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 Powell Ranger District (Dixie) and the Fremont River Ranger District (Fishlake).

The Powell Ranger District (District) supports a diversity of ecosystems in the higher-elevation country of south-central Utah. The District encompasses approximately 375,000 acres of largely undeveloped lands whose great physical diversity supports a large array of biotic habitats and species. Many decades of meeting multiple-use needs of people, coupled with underlying ecological functioning and disturbance regimes, provide opportunities to improve watershed health and restore resilient ecosystems through proactive collaboration across landscapes. 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 Paunsaugunt Plateau (c)Joel S. Tuhy, 1998

Project managers: Joel Tuhy, Louis Provencher, Greg Low