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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />o <br />..", <br />en <br />N <br /> <br />Tamarisk Work Group was formed with participants representing local, state, and federal <br />governments as well as private owners along the river. The objective of the group is the <br />eradication of tamarisk on the Virgin River. They are presently preparing a management plan. <br /> <br />Utah <br /> <br />The Kanab Resource Area office entered into agreement with Kane County Water Conservancy <br />District for several cooperative projects to improve watershed conditions in Kanab Creek, <br />Johnson Canyon, and Paria River Drainages. Under terms of agreement. BLM contributed <br />$30.000 to KCWCD toward project work. KCWCD does the project planning and NEPA <br />documentation. Projects so far include repairs to existing flood control struciures in Butler <br />Valley in the Paria River Drainage. <br /> <br />In 1997, The Kanab office burned 800 acres in the Paria River Drainage as a continuation of the <br />Skutumpah Bum Prescribed Fire Project started in 1996. Also in the Paria River Drainage, 350 <br />acres burned in a 1996 wildfire were rehabed on Buckskin Mountain. <br /> <br />About 175 acres of public land and additional state and private acreage were chained along Trail <br />Canyon in the Virgin River Drainage. This is the continuation of chaining activity initiated in <br />1996 under the Muddy Creek Watershed Project, which is a cooperative effort with Natural <br />Resources Conservation Service, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, private land owners, and <br />BLM. <br /> <br />Also in 1997, 100 acres sagebrush and 100 acres of pinyon/juniper were chopped and cleared in <br />the Pine Springs Brush and Spencer Bench areas of the Kanab Creek Drainage. This was done <br />in cooperation with livestock operators and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to increase <br />herbaceous cover and to implement an agreement in which the participant receives fuel wood in <br />exchange for reseeding the site. <br /> <br />The Richfield District awarded an $8,500 contract in FY 97, to reconstruct a protective fence at <br />the Meadow Gulch Erosion Control Dike. Since 1984, the BLM has spent $23,000 in capital <br />investment and approximately $31,000 in maintenance on this dike facility, which accounts for a <br />reduction of salt to the Colorado River of up to 27 tons/year. The District also completed <br />maintenance on two silt free reservoirs damaged by heavy spring run-off. Both reservoirs are <br />on drainages that are tributary to Lake Powell (Colorado River) and contribute to a salt <br />reduction estimated at between IO to 20 tons per year. <br /> <br />The Moab Field Office achieved an estimated salt savings of 121 tons per year through the <br />successful abandonment of the Walker Flat Well, at a cost of about $32,000. <br /> <br />Moab's Comb Wash Interdisciplinary Watershed Management Plan and EA were completed in <br />draft during FY 97 and will go out for public comment in October 1997. When implemented <br />over the next IO to 15 years, the interdisciplinary management strategy should result in <br />noticeable reduction in salt contribution from over 100.000 acres that comprise entire Comb <br />Wash watershed. Although erosion and sedimentation should be reduced significantly, salinity <br />savings cannot be quantified at this time. <br /> <br />14 <br /> <br />_,:I.:, <br /> <br />