This project will protect the environment of Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons from the risks of invasive species, biodiversity loss, and catastrophic wildfire. Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons provide 60% of the drinking water for Salt Lake City, while hosting 5 million recreational visits each year. The heavy human usage of this natural resource has led to increased demand for management of invasive species and restoration of disturbed areas so that the ecosystem can remain biodiverse and resilient. When the ecosystem is healthy, it acts as a slow-release water filter, allowing for the water treatment facilities to do minimal treatment of our drinking water supply. The impact of unchecked wildfire on the ecosystem would be increased erosion and undrinkable water supply. The Cottonwood Canyons Watershed Restoration and Fuels Reduction project is critical for watershed health and biodiversity, water quality and yield, and providing opportunities for sustainable use of natural resources (recreation and drinking water supply). The work in this project will benefit many sensitive and threatened plant and animal species. Reclaiming disturbed areas through planting native seedlings will create more habitat for the blue grouse, California quail, chukar, American pika, burrowing owl, and snowshoe hare. This will also increase food sources for the bobcat. Removal of invasives and planting natives will provide pollinators such as the Western bumble bee with forage and cover. Reducing standing dead trees will benefit mule deer, elk, moose and other wildlife by allowing understory growth for forage. The increased habitat for these large game species will in turn benefit the cougar and black bear populations. Planting native species in disturbed areas will reduce soil erosion into streams, providing better habitat for rainbow, brown, and Bonneville cutthroat trout. Removal of invasive species through early detection, rapid response will protect sensitive plant habitat such as wetlands where Ute's lady tresses grow. Invasive species removal and restoration around Silver Lake in BCC will protect the habitat where bald eagles and beavers currently live- one of the only places in the canyon. These measures will create a healthy mosaic of habitats that are more resilient to fire, insect outbreaks, and disease, which will benefit plants and animals across the ecosystem of the Cottonwood Canyons.

Invasive species management: Objective 1- complete Early Detection, Rapid Response (EDRR) by surveying all the trails, campgrounds, picnic areas, and ski resorts in BCC and LCC to identify and eradicate new invasive plant populations Objective 2- treat all high priority species' populations (Garlic Mustard, Oxeye Daisy, Dyers Woad, Leafy Spurge, Spotted Knapweed, Yellow Toadflax, and Phragmites) in BCC and LCC Restoration: Objective 3- plant 1100 seedlings grown from seeds genetically native to BCC and LCC Objective 4- stabilize disturbed soil and aid in the recruitment of native plants Objective 5- create habitat for native pollinators Objective 6- collect data on survival for restoration plants in order to understand best practices for restoration Fuels Reduction: Objective 7- CCF crew will complete cut-pile-burn treatment for the mapped area at Brighton resort with supervision and training from the Forest Service Objective 8- train with Forest Service crew on prescribed burn techniques to acquire red card certification If funded, these measures will protect and increase biodiversity, improve water quality, and increase water yield. In order for the growing use of these canyons for recreation to be sustainable, stewardship work in this project must be completed.

The project area is directly adjacent to Salt Lake City valley, home to over a million people and growing rapidly as more people move for the outdoor recreation access. Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon are a hot-spot for this access, hosting four major ski resorts in the winter and world class hiking, biking, and climbing in the summer. With these canyons reaching their capacity for recreation, it is more important than ever before for sustainable management of the environment to match the demand. Adjacent watershed areas with similar climates have already become overrun with invasive species: once the environment has been degraded it is extremely difficult and costly to restore it. Big and Little Cottonwood have been managed by the Cottonwood Canyons Foundation Plant Stewardship program for 25 years, resulting in relatively pristine and biodiverse ecosystems that are constantly under threat from development, introduction of new invasive species, and unsustainable recreation. In order for this critical restoration, invasive species management, and fuels reduction work to continue, CCF asks for support from Utah's Watershed Restoration Initiative.

