Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest State of the Forest Report For The Uinta National Forest Planning Area Fiscal Year 2003-2010 September 2011 Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest ii Introduction and Purpose On April 7, 2003, Intermountain Regional Forester Jack Troyer signed the Record of Decision approving the Uinta National Forest’s 2003 Land and Resource Management Plan (2003 Forest Plan). The 2003 Forest Plan has been amended 4 times and corrected 7 times since it was approved: 2003 Uinta Forest Plan Amendments # Title Date 1 Winter Motor Vehicle Use Opportunities August 10, 2007 2 Wild and Scenic River Suitability February 14, 2009 3 West-Wide Energy Corridor February 14, 2009 4 Oil and Gas Leasing February 11, 2011 2003 Uinta Forest Plan Errata/Corrections 1 Standard ROS-2 (Clarify that a Site-Specific Analysis Is Required Prior to November 12, 2004 Changing Travel Routes for ROS implementation) 2 Rangeland Capability Water Criterion November 27, 2006 3 Standard M&E-1 (Withdrawal of Developed Recreation and Administrative November 27, 2006 Sites From Mineral Entry) 4 Guideline WL&F-6 (Sage Grouse Habitat Protection Dates) November 27, 2006 5 Objective-3-2 (Allowable Sale Quantity) June 28, 2010 6 Standard Timber-15 (maximum harvest opening size) June 28, 2010 7 Class III RHCA criteria September 10, 2010 The State of the Forest Report is intended to help National Forest managers, other agency managers, and the public evaluate environmental conditions and trends, and the effects of Uinta National Forest land management activities and supporting programs. Note: In March 2008 the Uinta National Forest and the Wasatch-Cache National Forest were combined into one administrative unit. Each of these Forests is still operating under individual Forest Plans approved in 2003. When the term Uinta National Forest is used it refers to the portion of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest covered by the2003 Forest Plan referenced above. The Forest Plan identifies the Desired Future Condition (DFC) for the resources on the Forest, and establishes goals and objectives, standards and guidelines, and a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan. This State of the Forest Report reviews the questions in the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (Chapter 6 in the Forest Plan) and summarizes the monitoring completed from the time the Forest Plan was approved thru Fiscal Year 2010 (4/7/2003 – 9/30/2010). This Report evaluates this data to determine if the Forest is making progress toward or meeting those goals and objectives, and/or appropriately applying Forest Plan direction. This report is made available to the public by posting on the Forest’s web page. Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest iii Each indicator has a different monitoring and reporting frequency based on the characteristics of the indicator. The reporting frequency is in parentheses following the indicator. In some cases, interim data collected has been included in this report for information purposes. This data will be compiled and analyzed in its entirety at a later date. The State of the Forest Report is intended to help National Forest managers, other agency managers, and the public evaluate environmental conditions and trends, and the effects of Uinta National Forest land management activities and supporting programs. 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Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest iv State of the Forest Report for the Uinta National Forest Planning Area – Fiscal Year 2003 thru 2010 September 2011 1. Are Forest management activities affecting Management Indicator Species, and what are the population trends and habitat relationships? DFC: As required by the planning regulations, each National Forest, through its Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan), must identify species to be used to evaluate and monitor management practices. These species serve as ecological indicators of the effects of management actions on communities. A description of each of these species and the communities they represent is included with the monitoring data. Indicator Monitoring In addition to being a MIS, northern goshawk is also classified as sensitive by the Forest Service’s Intermountain Region. This species is widely distributed throughout North America and Eurasia. Goshawks are typically permanent residents or short-distance migrants, and are widely distributed throughout the mountainous areas of Utah. Goshawks are broadly associated with forested vegetation types on the Forest; occurring in aspen, spruce/fir, Douglas-fir/white fir, and forested riparian types. Goshawks nest in relatively dense, mature stands, and forage in a variety of habitat types, including open habitats and early-seral vegetation types. They prey on a wide variety of birds and small mammals. Most common prey species include woodpeckers, jays, grouse, snowshoe hares, and red squirrels. Goshawk populations on the Forest Northern Goshawk: are most likely to be potentially impacted by timber, fire, and vegetation management activities. a. Goshawk territory activity (annually In March of 2000 a Decision Notice (DN) for the “Utah Northern Goshawk Project Environmental survey at least one Assessment” (EA) was approved. This EA was developed to respond to “Conservation Strategy and third of known Agreement for the Management of Northern Goshawk Habitat in Utah” (USDAFS1998a). This DN amended territories and post the 1984 Uinta Forest Plan, and included monitoring territory occupancy as an indicator of goshawk the results; evaluate population trends as percent territory occupancy is assumed to be positively correlated with goshawk trends/results every population abundance. The direction relative to goshawk management and monitoring was carried forward five years). and incorporated into the 2003 Forest Plan. Data collected after approval of the DN is used as a baseline. b. Habitat conditions In 2010 it became clear that the terms “active” and “occupied” were being applied to both nests and (every 5 years) territories. To eliminate the confusion between occupied territories and active nests, all datasheets were reviewed and the analyses corrected to reflect the differences between the two. a. Goshawk Territory Activity: Subgoal-2-33 in the 2003 Forest Plan describes the desired intention for goshawk territory activity: “Maintain occupation and/or use of known active northern goshawk” … "nest sites during vegetation treatment project activities.” (pg. 2-10) The Forest Plan also contains standards and guidelines (i.e., WL&F-8, WL&F-9, WL&F-10) designed to achieve this by protecting goshawks in critical areas/seasons. (pg. 3-11 thru 3-12) Uinta National Forest 1 State of the Forest Report for the Uinta National Forest Planning Area – Fiscal Year 2003 thru 2010 September 2011 Indicator Monitoring For this monitoring item, the Forest Plan notes that projects in potential habitat are surveyed, and that known territories have been monitored for activity. The Forest Plan states that the monitoring frequency for this item is that at least 33% of known territories be monitored annually.(pg., 6-5) FY2003 – FY2010: The number of known territories has changed over time. New territories were identified and added in 2004 (D02T07), 2005 (D02T08), and 2008 (D53T11). Territories were removed from the list in 2008 (D08T04) and 2010 (D02T06) after monitoring indicated they had remained unoccupied for 7 consecutive years. As of 2010, there are 14 known territories on the Forest. Results of territory occupancy monitoring are summarized in the following table: Goshawk Territory Occupancy Monitoring Results – Uinta National Forest Year 20011/ 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Known Territories 12 13 13 14 15 15 15 15 15 14 Territories Monitored 11 12 12 13 14 14 12 14 14 11 Occupied Territories 6 8 4 6 9 4 5 5 6 6 % of Monitored Territories 55% 67% 33% 46% 64% 29% 42% 36% 43% 55% Occupied Adjusted Occupied Territories 6.0 6.7 3.4 4.3 5.6 2.5 4.2 3.1 3.7 6.0 1/ Adjusted Occupied Territories = [# territories occupied current year / # territories monitored current year] *[# territories monitored in 2001 / # territories monitored current year] * # territories monitored in 2001 Because the number and specific territories monitored each year has changed from year to year, territory occupancy was adjusted to 2001 occupied territories based on the difference in numbers of territories monitored. The baseline used was the 2001 territory occupancy of 6 known occupied territories. Adjusting to the 2001 occupied territories there has been as high as 6.7 occupied territories in 2002 and a low of 2.5 in 2006. Goshawk territory occupancy has fluctuated over time (see the