We are in the process of removing Brook Trout from 15.8 miles of the Oweep drainage. This project will aid us in fulfilling a third treatment of the project area. After the treatment we will restock the drainage with pure Colorado River Cutthroat Trout. This treatment occurs entirely in the High Uinta Wilderness over a five day period, will require a group of 14 biologists and seasonals to complete, and will occur approximately 20 miles travel distance into the wilderness area. The remote location and required number of people will create several logistical concerns that need to be addressed. Transportation of equipment and gear present one logistical concern. The best method for transporting equipment into the wilderness is to contract with an outfitter to haul all gear (e.g., rotenone, drips, PPEs) and cache it ahead of the treatment. Depending on the size of the pack train, one to two trips will be sufficient to haul in all required equipment. Personnel travel into the treatment area is also a logistical concern. The outfitter selected would need to take in eight people (additional staff will go in the week before using northeastern region horses) and their associated camping gear a day prior to the treatment and then take people back out once the treatment is complete. The outfitter would also be tasked with caring for horses and camp needs (e.g., cooking all meals) during the treatment so DWR employees can focus on the treatment itself. The treatment personnel will be tasked with hiking (2 to 3 miles daily) to their assigned drip station and dispensing their chemical over a 6-hour time frame and then they will need to hike back to camp creating 10-12 hour work days. This process will be repeated for five consecutive days before cleaning up camp and riding back out. Division/Forest/TU staff will not have the time to corral horses (who tend to runoff even when hobbled), and ensure they are fed and watered due to the long days necessary to complete the treatment. The outfitter will also provide hearty meals for participants. Without funding for an outfitter this project would be exponentially more difficult to complete. Documents that provide greater detail on the project are located in the documents section. Note that this is the third year of the treatment. This project was funded in 2022 and 2023. The use of an outfitter previous two years allowed us to seamlessly pull this project off successfully despite some challenges that our weather threw at us both years. This outfitter went above and beyond to assist us with making the project successful. The funds being requested are based on the contracted values for 2022 and 2023, with the 2024 treatment requiring a reduced workload. (but value kept the same as 2023 due to inflationary concerns).

The specific funding need for this project is to pay for an outfitter who will: 1. Haul and cache chemical and equipment in the area prior to the treatment; 2. Transport personnel/camping gear by horseback into the area and out of the area when the treatment is completed; 3. Tend to horses during the four days of treatment; and 4. Plan, purchase, and cook all meals during the four days of treatment. Note: The funding request through Blue Ribbon Council is solely for contracting an outfitter to accomplish the goals listed above. Without the use of an outfitter this project would be nearly impossible to complete. Additional objectives for the overall project include: Chemically eradicate Brook Trout populations in the Oweep drainage above a series of waterfalls for native trout restoration. This will be accomplished by: a. Eradicating current fish populations in Porcupine Lake b. Eradicating all fish populations upstream of the natural waterfall barrier including the springs, seeps and runoff collected by Oweep Creek and its tributaries. A total of 15.8 miles of inhabited stream in the Oweep drainage will be treated. c. Running a detox station for 3-4 days after the treatment to contain the fish kill within the designated project area. This project will help fulfill the third treatment of the drainage. It was expected that a minimum of two rotenone treatments over consecutive years will be needed to remove all fish from the Oweep drainage. A third, partial treatment is necessary. It may be necessary to plan a fourth treatment in order to ensure that our restoration goals are met.

Why here: Colorado River cutthroat trout currently occupy only 11% of their historical range. This project will repatriate 15.8 miles of this range. The High Uinta Wilderness area is recognized for its high potential to repatriate native trout in many models, including those involving climate change. The host environment named in this proposal is buffered by the high elevation of the treatment area and provides more stable water discharge and temperature that native trout require. It is an important goal to the DWR to have persistent native trout populations that will be resilient to future environmental conditions. The proposed treatment area was identified in part because repatriating a 15.8 mile drainage provides us a native trout population with sufficient resiliency and redundancy required to provide a metapopulation that will be resistant to small- and medium- sized landscape-scale catastrophes. This 15.8 mile reach will also be high quality habitat for Colorado River Cutthroat Trout that was unavailable due to a series of natural barriers. These same barriers will help ensure that possible reinvasion of Brook Trout is impossible thereby ensuring the long term success of this project. Why now: Oweep Creek is one of several drainages that was analyzed for native trout restoration via a Forest Service-led EIS. That EIS was completed in 2019; since then, we have been pursuing these meaningful restoration projects, with Oweep Creek being the first tackled. Completing this project provides a foundation for DWR's endgame to finish native cutthroat restoration projects by approximately 2030.

