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Show Vernal district BLAA summer activities The 1983 season has been characterized by an abundance of moisture, overflowing stream banks and cool temperatures. Range readiness (soil and plant growth conditions con-ditions suitable for grazing) were 2-3 weeks late, according to the July Bureau of Land Management Uintah Basin news letter of the Vernal district. Vegetative production on all the lower desert, semi-desert and upland range areas is now significantly greater than normal, providing unusually abundant forage for livestock and wildlife. The mountain areas are very late with moderate snow banks remaining in some pockets and drift areas. The high mountain areas still have a considerable con-siderable amount of snow and will likely like-ly have a very short season. Scarlet globe mallow, cactus and other wildflowers were picturesque in many desert areas and are still flowering flower-ing in some upland areas. In early spring, purple mustard weed literally exploded in many low range areas and cheatgrass is profuse. A cautionary note is that if hot, dry conditions develop, the additional growth could provide added fuel for wildfires. A common phrase this season is, "I've never seen it greener or the wildflowers better". ASHLEY-DUCHESNE GRAZING ADJUSTMENTS Copies of the Ashley Creek Planning Area Rangeland Program Summary will be sent to grazing permittees in the near future. The document summarizes sum-marizes forage production capacity compared to the numbers of livestock permitted on each grazing allotment of the Ashley Creek and Duchesne Planning Units. It also makes recommendations recom-mendations for increasing forage production pro-duction through improved management manage-ment techniques. It recommends additional five-year confirmation monitoring after which the allowable numbers of livestock are expected to be adjusted up or down on some of the allotments. It is anticipated, an-ticipated, however, that the majority of the allotments will remain unchanged. unchang-ed. The adjustments and recommendations recommen-dations will result in improved long-term long-term forage production and range conservation. con-servation. Part of the increased forage production will be alloted to wildlife BOOKCLIFFS DEER TAGGING Twenty fawn deer were recently captured and equipped with neck collars col-lars containing transmitters in a cooperative study with the Utah Division Divi-sion of Wildlife Resources. This project, pro-ject, in southeatern Uintah County, is designed to provide information on mortality and migration patterns. During the first week after capture, the fawns are monitored daily. As they mature, monitoring is done on a weekly week-ly basis. The radio transmitters have a ' special motality sensing feature which provides an opportunity to determine cause of death. If a transmitter remains re-mains motionless for several hours, a change of tone can be detected. The monitor can then often determine deter-mine what happened before prey species get to the fawn. Most of the monitoring is done from an airplane since the fawns range over a widespread wide-spread area. Capture of the fawns is completed within a few days after birth. Researchers Resear-chers work in pairs while locating and working a fawn. Each animal is weighed and checked for parasites and other possible external problems, and measurements are taken of selected parts of the body. The radio collar is attached and the animal is then released. The operation is almost always completed in a matter of minutes. Special care (including rubber rub-ber gloves) is taken to avoid leaving human scent on the fawn to avoid possible abandoment by the mother. ARCHAELOGY Atchee Ridge Camp BLM temporary tem-porary archaeologist, Larry Negulesco, recently discovered what appears to be an early 20th Century cowsheep camp on Atchee Ridge in southeast Uintah County. The site consists con-sists of several acres of hand-fallen juniper trees arranged to form corrals. cor-rals. There are also long lines of juniper "wing fences" which follow ridge lines V2 to of a mile or more from the main site. Most trees appear to have been fallen by hands using axes and piled in a row to form a variety varie-ty of structures. The artifacts indicate early 20th Century technologies for food preservation, storage and cooking. The periods of occupation are based bas-ed on a small sample of metal artifacts taken from the site and compared to the metal artifact assemblage to the north, in the old townsite of Rainbow Utah. The dates of occupation of this site are known, which facilitates cross dating between the two sites. Jarvie Ranch, Brown's Park Daggett Dag-gett County. One of the first known stores in Brown's Park is being excavated ex-cavated by a team of four temporary BLM archaeologists led by Ms. Pam Smith. The store, built and used by John Jarvic in the late Kith and early 20th centuries, is known only from the 9 memories of long time Brown's Park residents. This is the second summer of excavations ex-cavations by the team, most of whom are unpaid volunteers. To date, the excavations ex-cavations have uncovered the foundations founda-tions of a log cabin with a basement which is believed to have been lived in by John Jarvie, his wife, Nell, and four sons. Stone foundations have also been located under what is tentatively believed to be the store. The foundations founda-tions are of cobbles cemented together and "plates" of soft volcanic ash set together to form a wall. On these have been found hewn timbers. Artifacts located to date include bottled fragments of a variety of functions whose dates cluster around 1880's and 1915-20 periods. Most metal, ceramic and glass artifacts are extremely fragmentary, many smaller than a dime. The BLM plans to restore the building to a "period appearance" as specific details are lacking as to the store's exact characteristics. |