C150347 Feasibility Study - Laserfiche WebLink

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Native or Naturalized Plant Communities There are no known occurrences of Threatened or Endangered (TE) plants in or near the burn area, and no undetected occurrences are suspected. Overall, there are no anticipated threats to TE plant species due to possible erosion, sedimentation, or other fire- or fire - suppression related impacts. The canal -side site of Ute ladies - tresses on non - federal land is not expected to be impacted by any treatment options. Multiple sites of several sensitive plants and species of local concern are known to occur in the burn area. Most sites occur in rocky areas or ridges, and some plants are anticipated to have burned during the fire or to be adversely impacted by habitat alteration in the short-term. It is probable that many plants survived, and that most sites would not experience long -term reduced viability with return to pre -burn conditions, including return of pollinators. None were impacted by fire suppression activities. No Emergency was determined for Native or Naturalized Plant Communities. Range and Weeds Several areas with known weed infestations were noted in the field: Young Gulch Trail (several species including leafy spurge burned at moderate to high soil burn severities), the area at CR27 and Highway 14 (several species including leafy spurge burned at light soil burn severity), riparian meadows near Fish Creek trailhead (yellow toadflax burned at patchy light soil burn severity to no burn), campgrounds along Highway 14 (unburned). On the Hewlett Fire, the fire did not burn the west side of the Hewlett Gulch trail. The High Park Fire took care of this and the entire trail is burned mostly at light soil burn severity. In the Swan Range Allotment, the burn was variable, but the West pasture appeared to be more moderately burned than the Middle pasture. The spring developments sustained light damage and the fences sustained moderate to heavy damage. In the Bennett Creek Allotment, the burned area east of Pingree Park Road occurs in steep and timbered terrain generally not grazed by livestock; therefore, most of the utilizable rangeland occurring on the rest of the allotment was unaffected. The Camman Spring survived. No emergency structural or management measures are needed on either allotment to protect recovering areas from grazing. Timing and intensity of grazing in 2013 will be monitored and addressed through the grazing permit administration process. The fire burned approximately 6,000 acres of private rangeland with a potential loss of 1,600 Animal Unit Months of forage. Since the severity of the burn in these areas ranged from light to moderate they should recover fully within a year or two. However, seeding and mulching might be needed in those private rangeland areas as well as other areas, where noxious weeds have been identified or are a concern, as part of an overall integrated weed management plan to provide competition to keep the weeds from re- establishing and or expanding their range on private lands. Many feet of private pasture fencing was lost in the fire requiring a great deal of labor and expense to replace. This fencing has to be replaced so that livestock can graze again and have their grazing controlled to maintain or improve the rangeland health, protect riparian areas and allow for the use of livestock as a biological control for some of the weed species. Animal hoof action will also play a key role in speeding up the process of reducing the hydrophobicity of the soil. Livestock watering facilities were lost and will also have to be rebuilt to provide dependable, clean water for both livestock and incidental use by wildlife. It is likely that existing weed infestations will increase, particularly in moderate to high soil burn High Park Fire Emergency Stabilization Plan Page 13