Approximately 20 years ago, CRCT were petitioned for listing as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In April 2004, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ruled listing CRCT for ESA protection was not warranted at this time, citing recent interagency agreements and cooperation to protect, enhance, and reclaim CRCT populations across their range. The Conservation Agreement and Strategy for Colorado River Cutthroat Trout was the primary document that resulted from this interagency cooperation. The State of Utah lists CRCT as a Wildlife Action Plan species, which focuses special attention from the State toward the conservation of the species. Both of these documents list invasive species such as Brook Trout as a major threat to future persistence of Colorado River cutthroat trout.

This project will not directly address fire/fuels concerns but will increase the area occupied by Colorado River Cutthroat Trout. Following the representation, redundancy and resilience model, increasing the occupied area will reduce the threat that catastrophic wildfire poses to the species in the future.

This project will have a localized temporary affect on water quality through the application of rotenone. There will be a neutralization station set up on Oweep Creek near the confluence with the Lake Fork to neutralize active rotenone. The system will also be free of rotenone in 5-7 days as it will be flushed from the system and naturally degrade through exposure to light.

In 2019, the U.S. Forest Service completed NEPA (EIS) documents for several south slope treatments including the Oweep treatment; the Record of Decision was signed meaning that the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is approved to move forward with the project. All applicators will be pesticide applicator trained and fit tested to be able to wear a respirator safely. This project has been identified and approved through the PGP pesticide reporting process. A new five-year permit cycle begins now in 2022 and will last through 2027. Although Colorado River cutthroat trout were not listed under the ESA, completing this project will fulfill obligations of the State of Utah as set forth in the Conservation Agreement and Strategy for Colorado River Cutthroat Trout. No compliance is necessary to take horses into the wilderness and their impact has already been analyzed during the EIS process.

If funded, the outfitter will use between 15 and 17 horses on the Little East Fork of the Blacks Fork trail to move both equipment and people into and out of the treatment area. The outfitter will take one or two trips to bring in the necessary equipment and cache it in the treatment area a week prior to the treatment. They will then meet a group of nine individuals and transport them and the necessary camping gear into the treatment area. The treatment itself will be accomplished over four days using 12 employees to dispense rotenone into the 15.8 miles of stream. During this five day stretch a smaller number of 5-7 horses will be used to move chemical and drip containers around the drainage as needed. While the five days of treatment are occurring, the outfitter will also be tasked with caring for horses including feeding, watering, and securing them each night. They will also oversee planning, purchasing, and cooking all meals for the entirety of the treatment. Once the five days of treatments are concluded the outfitter will transport the nine people and camping gear, they brought into the area back to the trailhead.

Once rotenone applications have been completed, the area will be restocked with Colorado River cutthroat trout (CRCT). This population will then be monitored to ensure we have multiple successful year classes. The area will be restocked with pure-strain south slope CRCT from the south slope brood source as need arises to ensure the long-term success of this project. We will also evaluate the performance of the selected outfitter, however the performance thus far of the outfitter selected during the 2022-2023 components of this project was fabulous. We will need to undergo another contract phase for hiring outfitter hire in 2024-2025. This project and the use of an outfitter will also provide a template for future treatments in the Garfield and Fall Creek drainages.

This project occurs entirely on U.S. Forest Service administered lands in the Duchesne Ranger District, Ashley National Forest (ANF). The ANF, Trout Unlimited (TU), and UDWR are project partners on the proposed action. The project partnership and original concept dates to the year 2000. ANF staff completed an Environmental Impact Statement in 2019 that examined several proposed CRCT restoration areas occurring in the High Uintas Wilderness; Oweep Creek was one of five areas identified of interest (USDA Forest Service 2019). ANF personnel will assist with preparation and execution of the rotenone treatment as time allows. Note that the value of the EIS was included as an in kind expense claimed as part of the Phase I project (WRI project 5951) and thus was not included as part of this project. Additional partners will include Trout Unlimited who will assist with the preparation and execution of the treatment.

Future management for this project may include one more year of additional treatment to ensure complete eradication of Brook Trout from the area in 2025. This is likely to be a small, isolated partial treatment if it does need to take place. This determination will be made shorly following the third treatment, which this project will help fulfill in August 2024. Additional management actions include restocking the area once the treatment is complete and monitoring the health of the newly created population.

This project when completed will provide a new opportunity for anglers to access a pure Colorado River cutthroat population in the High Uinta Wilderness Blue Ribbon area. This restoration project will restore over 15 miles of premiere trout habitat back to native Colorado River cutthroat trout water creating a wilderness fishing experience that is unmatched anywhere else in the state. This project will also restore a lake fishery for cutthroat trout that is over 11,000 feet. The combination of both stream and lake populations of Colorado River cutthroat trout that will be restored will make for an exciting opportunity for anglers to pursue native fish in a remote, scenic area of the High Uintas. Given that the drainage intersects the High Line Trail, this area is a popular camping hold-over spot for recreationists using this popular trail. This project will create the only place along the highline trail that allows users to access over 15 miles of native cutthroat, and will be advertised as such in the future. The outcome of this project will be creating a unique fishery in the High Uinta Blue Ribbon area.