted. Additionally, since aerial seeding will not involve ground disturbance and does not have the potential to adversely affect cultural resources, the project is not considered an undertaking per Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Thus, consultation with the Utah State Historic Preservation Office or Tribes under 36CFR800.4 will not be conducted.

There are favorable chances of success, as evidenced by the fact that previous ESR treatments in a very similar area of the Pilot Mountains enjoyed success with aerial seeding on the 2018 Patterson Pass Fire and the 2012 Rhyolite Fire. These older ESR treatments also included aerial seeding due to their steep terrain. In addition, the species and cultivars chosen were selected based on the EDSs, seed transfer zones and on-the-ground surveys of unburned vegetation in the fire vicinity. It is rare that the current West Desert District ESR program approves aerial seeding without a mechanical cover treatment because experience has shown that unplanted seed has a lower success rate. Many side-by-side comparisons have been observed on National Register of Historic Places-eligible cultural resource sites that were not chained or harrowed. That said, the Bettridge Fire area has two attributes that allow for seeding success without a cover treatment: 1. The soil surface and composition (stony, rocky alluvium) are very rocky. This rocky soil surface has numerous cracks between rocks and the soil that can receive seeds. Those seeds fall onto rocks, slip down into those crevices around the edges of those rocks, and are thus planted. 2. The steep slopes that exist on the planned aerial seeding acres. On steep slopes, soil creep from Fall storms and early Spring saturated soils and/or Spring runoff can cover seed. The BLM had a very successful seeding on the 2016 Chokecherry Fire with an aerial seeding treatment on the steep rocky slopes of Pole Creek and Chokecherry Canyon in the Deep Creek Wilderness Study Area where mechanized equipment is not allowed. The Chokecherry ESR Project had good seedling establishment which resulted in a rather dense stand of seeded grasses and forbs. As is also the case with the portions of the Bettridge Fire area, the rocky slopes are too steep for chaining. * It is estimated that approximately 475 acres of burned area would be aerial seeded with a seed mix designed for the ecological site to establish perennial cover to hold the soil and help slow the invasion of noxious weeds and other pervasive weeds, especially cheatgrass. * Enter into a nonuse agreement to protect the seeded area of the fire, as cattle grazing permittees on the Lucin-Pilot Allotment will be required to keep livestock off the reseeded area for a minimum of two full growing seasons to allow new seedlings to become established. * Treatment effectiveness monitoring for three to five growing seasons following the fire to determine success of emergency stabilization treatments. * Inventory for and treat any noxious weeds that may invade for up to 5 years if needed.

The Bettridge ESR treatments would be monitored using AIM methodology for at least the first three years following the fire. The first year is covered under Emergency Stabilization-Monitoring, and continued monitoring in the second through fifth years, if needed, is addressed under Rehabilitation-Monitoring. The specific methodology of the monitoring can be found under the monitoring section for each individual treatment. Monitoring methods were designed to measure the effectiveness of treatments and results on the ground for each treatment that was implemented. Monitoring will attempt to measure the intended on-the-ground results for which the ESR team designed treatments.

UDNR-DWR SITLA BLM

Inventory for noxious weeds and treat, if necessary, with chemical or mechanical methods to control spread and infestation using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques. This would be accomplished for at least the first three years following the fire. Further cheatgrass and noxious weed invasion, or even shifts toward an annual-dominated plant community in some locations are major threats to different portions of the burned area. Past fires have demonstrated the tendency of noxious weeds to increase logarithmically following a fire event.

These seeding treatments relate directly to Soil/Water Stabilization because seeded perennials will hold the soil and prevent or at least reduce both wind and water erosion off the burned area. Seeded perennials from numerous ESR efforts have stabilized soil being lost to wind and water erosion. In a Rangelands paper entitled "Rehabilitating Salt-Desert Ecosystems Following Wildfire and Wind Erosion", researchers have stated that the use of perennial species in seeding efforts appears to be a viable management opportunity to rapidly stabilize damaged areas, and possibly provide an ecological bridge to re-establish native species. Once topsoils are lost, the site's potential can be permanently decreased. In addition, this seeding treatment directly relates Invasive Plants and Weeds because seeded perennials will occupy the area and compete with invasive and noxious weeds for space, nutrients, and other resources. The seeding treatments are needed to prevent cheatgrass invasion and the associated self-perpetuating fire regime with increasingly short fire return intervals.

08/31/2023

06/30/2024

2024

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