In 2019, URMCC received $350k specifically for fire remediation following the 2018 Dollar Ridge and 2018 Pole Creek fires. URMCC used $250k of this funding for an agreement with UDWR (19FCUT2350) to hire a contractor to complete the restoration plan and associated NEPA. The restoration plan and NEPA were scoped, completed, finalized and signed in 2022 and are attached within the documents tab of this proposal. Duchesne and Wasatch Counties successfully applied for and received approximately $18 million to complete road re-construction in the area. This project was beneficial to URMCC and DWR by regaining road access to the river corridor; however, some follow-up will be necessary to fix road-affected stream channel portions. In 2021, URMCC received an additional $10 million to complete fire remediation. It is anticipated that about $8 million of this fund will be spent on the Middle Strawberry Restoration Project (MSRRP) and the remaining $2 million will be spent on the Diamond Fork system. This work will be completed over the next several years. The funding allowed for the initial five-year $1.3 million agreement (23AAUT2710) with US Bureau of Reclamation Force Account to implement on-the-ground activities in accordance with the Dollar Ridge Fire Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment (attached). The kickstart work was completed by the Force Account in the summer of 2023 between River miles 13-15, and expended $103,709. This included crew labor, travel, materials ($9500 in rock), equipment and rentals, transport, etc. Work in 2025 and subsequent years will be much more intensive than 2023 and URMCC will modify the agreement with Force Account accordingly. We are on their schedule to mobilize in April 2025. URMCC is currently working on creating a contract to develop detailed design plans for more intensive riverscape restoration and future construction oversite. This future design refines and further details on-the-ground restoration, and builds off of what was completed by the 2022 overall design product. This future design and oversite effort is expected to cost $1 million or more. It is expected that Force Account will be spending the remaining amount of $1.138 million on the agreement for on-the-ground activities after the detailed design phase is completed. Current habitat quality of the Strawberry River corridor originally affected by the Dollar Ridge fire is variable. There are some sections that need little work to return the stream to previous condition. By contrast, there are other sections that have substantial negative impacts from debris flows, sedimentation, channel simplification, and other anthropogenic negative impacts due to reconstructing the road to obtain access. This cooperative partnership project will go a long ways toward recovering the Strawberry River back to its full potential of a quality, blue ribbon-class trout stream and famous fishing destination, which is the primary reason the WMA was purchased as mitigation for the Central Utah Project. Previous to the fire, the Strawberry River was in the top 10 statewide waters in terms of angler visitation (hours fished/anglers per year). The fires have significantly affected the habitat and thus the fish community. DWR has continued to monitor several stream survey locations on an annual basis. These surveys have indicated that since the fire we have been able to establish a limited fish population, but not nearly to pre-fire levels in terms of overall fish quantity, quality, biomass, or size structure. DWR continues to allocate an annual cutthroat trout stocking to the Strawberry River with some successful recruitment demonstrated. However, until some of the habitat features are fixed, the Strawberry's potential will go unrealized. Fish that survive have had difficulties not emigrating from the reach during flooding events. Also, due to the altered hydrology of the Strawberry River resulting from the operation of Soldier Creek dam (Strawberry Reservoir), the natural hydrology will not be able to repair some of the habitat deficiencies as would otherwise occur through time. The purpose of us seeking funds through Habitat Council is to provide a supplemental funding source that DWR can partner with URMCC in overall project goals. We have substantial opportunity in FY25 to purchase and stage materials for future project implementation. By funding this project now we have the potential to save time and money in the future, and lead to a more effective use of the larger URMCC funding pot. While $8 million may seem like a lot of money, the typical stream restoration project costs $1-1.5 million dollars per mile, and we need to complete work in over 14 stream miles. Additionally, the remoteness of this restoration project will assuredly add to construction costs. There are also opportunities where DWR purchasing processes can be more efficiently used in FY25 as opposed to more difficult purchasing policies that URMCC has to work with (thinking we will be contracting a large quantity of rock in FY25). One last argument - while the $8 million dollar contract may seem like a lot, DWR aquatics has anticipated that that funding pot would get us quite a bit, but we have not been under any illusion that the URMCC funding pot would be the sole funder of this work. If we want a successful project, we need to buy in. And the minor funding component that we are asking for for this project is a small price in the grand scheme for what we can achieve together with URMCC. I'll also note that we expect to continue to apply for funds for several more years in a form of a proposal such as this one where we use our funding to piecemeal in order to create a greater whole project. The 2023 restoration work required a minimum of 350 tons of large rock materials to repair instream structures between RM 13-15. Utilizing a privately owned material pit located within the project area saves money and reduces project duration by reducing haul time and increasing load counts during crew shifts. URMCC struggled to contract a rock source for the project during summer 2023 due to internal policy issues. If DWR had a fund account set aside for this work in 2023, DWR could have stepped in to partner with URMCC to get more of the project completed more efficiently. We expect to be in a position to be able to do this in 2024. An additional line item was attached to this project to hire out UCC crew to remove non-native, invasive tamarisk that has gained a foothold on the WMA since the fire. This action is more preventative - without our intervention the Strawberry River bottom tamarisk will become unmanageable.

