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Show J A combined Bureau cf Land Management and Utah Division cf Wildlife Resources project brought two crews of the Flame N Go Hot Shots to Sage Hen Hollow between Panguitch and Hatch to remove young pinyon and juniper trees. The recent project goal is to protect valuable rangelands for sagegroush and pronghorns. Rangelands Improved Near Hatch By Norman McKee Convicts sighted in the hills! Yes. Ajailbreak! No. Actually, a lot of planning went into having 37 Utah State Prison inmates camping and working in our area last week. And what a week it was! Snow, rain, wind and some of everything you don't want when trying to camp out in the elements. A combined Bureau of Land Management and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources project brought two crews of the Flame N Go Hot Shots to an area between Panguitch and Hatch known as Sage Hen Hollow. Hol-low. When the highly skilled wildfire wild-fire specialists are not fighting fires, they often help out on conservation con-servation projects. The intent in this case was to remove as many young pinyon and juniper trees as possible with the allotted time and money. The first week of April found one of the crews doing similar work west of Mt. Carmel on an area that had been chained to remove trees in the 1960's. So why remove trees? Most people like trees. The real answer relates to how much of Utah low- lands have become populated with extensive forests of pinyon and juniper trees. The early settlers did not find the valleys and foothills covered with trees as we see them now. The foothills were largely dryland grasslands with an inter-spersion inter-spersion of forbs and shrubs, such as sagebrush. Decades of heavy grazing and fire control have allowed al-lowed extensive plant succession to occur. Where once was a diversity of grasses, shrubs, and forbs, now only an ever increasing forest of pinyon and juniper trees exist. As the trees dominate the sites, the other varieties of plants needed as forage for wildlife and livestock are crowded out, eventually leaving the ground barren of cover and prone to increased erosion of soils. Several options are available to restore rangelands ran-gelands to production. Prescribed fire is the most cost effective. However, without ground litter, many areas that need attention won't burn or have facilities or other resources that prevent the use of fire. Chaining is very effective and can be controlled. Remnants of (See HOT SHOTS On Page 3-A) HOT SHOTS From Front Page valuable shrub populations are usually usu-ally not eliminated as with fire. Several environmental organizations organiza-tions are adamantly opposed to chaining. The method is now only rarely used on public lands. Chemical treatment can kill unwanted un-wanted vegetation. It also is rarely used on public lands due to environmental envi-ronmental restrictions. Handcutting is the most controlled and site-specific site-specific method available. Unfortunately, Unfor-tunately, it is very expensive. Last week's project cost nearly $20,000. Approximately 720 acres were treated. Mostly only young trees were cut. They were removed from areas where trees are just starting to establish. They had yet to dominate and dry out the area enough to crowd out the other species of plants. The Flame N Go's have assisted on other similar tree cutting cut-ting projects in Kane and Garfield Counties. South of Panguitch two such sites can be seen from the highway. Deer are making an increasing in-creasing use of the those areas. The recent project goal is to protect valuable rangelands for sage grouse and pronghorns. Livestock, deer and elk will also benefit. Sage grouse are presently listed as a Utah sensitive species because of the decline of populations in recent decades. Loss of habitat due to the encroachment of pinyon and juniper juni-per trees is one important factor for their decline. UDWR funding for this and other projects in the area has largely came from the Habitat Authorization Program. All funds are derived from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses. Other important impor-tant funding for many of the area rangeland wildlife projects has come from the U. S. Forest Service, Bureau Bu-reau of Land Management, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, National Wild Turkey Foundation, The Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Foundation Founda-tion and the Natural Resource Conservation Con-servation Service. Many, many more projects need to be done! |