1) CCF works closely with the Salt Lake Ranger District of the US Forest Service to comply with all management plans on Forest Service land. This includes but is not limited to the Tri-Canyon Master Plan, Uinta National Forest and Wasatch-Cache National Forest Revised Forest Plan, and the Wasatch-Cache National Forest Noxious Weed Treatment Final EIS. In practice, CCF completes pre and post project invasive species surveys and treatment for projects, restoration after project completion, and advises on NEPA documents. 2) CCF also partners with the Watershed Division of the Salt Lake City Public Utility to achieve all watershed-related management goals (especially the Watershed Management Plan). From these partnerships, the Central Wasatch Weeds Working Group has been born to aide in cross-agency collaboration and compliance with management plans. 3) CCF also works to follow the guidelines from the State of Utah Resource Management Plan to establish immediate revegetation or rehabilitation after invasive weed treatment. The state of Utah supports prevention as one of the best methods of managing noxious weeds. 4) CCF works with Salt Lake County to follow the Resource Management Plan to restore damaged areas, reduce fuels, provide more forage for wildlife, protect threatened and endangered species, and control noxious weeds. 5) CCF also works to improve key habitats in accordance with the Utah Wildlife Action Plan by the use of appropriate methods for reducing the spread and dominance of invasive weeds, including "early detection -- rapid response" programs. 6) CCF will work closely with the USFS to follow the Wasatch Wildfire Crisis Strategy by completing cross-boundary mechanical treatments to reduce risk to private property and infrastructure in the WUI, strengthen strategic fuel breaks utilizing Potential Operational Delineations to facilitate prescribed fire, increase opportunities for the use of beneficial wildfire, and assist with suppression actions on unwanted fires, and create mechanical and prescribed fire forest and watershed restoration treatments to reduce fuel loading and build resilience to future disturbances exacerbated by a changing climate, focusing on critical watersheds. 7) Brighton and Big Cottonwood Canyon Wildfire Preparedness Plan The purpose of wildfire preparedness planning is to... Motivate and empower local government, communities, and property owners to organize, plan, and take action on issues impacting the safety and resilience of values at risk Enhance levels of fire resilience and protection to the communities and infrastructure Identify the threat of wildland fires in the area Identify strategies to reduce the risks to structures, infrastructure and commerce in the community during a wildfire.

Catastrophic wildfire presents a serious threat to the watersheds of Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon. While fire is a natural and necessary component of many forest ecosystems, catastrophic wildfires are those whose size and severity cause extensive damage to infrastructure and/or damage to ecosystems that is greater than their ability to recover from fire. Early settlers of Salt Lake Valley logged BCC and LCC almost completely. Once they realized the importance of trees and healthy ecosystems, a huge tree planting initiative was started by the Forest Service and Civilian Conservation Corps. Now we have a forest of trees that are all about the same age and over a hundred years of fire suppression has contributed to insect and disease outbreaks and high fire risk. These forests have high shrub and dead and down surface fuels as well abundant "ladder fuels" that transition fire to the overstory canopy. Drought and climate change compound these issues and create a fire environment that under high fire weather conditions will likely produce a large, high severity fire with a high resistance to control efforts and catastrophic effects in BCC and LCC. Quantitative Wildfire Risk Assessments (QWRA) from the US Forest Service show that much of the Wasatch Front has a high Burn Probability and ranks as either "High" or "Very High" for expected loss to assets and watershed function (see QWRA Report). In this context, fuels treatments such as the ones proposed in this project can moderate the effects of a wildfire as well as create strategic fuel breaks that assist firefighters to more effectively engage a wildfire. Continuous mixed conifer forests with heavy dead and down fuel loading and dense ladder fuels are prone to burning with high severity and present a significant challenge to fire management. This project proposes cut/pile/burn treatments in which dead and down logs and ladder fuels such as small trees and the lower limbs of large trees are cut, placed into piles, and burned in the winter months when fire danger is low. These strategically placed treatments will assist with control efforts and reduce wildfire intensity and severity. Once trained on these fire management practices, CCF field crews will be an asset for the Forest Service in completing this essential work. Funding from this grant will provide training (wages/ certifications) for the CCF fuels reduction team. Additionally, the Cottonwood Canyons Watershed Restoration project will clear invasive species from more than 115 acres each year, totally more than 12,000 lbs of invasive material removed. If left untreated, invasive species can completely change the fire regime of ecosystems, increasing fire risk.

Removing invasive species and planting native seeds and seedlings will reduce the risk of severe wildfire, reduce pollutants, stabilize soil, and reduce nutrient and sediment loading. Two of the primary restoration sites in this project are Silver Lake and Cardiff boardwalk area in BCC. These areas both function in water filtration and storage. Improving wetland biodiversity and health will benefit the health of the entire watershed. The entirety of this project area provides drinking water for Salt Lake City residents. These watersheds are immediately adjacent to many perennial water bodies and riparian systems. One invasive species that is of extreme concern in these canyons is phragmites. There are many small populations around wetlands and streams, but if left unmanaged phragmites has the ability to uptake huge amounts of water and redirect waterflow (as seen in the Great Salt Lake). This project will prioritize the management of phragmites.

