The Rosebud Facilities (Rosebud Ranch and Willow Spring) are important conservation sites for June Sucker, Green Sucker, Least Chub, and Western Toad. Rosebud Ranch was constructed in the early 2000's to serve as a grow-out facility for June Sucker and a refuge location for Least Chub. Since its construction, the facility remains a cost effective option for June Sucker grow-out and to date, more than 137,000 June Sucker have been grown in the facility and stocked into Utah Lake. Further, Rosebud Ranch contains one of Utah's most abundant and self-sustaining Least Chub populations and the facility is now being used to grow-out Green Suckers. Willow Spring is a spring-fed stock pond that serves as a refuge site for Least Chub, but also supports one of the most robust populations of Western Toad in the Grouse Creek Mountain Range. The Rosebud Facilities are vital amenities and their continued upkeep should be a priority for conservation teams. Currently the facilities are in need of maintenance in order to keep them fully operational. Rosebud Ranch has had plumbing issues the past few years which has impacted water supply into the ponds and other plumbing features are weathered and outdated. Also, Rosebud Ranch has had an increase in cattail/bulrush growth that has begun to impact the open water habitat available. Willow Spring is experiencing similar cattail/bulrush overgrowth problems, as well as, some erosion and water storage issues which are negatively impacting both Least Chub and Western Toad survival.

The objectives for this project are to undertake some facility maintenance in order to keep the Rosebud Facilities operational into the future. Rosebud Ranch: Construct new stainless steel screens for the outflow boxes. Renovate the line that delivers water to the processing area. Manually remove and treat overgrown vegetation, and update equipment (e.g., ATV herbicide spot sprayer) for more effective future applications. Willow Spring: Manually remove and treat overgrown vegetation. Reseed any disturbed areas with native and pollinator friendly plants.

The Rosebud Facilities have been in use for over 20 years and additional maintenance is needed in order to keep these facilities operational, especially since the facilities have recently been experiencing plumbing issues. Also, the three grow-out ponds at Rosebud Ranch will be drained in spring 2025 to collect and transfer fish, and this will provide an opportune moment to replace the plumbing entering the ponds

Conservation Agreement and Strategy for the Least Chub - ensure the long-term persistence of the Least Chub within its historic range, provide a framework for future conservation efforts, and ultimately eliminate or significantly minimize threats. Objective 1: to eliminate or significantly reduce threats to Least Chub and its habitat to the greatest extent possible. Objective 2: to restore and maintain self-sustaining populations... maintain introduced population goals of three per GMU source. Boreal Toad Conservation Plan - maintain or restore multiple, viable breeding populations. Objective 3: Identify and reduce threats from habitat loss and degradation. Conservation and Management Plan for Three Fish Species in Utah - ensure the persistence of Roundtail Chub, Bluehead Sucker, and Flannelmouth Sucker populations throughout their ranges. Objective 5: increase... populations to accelerate progress toward attaining population objectives for respective species. Objective 8: expand population distributions through transplant, augmentation, or reintroduction activities as warranted using genetically based augmentation/reestablishment plan. June Sucker Recovery Plan - prevent the extinction of the June Sucker by establishing at least one secure refuge population and halting and reversing the decline of the extant population in Utah Lake.

N/A

Repairs will increase the efficiency at which water is supplied and will ideally prevent unintentional waste (e.g., leaks) from continuing.

N/A

Update plumbing, manually remove overgrown vegetation, and prevent any further erosion from occurring.

Monitoring is a not a direct component of this project; however, the proposed maintenance will allow regional biologists to more efficiently monitor the species without being impeded by overgrown vegetation or plumbing issues.

Rosebud Ranch - private landowner

Continued annual maintenance.

The proposed project will increase the efficiency and effectiveness that water is supplied at the facilities, increase open water habitat that is necessary for the persistence of Least Chub, June Sucker, and Green Sucker, and reinsure that measures are being taken to meet the objectives identified in the conservation plans for each species.