LOGAN – Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative (WRI) was busy this year trying to improve and restore high-priority watersheds and habitats in 168,000 acres throughout the state. Some 23,245 of those acres were burned by wildfire. The rest of the work was habitat restoration work to prevent issues.
This year Utah’s Water Shed Restoration Initiative improved and restored 168,000 acres throughout the state.
The partnership-based program was set up to improve high priority watersheds throughout the state partnering with other organizations.
There are five regional teams that elect their own leaders, establish focus areas, review, score and rank project proposals using a comprehensive project prioritization score sheet, and assist their members in implementing projects.
Since its creation in 2006, WRI has focused on improving three ecosystem values:
1) Watershed Health and Biological Diversity
2) Water Quality and Yield
3) Opportunities for sustainable uses of natural resources
In Cache and Rich counties during this cycle, aspen communities were restored by removing conifer trees from within the aspen stands on 485 acres and they completed timber surveys in the Swan Flat and Franklin Basin areas of the Logan Ranger district.
At Utah’s Dry Fork Fire Stabilization project, they have installed stream structures to slow the flow of water to capture sediment and reduce downcutting. Phase 2 of the project will include maintaining the existing structures, adding new structures, and using other stabilization methods.
In August, a fire burned approximately 1,400 acres across the Bureau of Land Management and private lands across the Dry Fork drainage and up to the right river bank of Randolph Creek which contains Bonneville Cutthroat Trout, a sensitive fish species.
Specialists from BLM determined Dry Fork and Randolph Creek needed stabilization measures due to the impact of the fire. The objectives of this project included: (1) increase channel-floodplain connectivity, (2) Slow the flow of water and sediment transport, (3) reduce channel incision, (4) increase groundwater tables and water storage, (5) convert single-threaded channels to multi-threaded channels, (6) and recover and sustain natural habitat forming processes.
The organizations hope they can increase riverscape resiliency and improve habitat conditions for wildlife and riparian vegetation.
“These proactive projects to improve wildlife habitat and watershed health throughout the state are crucial, not only for our fish and wildlife species, but also for the residents of Utah,” Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative Program Director Tyler Thompson said. “It takes a great deal of coordination and funding to make these projects possible, and we are very grateful to our many partners and their continued support of wildlife conservation and improving water quality.”
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources plays a key role in planning, overseeing and implementing regional restoration projects.
Over $48 million in funding was invested by more than 80 partners to pay for the different restoration projects. Part of the funding for these projects comes from the DWR Habitat Council, which is funded by a portion of revenue from the fees that customers pay for licenses, permits, stamps and certificates of registration. Other funding partners include the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, conservation groups and many other non-government organizations.
Habitat work through Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative includes:
- Aerial seeding after wildfires.
- Removing encroaching trees for sagebrush preservation and rangeland fire management.
- Prescribed fires to reduce fire fuels in an area (which reduces the risk of a catastrophic wildfire) and to enhance the aspen habitat used by many wildlife species.
- Stream restoration through various techniques, including an innovative method of building artificial beaver dams. This unique dam-mimicking technique was conceptualized in Utah and decreases erosion, raises river levels and even improves water quality.
- Planting shrubs and sagebrush to provide feed and shelter for mule deer, sage-grouse and other wildlife species.
In August fire burned approximately 1,400 acres across the Bureau of Land Management and private lands across the Dry Fork drainage and up to the river right bank of Randolph Creek
In the restoration process WRI mixed and spread 442,572 pounds of seed on various landscapes including those burned by fires) across Utah. They also completed a total of 148 habitat restoration projects and Improved 119 miles of streams while creating an estimated 835 jobs in the state.
This program has improved nearly 2.7 million acres of Utah’s landscapes since 2006 through more than 2,800 restoration projects.