CCF works closely with the Forest Service, completing an annual agreement for all activities on the Uinta Wasatch Cache National Forest. CCF has completed a pesticide use permit for each chemical used on the forest and helps the Forest to comply with NEPA requirements.

The CCF Plant Stewardship Crew will work full time from April to October. These crew members will carry out botanical surveys of all trails, picnic areas, campsites, and ski resorts within Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon (see the mapped 'Affected Area' polygon for survey area). Invasive species are mapped using Field Maps and treated using either mechanical or chemical control (see the mapped 'Terrestrial Treatment Area' polygons. PLEASE NOTE: the treatment will be a combination of chemical and mechanical control). Herbicide mix depends on species, but will always follow Forest Service and Watershed requirements. Restoration will be completed after Forest Service or ski resort projects are completed by planting seedlings (the seeds of which are collected by CCF and grown by a local horticulturalist) or laying down seed and revegetation matting. Training on fuel reduction will take place following Forest Service methods to systematically buck and pile dead wood material. These piles are then carefully burned and monitored in the late fall when snow or rain is falling to reduce risk.

The project will be monitored for success in the short and long term and will be reported back to WRI. All restoration, invasive weed treatment, and fuel mitigation work will be mapped each season, allowing CCF to track changes over time. Success and effectiveness will be evaluated after each season and methods will be updated if necessary. CCF has already implemented a small research project on restoration methods to inform best practices moving forward. Populations of invasive species will be monitored on a long-term basis until controlled or eradicated.

CCF has been an organization based on partnerships since its inception 25 years ago. Salt Lake Ranger District of the US Forest Service: CCF meets with the Forest Service at least monthly to create management plans, check in on project status, and overcome any hurtles Watershed Division of the Salt Lake City Public Utility: a partner in planning, guidance on herbicide spray rates, and allows CCF to operate from their spray barn. A close partner on all things invasive species management and restoration. The SLCPU sees CCF as their emissary for work in the Cottonwood Canyons Brighton, Solitude, Snowbird and Alta ski areas: CCF consults with each of the resorts on invasive species management and restoration, helping to implement the project work through crew time and volunteer events. All four of the ski resorts are close partners with shared goals of invasive species management, restoration, and fuel reduction. Salt Lake County: CCF works closely with the Bee and Noxious Weeds program coordinator to alert private property owners of invasive plants on their property that is adjacent to Forest Service lands. Central Wasatch Commission: CCF staff are on the stakeholders councils for the Recreation and Environment committees, and provide data and expertise to important local agency. Town of Brighton, Alta, Cottonwood Heights, Millcreek, and Sandy City: CCF receives support and permissions from all relevant local governments. Save our Canyons: Collaborates on volunteer events. Salt Lake Climbers Alliance: Collaborates on volunteer events. This project is entirely on Forest Service land, although some of that land is leased to the four major ski resorts.

CCF is committed to completing this essential watershed restoration and fuels reduction work in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons using a collaborative approach with well-informed treatments. With increased recreation and demand for clean drinking water, this funding is more important than ever before. Many invasive species have seeds that can survive in the soil for 5-50 years. The continued management of invasives will be necessary in these canyons as the seed bank is depleted and inevitably recreators and development bring in new invasives. If funding allows, CCF will continue to treat invasive species, complete restoration projects, and work on fuel reduction for many years to come. Watershed restoration efforts will continue until biodiverse native ecosystems provide habitat for T & E species, healthy streams and waterways provide clean drinking water, forests resist insect and disease and catastrophic wildfires, and public lands are able to provide sustainable recreation.

The two most important natural resources present in the project area are drinking water and recreation. Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon are a rarity as far as watersheds go: the land acts as a natural water filtration system (when the ecosystem is healthy) and the public is still allowed to recreate in the watershed. There are many rules in place to allow these two resources to exist simultaneously, such as dog restrictions, no swimming, and no herbicide within 100ft of surface water. For the public to continue to access these canyons for recreation, we must continue to recreate responsibly and care for the ecosystem as land managers. Invasive species management, restoration, and fuels reduction are critical as people, machines, and bikes move invasive seeds around the canyons and new trails and ski resorts create disturbances. Sustainable use of these canyons involves prioritizing weed treatment, restoration, and fuel reduction.