In 2005 the USDA Forest Service (USFS) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) entered into a Challenge Cost Share Agreement. The general intent of the Agreement was to generate neutral scientific information in support of National Forest Plan revisions, and/or support of planning for project-level activities, on four National Forests in southern and eastern Utah – Dixie, Fishlake, Manti-La Sal and Ashley. Initial work by TNC and the Forests was very productive, resulting in identification of potential Species of Concern and Species of Interest under the Species Diversity section (43.2) of the 2005 Planning Rule. Attention was about to turn to Ecosystem Diversity (sec. 43.1) when the work became dormant upon challenge to the 2005 Planning Rule.
In February 2009 the Conservancy revived this Agreement, working on the Dixie and Fishlake National Forests to refine an approach to landscape-level vegetation modeling and treatment analyses that those two Forests had already done internally several years prior. This current effort provides the opportunity to improve on that earlier work, in terms of better-quality data sources and advances in modeling and treatment analysis tools.
The purpose of this current project is to inform and guide the development of specific, cost-effective vegetation management strategies to maintain, enhance or restore the ecological integrity of lands in the Dixie and Fishlake National Forests. Special emphasis was placed on one District of each Forest: the Fremont River Ranger District (Fishlake) and the Powell Ranger District (Dixie); this report covers the Fremont River Ranger District (the “District”). The current interplay of socioeconomic and resource-management issues on the District is complex and challenging. An approach is needed that includes both adequate scientific rigor and the ability to identify specific sets of treatment projects (among many possibilities) that have optimal value, or return-on-investment, toward improving ecological conditions.
Photo of Aquarius paintbrush and subalpine meadow. Copyright Joel. S. Tuhy, 1990.