Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative Mule Deer

1. Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative Mule Deer

2. Statewide Mule Deer Plan • Habitat Objective 1: Maintain mule deer habitat throughout the state by protecting and enhancing existing crucial habitats and mitigating for losses due to natural and human impacts. • Habitat Objective 2: Improve the quality and quantity of vegetation for mule deer on a minimum of 500,000 acres of crucial range by 2013.

3. What is Mule Deer Habitat Food - What do Mule Deer Eat? Summer Range/Transitional Range - Succulent Grasses and Flowering Plants for Fawn Production, Growth and Survival Winter Range - Shrubs, Particularly Sagebrush for Winter Survival Water – Mule Deer Rarely Travel far from Water Cover - Ideal Mule Deer Habitat also Includes Thermal and Escape Cover with openings providing forage and feeding areas.

4. Mule Deer Habitat - Threats • Loss and Degradation of Habitat Due to - • Human Population Expansion/Development • Pinyon-Juniper Woodland Expansion • Drought • Catastrophic Wildfire • Invasive Species • Conifer Expansion into Aspen

5. UWRI Background • Locally Led Teams Develop and Implement Projects Designed to Enhance Utah’s • Wildlife and Biological Diversity • Water Quality and Yield for all Uses • Opportunities for Sustainable Uses • Partners Include: USFS, BLM, SITLA, USFWS, NRCS, NPS, UDAF, Farm Services Agency, Private Landowners, Sportsman Groups, Academia, Local Governments, Industry, Etc. A Partnership Driven Effort to Conserve, Restore and Manage Ecosystems in Priority Areas Across the State

6. UWRI Focus Areas

7. Mule Deer Habitat Restoration Techniques Slow and/or Reverse Habitat Threats

8. Dixie Harrow

9. Chain Harrow

10. Dixie Harrow

11. Lop and Scatter

12. Lop and Scatter

13. Lop and Scatter

14. Ely Chaining

15. Bullhog

16. Bullhog

17. Bullhog

18. Water Development

19. Fire Rehabilitation

20. 7,450 1,850 10,029 11,379 Northeastern Region Mule Deer Projects ’05-’10 19,752 2,060 1,615 3,445 28,387 85,967 Total Acres

21. ’05-’10 1,384 3,857 10,595 121 4,972 2,164 20 4,283 7,518 1,178 Central Region Mule Deer Projects 46,265 Total Acres 10,173

22. 94 10,577 500 7,805 Southeastern Region Mule Deer Projects ‘05-’10 654 2,516 5,556 38,208 Total Acres 8,227 2,279

23. 85 66,874 Total Acres 6,794 58,296 199 1,140 230 75 Northern Region Mule Deer Projects ‘05-’10 55

24. 82 127 Southern Region Mule Deer Projects ‘05-’10 27,029 2,075 11,478 14,701 3,107 7,688 40,621 2,345 6,321 1,822 8,955 161,953 Total Acres 18,802 2,735 75 13,990

25. Results – 2005-2010 • $63 Million Dollars Spent Statewide for Mule Deer • 400,000+ Acres Treated Statewide for Mule Deer • 70+ Water Development Projects • It’s Not Just About Dollars and Acres • DWR Has Taken a Leadership Role in UWRI • Resulting in Wildlife Benefit

26. UWRI Monitoring • Wildlife Monitoring Crew • Big Game Response • Passerine Birds • Small Mammal Trapping • Threatened and Endangered Species Response • Vegetation Monitoring Crew • Measures Vegetative Composition • Seeding Success • Browse Characteristics • Both Crews Compare Treated w/ Untreated Sites

28. http://wildlife.utah.gov/watersheds