The Dairy Fork, Lake Fork, Birdseye, Spencer Fork, and Salt Creek WMAs have needs for shrub restoration. From fires and historic agriculture practices, the shrub component has been lost or degraded. These shrub species are important for big game in the winter and many other wildlife species. All of these WMAs are in crucial deer and elk winter range habitats. Improving mule deer and elk winter range on these WMAs is important to reach the primary objective of these wildlife management areas and the objectives in the Central Mtns. Nebo unit Deer and Elk management plans. Small mammals and other upland game will benefit from the additional shelter and food provided by shrubs. This will benefit their populations and in turn, benefit predators like golden eagles that depend on these species for food. Activities from powerline construction have had a negative impact to wildlife in the area. While reclamation activities (reseeding, weed control) will be performed on access roads and construction areas, more habitat improvements will be beneficial to the big game species that rely on these winter ranges.

1. Increase the amount of shrubs to provide more food for wintering big game. 2. Maintain a diversity of age classes of shrub plants to increase the resilience of the native shrub community. 3. Improve health of watershed by restricting establishment of weed species. 4. Help reduce fire risk by reducing the establishment of cheatgrass. 5. Reduce the increasing threat of high-intensity, uncharacteristic wildfire to the soils. 6. Improve and or maintain wildlife habitat.

DWR received $75,000 for mitigation from the powerline that impacted the properties in 2023.

Utah Statewide Mule Deer Management Plan: Habitat Objective 2: Improve the quality and quantity of vegetation for mule deer on a minimum of 500,000 acres of crucial range by 2024. b. Work with land management agencies, conservation organizations, private landowners, and local leaders through the regional Watershed Restoration Initiative working groups to identify and prioritize mule deer habitats that are in need of enhancement or restoration (Figure 6). d. Initiate broad-scale vegetative treatment projects to improve mule deer habitat with emphasis on drought or fire-damaged sagebrush winter ranges The Habitat Management Plan for this unit states: Goal III, objective 1 "Maintain key forage species on winter range" This project will help meet some of the Habitat management strategies listed * Improve sagebrush and bitterbrush habitats with seed and/or seedling transplant projects. Wildlife Action Plan: 1. The project area occurs within the sagebrush steppe type which is one of the key habitats identified in the WAP. This area supports mule deer (S4), elk (SNA), and numerous other species of concern also inhabit the area including neotropical birds and raptors. The proposed projects will address some of the habitat management strategies outlined in the deer management plan for herd unit 16 (Central Mountains including continuing to restore and improve sagebrush steppe habitats critical to deer according to DWR's Habitat Initiative; cooperate with federal land management agencies and private landowners in carrying out habitat improvements such as reseedings, controlled burns, water developments, etc. on public and private lands; and maintain and/or enhance forage production through direct range improvements throughout the unit to achieve population management objectives. The proposed projects will address the following goals and objectives of the Division of Wildlife Resources most recent strategic management plan: Resource Goal: Conserve, enhance, and actively manage Utah's protected wildlife populations Objective 1:Increase, decrease, or maintain wildlife populations, as needed, to meet the objectives in our management plans Objective 2:Maintain existing wildlife habitat and increase the quality of critical habitats and watersheds throughout the state. Constituency Goal: Strengthen support for wildlife management by demonstrating the value and importance of wildlife to all Utahns. Objective 5: Improve our understanding of how the broader public views and values wildlife -- and how it contributes to their quality of life -- and take reasonable steps to address their needs, wishes, and priorities. Agency Goal: Create a culture of respect, innovation, efficiency, and effectiveness within the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. Objective 4:Increase our coordination with partners, including local, state, and federal agencies; non-governmental organizations; universities, and others.

The Bald Mountain Fire burned large portions of the Spencer Fork, Dairy Fork, and Lake Fork WMAs in 2018. This project will help restore the shrub component that was largely lost as a result of the fire.

Having a healthy diversity of age-class shrubs will prevent a mono-culture of older, decadent plants that die off and result in an invasion of weedy plants such as cheatgrass. Cheatgrass will absorb all of the available water and decrease the plant diversity. By doing this project there will be more available water for native understory plants to increase diversity. This will also help prevent cheatgrass from establishing and creating an unnatural fire regime that will result in greater increases in erosion and sedimentation that will reduce water quality.

Archaeological clearance has been performed as part of a prior habitat improvement project.

Scalp and seed with Mad Max dozer. Plant shrub seedlings in scalps on WMAs that were impacted by powerline construction.

Shrub survival will be monitored by DWR.

DWR has partnered with sportsmen groups to fund and plant shrubs on these WMAs in recent years. This project is limited to the impacted WMAs as outlined in the mitigation agreement between DWR and Pacificorp.

WMAs are owned by DWR and will be managed according to the Habitat Management Plans for the properties

This project will benefit big game populations which will increase hunting and wildlife-watching opportunities. It will also reduce cheatgrass and promote native plant species which will benefit livestock grazing.

07/01/2025

06/30/2026

2026

In November 2025, DWR contracted to plant 12,000 shrubs including Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata wyomingensis) on the south end of the Spencer Fork WMA. The purpose of this planting project was to improve the mule deer winter range that had been burned in the Bald Mountain Fire in 2018. The fire burned most of the shrub component, and non-native aggressive grasses have taken their place. The shrub component is very important as a food source for mule deer in the winter months. Without these species on the landscape, the mule deer will lose their fat reserves much quickly and may not survive the winter. To restore the shrub component on these crucial winter ranges, we first used the Mad Max dozer to till the ground and scalp the grass competition. The dozer also planted antelope bitterbrush seed and other native forbs and shrub seed by broadcasting the seed over the tracks. then hand-transplanted sagebrush seedlings into the tracks created by the dozer. We covered an area of approximately 17 acres.

The project area on the west side of the Stansbury Mountains has a need for shrub restoration because of the loss of shrubs from multiple recent fires. These shrub species are important for big game in the winter and many other wildlife species. Improving mule deer and elk winter range in this area is important to reach the objectives in the Unit 16a -- Central Mountains Deer and Elk management plans. Small mammals and other upland game will benefit from the additional shelter and food provided by shrubs. This will benefit their populations and in turn benefit predators like golden eagles that depend on these species for food.

The project was conducted on DWR owned and managed land. The UDWR will continue to monitor the success of the seedling planting areas and will continue to do future plantings as needed until desired range conditions are achieved.