Overall project objectives: ~CY2024-2027 1. Hire project oversight and design contractor for Middle Strawberry River Restoration Project 2. Prioritize restoration areas within the designated Middle Strawberry reach 3. Obtain stream alteration permit for work within defined reach 4. Continue Force Account in-stream work and materials staging 5. Implement project that is designed for hydrology, riparian, and fisheries benefits 6. Return Middle Strawberry River back to blue ribbon fisheries status In terms of this funding pot: Provide a flexible, relatively small funding source where DWR can obtain partnership status in an overall larger project, and can use our administrative processes in coordination with URMCC to streamline river recovery.

The Dollar Ridge fire took place in 2018, and virtually wiped out the entire stream fish assemblage between Soldier Creek dam downstream to the Strawberry Pinnacles - essentially the entire fishable trout stream reach. Since then, we have slowly been recovering a minimal fish population thru the entire stream corridor. Upland areas have slowly been recovering. We are now at a point where we are far enough removed from the fire event that we are in a good place to proceed with restorative actions. The road has been rebuilt, and we now have access to the corridor. The uplands are not creating the ultra-destructive runoff events that were occurring previously. There is a seed fish population in the river. Now is the time for us to act in order to take advantage of partnering with the large funding source that URMCC has brought to the table. Additionally, we are at a time where additional landscape and stream healing will not happen in a timely fashion without our involvement. "Natural" stream healing will never occur due to the altered hydrology. Eventually, anglers will demand that we act to restore what was lost. Some of the exact restoration methods are yet to be defined, with some reaches of stream needing little-to-no intervention. There are other reaches of stream that we expect to completely rebuild from scratch via Rosgen-esque channel design methodology. These are cases where the stream has degraded below a floodplain, is entrenched, has little aquatic organism habitat value, has too much water energy (stream length vs grade is a variable that can be fixed with redesigning a channel), little in-stream structure. We have the capability of completely redesigning the channel where these variables are out of balance, and we have a great idea of which of those areas need to be prioritized. Other future actions will be less intrusive, and can simply include adding instream structure in order to balance water energy, erosion, and sediment transport, which in turn often lead to developing a diverse habitat mosaic of backwaters, eddys, refugia, and roughness elements needed for maximizing biological potential.

This project is directly related to implementing the Dollar Ridge Fire EA and Restoration Plan by fulfilling that plan's goals to develop a robust and resilient riverscape. The purpose of the Restoration Plan is to identify management activities that would promote the natural healing processes to restore upland, riparian, and aquatic habitats in the Project Area impacted by the 2018 Dollar Ridge Fire. The Selected Alternative is summarized in Chapter 2 of the EA, described in detail in the Restoration Plan (Appendix A of the EA) and in the associated Activity Cards (Appendix B of the EA). The Activity Cards describe treatments that could be implemented to reduce impacts to each of the resources discussed in the EA. The underlying need for the federal action is to mitigate on-going impacts from the 2018 Dollar Ridge Fire by repairing or improving conditions on fire-impacted lands and put them on a trajectory for natural recovery. The purpose of the Selected Alternative is to identify a range of restoration activities to be taken to stabilize areas damaged by fire that maintain or improve soil stability and site productivity, reduce erosion and sediment deposition, and restore fish and wildlife habitat and the health and function of the Project Area's riparian and aquatic ecosystems. Activities also need to be taken to address past actions to improve roads/access and protect/replace infrastructure. The Selected Alternative is consistent with and would move toward accomplishing the goals identified in the Commission's Final Mitigation and Conservation FY2021-2025 Plan, Reclamation and the Commission's Angler-Access Mitigation Program for the CUP, and UDWR's Strawberry River Wildlife Management Area (WMA) Habitat Management Plan. The Strawberry River has populations of native Colorado River Cutthroat trout. Strategy 7 of this document states "Improve habitat conditions for CRCT". Within this section, this conservation strategy dictates that habitat improvement techniques will be used where appropriate to provide missing habitat components or improve existing ones. Examples of these techniques including building instream structures to improve pool to riffle ratios, stream bank stabilization, riparian management, instream cover, pool or spawning gravel enhancement, and provision of fish passageways. This project will fulfill much of that mandate. Section XVII (6) (pp 46) of the Rangewide Conservation Agreement and Strategy for Roundtail Chub, Bluehead Sucker, and Flannelmouth sucker defines enhancing and maintaining habitat for RTC, BHS, and FMS as critical toward those species' recovery. These habitat actions include restoring altered channel and habitat features to previous states that are/were suitable for those species, and enhancing and restoring connectedness and opportunities for migration of those subject species. While I inserted other "threats" to BHS and FMS within the species tab, the primary threat is not listed within the drop down, which I would consider habitat fragmentation that we are trying to mediate. We currently have resident populations of flannelmouth and bluehead suckers in the lower Strawberry River that utilize sections of this project area for foraging and spawning habitat. There has also been a substantial loss in stream connectivity due to actions from the road rebuilding project as well as barriers created by alluvial fan blockages. This project will tackle these challenges to provide a more inter-connected stream habitat for these species. The Strawberry River WMA Habitat Management plan outlines a history of ongoing habitat improvement projects. The Plan also specifies the impacts that the fire had on the WMA regarding riparian, riverine, and upland habitat features. The Plan indicates that further work will need to be completed on the Strawberry River to improve fish habitat. Habitat for bluehead sucker and Colorado River cutthroat trout was explicitly identified as being degraded by the fire within the context of the Plan. The Plan also specifies the importance of this resource for ongoing angler use. The Plan further cites the DWR strategic plan in context of improving these habitat features in terms of constituency and resource goals - both identifying the opportunity to increase fishing opportunities on the WMA, as well as increasing fish populations and habitat quality. The Duchesne County Resource Management Plan (section 9) specifies the need for clear streams and reservoirs for fishing. This project directly supports this goal. Other factors such as wildlife habitat, erosion, streambank stability are identified as important resource goals within the plan. The Plan further identifies the identified section by this project as the "Wild Strawberry" and denotes its importance as a popular fishing destination. The Wasatch County Resource Management Plan (p 313-314) supports DWR's efforts to promote land uses that are compatible with maintaining healthy fisheries on lands adjacent to fish bearing streams, lakes and reservoirs, and agencies should make every reasonable effort to provide additional opportunities for fishing on public lands in Wasatch County. This proposal directly supports Wasatch County's plan goals by providing better quality fisheries. The Plan also mentions the importance of maintaining quality fisheries habitat.

