The Cunningham Wash area contains expanding populations of Scotch thistle and other state-listed noxious weeds that threaten the integrity of sagebrush-steppe and transitional shrubland communities. The expansion of noxious weeds within these habitats reduce forb diversity, decrease perennial grass vigor, alter vegetation structure, and increase fine fuels that escalate wildfire risk. Treating these infestations at the rosette stage will help maintain sagebrush-steppe integrity, protect habitat connectivity, and support the ecological functions required by mule deer, elk, and pygmy rabbits. Without treatment, these infestations will continue expanding across disturbance footprints, degrading both mule deer winter/spring forage and sage grouse PHMA. The project area is on the northern end of the Bald Hills PHMA in an areas where PHMA may be removed from management plans due to recently low sage grouse occupancy. This project would aim to improve historically occupied habitat where sagebrush is intact and adjacent to areas impacted by wildfire. If a wildfire was to further impact occupied sage grouse habitat, this project could potentially improve the remaining suitable areas for a population that has recently hit a hard trigger due to fire frequency and drought. Mule deer have been radio collared on the west side of I-15 to determine migration routes and evaluate habitat connectivity. The mule deer utilizing this project area were collared on the south side of SR21 on the Bald Hills and found to move north into this area on the east side of the Mineral Mountains. Addressing the noxious weed issue on this crucial mule deer winter range would improve acreage towards unit and statewide objectives on a WMU that is currently below population objective. Furthermore, the unit management plan calls for improvement of riparian areas west of I-15. The project area also contains intact sagebrush in late successional phase which is suitable pygmy rabbit habitat. Invasive plant species ranks as a "medium" threat for pygmy rabbits and a "very high" threat to lowland sagebrush (terrestrial key habitats) in the Utah Wildlife Action Plan (2025-2030). Addressing noxious weed infestations would be appropriate to protect this sensitive habitat and an area potentially occupied by a sensitive species currently under petition for listing under the Endangered Species Act.

1. Reduce cover of priority listed noxious weeds across previously mapped polygons within the Cunningham Wash project area. 2. Prevent further spread of noxious weeds into adjacent sagebrush ecosystems, maintaining and/or reducing the current perimeter of infestation. 3. Re-survey previously mapped infestations to update weed distribution, identify new or expanding infestations, and refine treatment priorities for follow-up years. 4. Support long term habitat quality by maintaining perennial grass forb communities and reducing fine fuel accumulation that contributes to elevated fire risk. 5. Maintain migration connectivity for mule deer and ensure continued functionality of big game, pygmy rabbit, and sage grouse habitat by preventing displacement or loss of understory vegetation. 6. Reduce fine fuel loads and continuity associated with invasive weeds, lowering the risk of high-intensity fire and improving long-term ecosystem health. 7. Support past disturbance restoration and long term sage brush community health by promoting conditions that favor native plant recovery and resisting invasive grass dominance.

The Cunningham Wash project area has been previously mapped and treated under BLM weed control efforts and occurs within landscapes identified as priority habitat in multiple publicly vetted planning frameworks, including BLM Resource Management Plan direction, Utah's Wildlife Action Plan, and state big game conservation strategies. The area functions as a transitional zone between sagebrush-steppe and shrubland communities and supports mule deer migration and seasonal use, elk year-long range, pygmy rabbit habitat, and sage grouse PHMA, making it particularly sensitive to vegetation degradation and invasive species expansion. Funding reductions prevented continuation of contracted herbicide treatments, creating a narrow window in which previously suppressed infestations are at high risk of reinvasion into adjacent intact habitat and movement corridors. Weed mapping and prior treatment data have already identified infestations, allowing treatments to be more precisely targeted within high-value habitat rather than broadly applied. Delaying implementation has already allowed existing infestations to mature and expand beyond mapped polygons. Further delays would continue to allow seed production and expansion, increasing fine fuel continuity and heightened wildfire risk. Implementing treatment sooner is substantially more effective and cost-efficient, preventing further invasive-driven habitat conversion and improving the effectiveness of future control efforts.

- DOI Secretarial Order NO. 3362 - Improving Habitat Quality in Western Big-Game Winter Range and Migration Corridor. Invasive Species management as a core strategy within a larger framework of cooperative conservation to create healthier, more functional habitats for western big game. -DOI Secretarial Order NO. 3336- Rangeland Fire Prevention, Management, and Restoration Invasive species management is a critical component for protecting sagebrush-steppe ecosystem and greater sage grouse habitat and highlights the need for national frameworks for EDRR to halt the spread of invasive species before they become unmanageable. Utah Mule Deer Statewide Management Plan (2025-2030) - Habitat Objective 2: Improve the quality and quantity of vegetation for mule deer on a minimum of 600,000 acres of crucial range by 2030. - Annual weeds such as cheatgrass alter natural fire cycles by increasing fire frequencies, often resulting in shrublands being converted to less productive annual grasslands. - Initiate broad scale vegetative treatment projects to improve and restore mule deer habitat with emphasis on drought or fire damaged sagebrush winter ranges, ranges that have been taken over by invasive annual grass species, and ranges being diminished by encroachment of conifers into sagebrush or aspen habitats, ensuring that seed mixes contain sufficient forbs and browse species. Unit #22 (Beaver) Deer Herd Unit Management Plan (2020) - Maintain or enhance forage production through direct range improvements on winter and summer deer range throughout the unit to achieve population management objectives. - West of I-15 seek opportunities to improve riparian vegetation in fawning habitat to furnish water, cover, and late to mid-summer succulent forage. Utah Wildlife Action Plan (2025 - 2035) - Continue the use of appropriate methods for reducing the spread and dominance of invasive weeds and annual grasses, including early detection and rapid response (EDRR) programs -Utah Noxious Weed Act-supports this proposal through continued removal and control of Scotch Thistle (Class III Weeds) and other noxious weeds by meeting strategic goals and objectives that include protecting the environment, farms, forests, and economy from significant impacts of invasive species by mandating control and prevention measures statewide. -Utah Catastrophic Wildfire Reduction Strategy "Reduce fire risk by managing and removing invasive species."

