BLM Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative Project

archived

Project Background Information: This is a continuation of an existing BLM Agreement L09AC15597 that will be expiring June 30, 2014. BLM would like to continue working with Utah Division of Wildlife Resource (UDWR) and other state and federal partners through UDWR to continue with this highly successful partnership. Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative is a partnership-driven effort to conserve, restore and manage ecosystems in priority areas across the state to enhance Utah¿s: Wildlife and biological diversity; water quality; and yield for all uses and Opportunities for sustainable uses. The continuation of this project is necessary to sure up the foundation of Utahs Watershed Restoration Initiative (UWRI) (wri.utah.gov). This 10 year old initiative has transformed the way federal and state partners in Utah plan and implement restoration, including in many cases, emergency fire rehabilitation. By sharing resources and planning projects across ownership boundaries, millions of dollars have been saved and over one million acres have been successfully restored. Projects are individually presented and vetted through five regional teams consisting of resource professionals with hundreds of years of combined restoration experience. These regional teams serve to increase the effectiveness and value of each project. Teams work together to combine efforts with other agencies and private landowners. Funding sources are applied to eligible portions of each project at a state level, allowing implementation at a larger and more effective scale. UWRIs success includes the pooling of funding so that contracts and seed resources can be combined and applied across ownership boundaries, UDWR facilitates this process. Project Objective: The objective of this project is the maintenance and improvement of public lands renewable resources to provide improved vegetation cover, vigor and composition, water quantity and quality to provide clean and available water, soil stability to reduce the amount and sources of erosion, stabilize and rehabilitate areas burned by wildfire and reduce the risk from wildfire to communities, high value habitats and watersheds. The public will benefit from this project by improved and consistent recreational and consumptive benefits, a diversity of wildlife species for viewing, hunting and enhancing the natural biological diversity. Water quantity and quality will provide clean and available water for agricultural uses, recreation and consumption. Soil stability contributes to the availability of stabile soils for agricultural, recreational and domestic uses. The public also benefits from Hazardous fuels reduction and burned area emergency stabilization and rehabilitation efforts that result in increased public and firefighter safety as well as reduced risk to communities from wildland fire, floods and other events that frequently follow wildfires

High