WMOD00314

• Project Name: Uintah Ecology Project
• Title: Potential Ecological Impacts of Snowpack Augmentation in the Uintah Mountains, Utah
• Date: 4/20/1981
• State: UT
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

fungal species, and over 800 known species of algae (Harper et al.

1978). No endangered plants are known in the Uinta Mountains, but six

plants that have been legally designated as threatened (Federal Register

40 (125), part V, pages 27880-27883, July 1, 1975) do occur in the area.

Species designated as threatened are:

Cryptantha stricta (Osterh.) Payson (Erect Cryptantha)

Mertensia viridis var. ~ (Rydb.) L. O. Williams (Green Bluebell)

~. viridis var. ,dilata (A. Ne1s.) L. O. Williams (Green Bluebell)

. i(
Parrya rydbergii Botsch. (Rydberg's Parrya) .

Penstemon acaulis L. O. Williams (Stemless Penstemon)

P. uintahensis Pennell (Uinta Penstemon)

Welsh (1978) continues to recognize these taxa as threatened even though

he has recommended removing 36 entities from the endangered and threatened

lists published for Utah in 1975 by the Fish and Wildlife Service.

ANIMAL RESOURCES

The invertebrate animals of the Uintas are not well known. The mountain

pine bark beetle (Dendroctonus monticola - family Scolytidae) may exert a

greater economic impact on the Uinta Mountains than any other wild animal

occurring there. Vertebrate animals of the area are well known and include

22 species of fish, 8 amphibians, 15 reptiles, 82 mammal species and 186

speices of birds (Harper et al. 1978). Domestic animals that regularly forage

on the range include cattle, horses, and sheep.

Big game hunting is a major activity on the Uintas. The range supports

the largest of Utah's three moose herds (Wilson 1971 and Babcock 1977) and large

elk and deer herds. In 1976, 45 bull moose were harvested on the Uintas

(John and Fair 1977). The range also provided a harvest of 791 elk in 1976,

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