We are in the process of removing brook trout from 7 miles of the Fall Creek drainage as well as two high mountain lakes. This project is similar in nature to previously completed native trout restoration projects in the High Uinta Wilderness and will mirror the techniques and methods that we used to complete the Oweep Creek treatment. This proposal is a necessary component to fulfilling our first treatment of the Fall Creek project area. Further treatment efficacy and validation will be needed following this treatment to determine if a future, follow-up treatment will be necessary in late summer 2026. Once we have completed the treatment phase of this project, we will restock the drainage with pure CRCT. This treatment occurs entirely in the High Uinta Wilderness over a 5 day period, will require a group of 16 biologists and seasonals to complete, and will occur approximately 13-16 miles travel distance into the wilderness area from the nearest trailhead (Stillwater Reservoir Trailhead). The remote location and required number of people will create several logistical concerns that need to be addressed, based on our previous experience with conducting wilderness treatments in Oweep Creek. Transporting equipment and gear presents 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, sprayers, pontoon rafts, PPE, potassium permanganate to neutralize rotenone, camping equipment, detox gear, etc) and cache it ahead of the treatment (see map in Images). Several trips will be necessary to haul in all required equipment and gear. We have already selected and placed an outfitter under contract through the state bidding process who is aware of the required trips and methods to get the gear into place. At this point all we need is the funding to fulfill the awarded contract. The outfitter will also need to take in all treatment staff (with assistance from Northeast Region DWR owned livestock). The outfitter will also need to bring these staff members back out to the trailhead at the conclusion of the project. The outfitter is also tasked with caring for all livestock and camp needs (e.g., cooking all meals) during the treatment so DWR employees can focus on and complete the treatment itself each day. The treatment personnel will be tasked with hiking (2 to 3 miles daily) to their assigned drip station and dispensing their rotenone 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 2-3 consecutive days before cleaning up camp and riding back out. Division/Forest Service/TU staff will not have the time to corral horses (who tend to run off even when hobbled), and ensure that 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 and would need more livestock, personnel, time and equipment than DWR currently has in its possession. Documents, maps and photos that provide greater detail on the project are located in the images/documents section. This is the first year of this particular Fall Creek treatment project. However, this project is mirrored off of the Oweep treatment project and will be our fourth consecutive year of completing this type of treatment project. Those projects were funded by Blue Ribbon and Habitat councils in 2022, 2023, and 2024. The previous use of an outfitter for those previous project years allowed us to seamlessly pull those projects off successfully despite some logistical and weather challenges. The outfitter selected for this project has been involved in all previous project years and was able to successfully bid for this contract. This outfitter went above and beyond to assist us with making those projects successful. The complete funding request is known - meaning that we already have a signed contract in place for 2025.

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 4 days of treatment; and 4. Plan, purchase, and cook all meals during the 4 days of treatment. Note: The funding request through both councils is solely for contracting an outfitter to accomplish the goals listed above. Without the use of an outfitter this project would be basically impossible to complete. There are substantial amounts of in-kind and DWR expenses for other components of the project. Additional objectives for the overall project include: Eradicating Brook Trout populations in the Fall Creek drainage above a series of waterfalls in preparation for native cutthroat trout restoration. This will be accomplished by: a. Eradicating current fish populations in Anderson and Phinney Lakes b. Eradicating all fish populations upstream of the natural waterfall barrier including the springs, seeps and runoff collected by Fall Creek and its tributaries. A total of 7 miles of inhabited stream in the Fall Creek drainage will be treated. c. Running a detox station for 3-4 days during and after the treatment to contain the fish kill within the designated project area and not impacting any fish population downstream of the Fall Creek drainage (Rock Creek). We will need to complete follow-up sampling after the treatment to determine further action beyond 2025.

