The 2008 Joint Meeting of the Society for Range Management and the America Forage and Grassland Council. |
Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 9:00 AM
Utah's Watershed Restoration Initiative
Curtis W. Warrick, U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Utah State Office, 440 West 200 South Suite 500, Salt lake City, UT 84101
Initiated in 2003, Utah BLM, in cooperation with the Utah Partners for Conservation and Development, has conducted vegetation manipulation projects on approximately 500,000 acres of watersheds on the public lands across the state. The aim is to improve the health and functionality of Utah ’s watersheds. The majority of those improved acres required vegetation manipulation and reseeding. Initial habitat assessments, project coordination, and NEPA analysis were accomplished by BLM. Actual on-the-ground project construction and follow-up monitoring assessments have been accomplished with a variety of partners including (but not limited to) the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Utah State University Extension, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife and numerous private landowners and livestock grazing permittees. Vegetation restoration methods included the removal of encroaching juniper through hand-cutting or mechanical treatments such as bull hog or brush hogs, Dixie harrow treatments, green stripping to reduce fire hazard, and various other methods depending on the physical and biological characteristics of each individual site. Total investments by all partners involved in this statewide initiative total approximately $25 million. The improvements, completed on State, Federal and Private lands, will increase water quality/quantity, maximize biodiversity, sustain working farms and ranches, and provide recreational/economic uses and opportunities.
The efforts are unprecedented in BLM and perhaps anywhere in the Western United States.