Noxious weeds significantly increase wildfire risk by creating dense, fine fuels that dry out rapidly and ignite easily. Species such as Scotch thistle and knapweed form continuous flashy fuel beds that carry fire quickly across the landscape and into adjacent intact sagebrush communities. This shifts natural fire behavior toward more frequent, larger, and intense wildfires, creating a negative feedback loop that favors additional weed invasion. As wildfire frequency increases, native perennial grasses and forbs lose competitive advantage, allowing invasive species to expand further and alter long-term fuel structure. These shifts threaten the ecological integrity of sagebrush systems and the animals that depend on it. Ongoing herbicide treatments paired with EDRR in Cunningham Wash are critical to breaking the cycle. Reducing weed cover at the rosette stage will limit fine fuel accumulation, prevent the formation of continuous fuel beds, promote native plant recovery, and protect the resilience of surrounding sagebrush-steppe habitats. By controlling noxious weeds now, this project would help maintain natural fire regimes, protect previous fuels and habitat investments, and reduce the risk of costly future wildfires.

The presence of noxious weeds can directly and indirectly affect both water availability and water quality. Their establishment can alter soil surface stability, increasing erosion rates and sediment delivery into streams, which degrades water quality and reduces overall site productivity. In semi-arid environments where water resources are already limited, these impacts are especially severe. Noxious weeds reduce water quantity by outcompeting native vegetation for soil moisture and by increasing erosion that fills and chokes waterways. This results in degraded wildlife habitat, altered nutrient cycles, and reduced biodiversity. Dense monocultures can also clog washes and drainage corridors, impeding natural hydrologic flow, destabilizing banks, and creating drier soils across a broader area, further diminishing water availability for wildlife and the ecosystems that depend on it. While no major water bodies are present within the project area, the project is within the watershed that contributes to Minersville Reservoir, which is prone to harmful algal blooms. This project would help reduce sedimentation rates to the reservoir, leading towards improved water quality.

In compliance with CCFO Integrated Weed Management EA DOI-BLM-UT-C010-2009-0036 EA In compliance with CCFO PUP UTC010-23-001-EP

The contract will involve three parts: Inventory, treatment, and mapping of noxious weeds. Vegetation treatments will be implemented using a combination of manual and chemical approaches depending on site conditions. Treatments may include hand pulling, truck mounted boom spray, UTV mounted sprayers, or backpack sprayers following state and BLM protocols and label requirements. Priority treatment areas will focus on new and previously mapped weed infestations, wildlife habitat, fuel breaks, and locations where weeds are contributing to erosion or hydrologic disruption. Follow-up treatments will occur as needed to control regrowth, prevent seed production, and treat new infestations.

Post-treatment monitoring will be conducted within the previously mapped polygons to assess treatment effectiveness and determine the need for follow-up actions. Monitoring will include photo points, treatment documentation, and evaluations of weed presence, density, as well as any signs of regrowth. Results will guide adaptive management and inform the timing and type of retreatments. Because early detection and rapid response is critical for long-term control, this area will be revisited annually, with retreatments applied as necessary to prevent re-establishment and spread of noxious weeds.

At this time, there are no formal project partners; however, future coordination and partnership development with adjacent landowners and agencies is anticipated and described in the Future Management section

Long-term management of noxious weeds in the Cunningham Wash project area will rely on continued, recurring treatments to maintain effectiveness and prevent reinfestation. Because these infestations occur within high-value wildlife habitat and along disturbance corridors, annual maintenance is essential to protect ecological function and prevent further spread. The BLM will continue implementing weed control under the existing Pesticide Use Proposal (PUP), contingent on funding availability. BLM will continue to pursue diverse funding avenues to continue this project, including potential future WRI funding requests, as needed to support follow-up treatments, expand control efforts, and ensure that previously treated areas remain in maintenance condition. As long as annual treatments are continued and monitored, negative impacts to habitat quality, ecosystem processes, and the species that rely on this system will be minimized. Continued management will improve long-term landscape resilience and prevent these infestations from expanding beyond current boundaries. This project is currently implemented solely by the BLM, CCFO; however, the project area is adjacent to Utah State Trust Lands and private lands that are similarly impacted by noxious weed infestations. Because invasive species do not recognize administrative boundaries, future coordination with Utah State Trust Lands and willing private landowners will be pursued to improve cross-boundary weed control and long-term effectiveness. Establishing partnerships in future treatment years would allow for more comprehensive landscape-scale management and reduce reinvasion risk into treated BLM lands.

Treatment and inventory of noxious weeds will improve overall watershed health by increasing native cover, promoting biodiversity, and improving habitat. Decreasing occurrence of noxious weeds will allow perennial grasses and forbs to increase and will provide better forage for livestock grazing, improved wildlife habitat for game species, and increasing soil health and function. By controlling noxious weeds in the Cunningham Wash area, this project helps maintain healthy rangeland and sagebrush-steppe ecosystems, directly supporting sustainable uses. Protecting these habitats also supports long-term ecosystem resilience, ensuring continued availability of natural resources for multiple sustainable uses in the region.