Why here: CRCT currently occupy only 11% of their historical range. This project will repatriate 19+ miles of streams (some stream mileage is already currently vacant but within the greater project area) and 53+ surface acres of lakes of this range. The High Uinta Wilderness area is recognized for its high potential to repatriate native trout in many models, including those compensating for climate change. The host environment named in this proposal is buffered by the high elevation of the treatment area and provides a 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 and selected in part because repatriating a 19+ mile drainage provides us a native trout population with sufficient resiliency and redundancy. These traits provide the baseline required for a metapopulation that will be resistant to small- and medium- sized landscape-scale catastrophes. This 19+ mile reach will also be high quality habitat for CRCT that was unavailable due to a series of natural barriers. These same barriers will help ensure that natural reinvasion of Brook Trout is impossible thereby ensuring the long term success of this project. Why now: Fall 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 completed. Completing this project provides a foundation for DWR's endgame to finish native cutthroat restoration projects by approximately 2030.

Approximately 25 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 sensitive species within the Wildlife Action Plan, 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 CRCT. Pushing these types of projects to their completion will ensure that CRCT is not listed as an ESA-species allowing the public continued opportunities to angle for these native 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 for a period of hours to days. There will be a neutralization station set up on lower Fall Creek near the confluence with the Rock Creek 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, turbidity and oxygen.

In 2019, the U.S. Forest Service completed NEPA (EIS) documents for several south slope treatments including the Oweep, Fall and Garfield Creek treatments; the Record of Decision was signed meaning that the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is approved to move forward with the project to restore native CRCT to these drainages. All applicators will be pesticide applicator trained and fit tested to be able to wear a respirator safely as needed. This project has been identified and approved through the PGP pesticide reporting process. A new five-year permit cycle began in 2022 and will last through 2027. Although CRCT are 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 and further prevent them from being listed in the future. 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 Rock Creek trail (via the Upper Stillwater trailhead) to move both equipment and people into and out of the treatment area. The outfitter will take 1-3 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 16 individuals and transport them and the necessary camping gear into the treatment area. The treatment and dispensing of rotenone itself will be accomplished over 2-3 days using 16 employees to dispense rotenone into the two lakes and 7 miles of stream. During a four day stretch a smaller number of horses will be used to move rotenone and drip containers/personnel around the drainage as needed. While the four 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 2-3 days of treatments and other work are concluded the outfitter will transport the 16 people, all treatment equipment and camping gear they brought into the area back to the trailhead.

Once rotenone applications have been completed, the area will be restocked with CRCT. Some portions of the Fall Creek drainage that were found to be vacant during prep work have already been stocked with CRCT. These populations will be monitored to ensure we have multiple successful year classes and recruitment. 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. Intensive monitoring will cease once we have documented abundant natural recruitment from our hatchery-origin fish. We will also evaluate the performance of the selected outfitter, however the performance thus far of the outfitter selected during the 2022-2024 components of these projects was fabulous. We will need to eventually undergo another contract phase for hiring outfitter hire in 2026-2027 but the work planning for those years is not yet clear. This project and the use of an outfitter will also provide a template for future treatments in the Garfield Creek drainage as well as any follow up work that we need to complete in Fall Creek.

This project occurs entirely on U.S. Forest Service administered lands within 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 Uinta Wilderness; Oweep and Fall Creek drainages were two 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 2026. This is likely to be an isolated, partial treatment if it needs to take place. This determination will be made within the year following our 2025 treatment. Additional management actions will include restocking the area once the treatment is complete and monitoring the health of the newly created population (see proposed stocking map in images/documents).

Once complete, this project will provide a new opportunity for anglers to access pure CRCT populations in the High Uinta Wilderness Blue Ribbon area. This restoration project will restore over 19 miles of stream and 53 surface acres of premiere trout habitat back to native CRCT 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 in elevation. The combination of both stream and lake populations of CRCT 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 is close to the High Line Trail, this upper area of the drainage is a popular camping hold-over spot for recreationists using this popular trail. Similar to the Oweep Creek project, this Fall Creek project will create a place along the highline trail that allows users to access native cutthroat, and will be advertised as such in the future. The outcome of this project will create a unique fishery in the High Uinta Blue Ribbon area.