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This project will not affect water quantity. This project may affect water quality in the long term by providing riparian stability and balanced sediment transport. The overall desire of this project is to store sediments in upland areas, stop some of the massive erosion that continues to degrade the Strawberry River, and provide for unique structures that allow for dynamic stream habitat (providing water depth vs widened channel).

NEPA has already been completed for this project. Much of the archaeology has been completed for this project. Some of the clearance was obtained via the Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) road rebuilding project undertaken by Duchesne and Wasatch Counties since that action occurred on federal lands and used federal NRCS funding. Some additional archaeology clearance has also been completed by Bureau of Reclamation staff. Additional archaeology clearance may happen on an as-needed basis by BOR staff. A stream alteration permit will be required in advance of additional stream restoration actions and will be obtained by URMCC.

The majority of work expected to take place in FY25 will involve purchasing and staging materials. We expect to use funds from this proposal to purchase those materials. We also intend to use funding from this proposal to contract the BOR Force Account (essentially the Bureau of Reclamation's heavy equipment crew) to fund Force Account to haul and stage materials to project site. This will streamline future project implementation, and will help to stretch the URMCC's larger funding pot for project design and implementation. As of right now, the Force Account has opening on their schedule spring 2025 to complete this work. Future restoration work will be dictated by a new, improved site-specific design phase that is currently being planned. Limited additional instream work may occur if DWR and URMCC staff deem relevant, necessary, and beneficial. Some of this work was undertaken during summer 2023.

Resident fishery will continue to be monitored annually for the foreseeable future - at a minimum, for several years past when the habitat restoration projects take place - which puts us there annually until at least 2030. We anticipate that we will be annually monitoring this fishery until the fishery rebounds and maintains a steady population presence and habitat features do not appear to be deteriorating. Habitat monitoring will continue for several years as part of this overall larger context project. We expect to be working on the Strawberry River for the next 4+ years. With this much time and financial investment, habitat work will be monitored well into the 2030's, with an expectation that any disturbances to completed work, or updated habitat improvement projects to become necessary as needed.

This project has been in partnership with Duchesne County, Wasatch County, Utah Reclamation and Mitigation Conservation Commission (URMCC), Trout Unlimited, and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. We continue to involve the counties, as they have a stake in the project regarding road access. They have been supportive of this project. Success of this project will increase fishing tourism to this area. URMCC is currently the overall project lead and the current landowner. URMCC is currently the largest funder of ongoing restoration work in the Strawberry River corridor. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources continues to help with managing the Wildlife Management area and fishery for this unique piece of property. DWR has been heavily involved with the restoration plan. DWR was also heavily involved with implementing stream restoration actions during summer 2023.

We anticipate dedicating an abundance of time and energy for the Strawberry River on an annual basis at least until 2030 until returning to a baseline monitoring effort. This project will be one of several phases for the coming years. We will continue to complete projects within the Middle Strawberry until we reach a successful point. In this case, the area's potential and past have been too successful of a resource to let this project fail. Future management goals will be to steer further projects until we reach an overall goal of returning the Strawberry River to a Blue Ribbon quality fishery.

This project has direct bearing on fishing. The Strawberry River was once within the top 10 fishing destinations within the state of Utah. We expect that this project and future, forthcoming projects will improve this resource to its previous condition. Given the amount of angler use in the past, the most direct, sustainable resource use will continue to focus on fishing and fishing tourism. There is no camping allowed within the WMA. Through an increase in fishery resources, we expect that nearby permissible camping areas will be more thoroughly utilized. There is no grazing allowed within the affected portion of the WMA. Other wildlife recreation uses will be enhanced in less direct manners, including bird watching, terrestrial wildlife watching, and natural scenery and aesthetics will be improved as part of fulfilling this project.