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Southwest Basin Forestry Strategic Funding Pool

Addressing wildfire hazard from biomass accumulation and plant structure and composition.

Project Description

Native vegetation fuels have been increasing on Cedar Mountain, and Quaking Aspen plant communities have been steadily changing to mature stands dominated by conifers. This change of plant composition and fuel density has added to the risk of catastrophic wildfire risk as well as degrading opportunities for grazing, timber harvest, water for communities and recreation. 

There have been several major catastrophic fires in the area in recent years. These catastrophic fires have been devastating for natural resources such as watersheds, wildlife, soils, and vegetation. The intent of this proposal is to reduce fuels, increase Aspen sprouting and increase plant diversity in the treated area. The goal is to treat approximately 100 to 200 acres each year.

Southwest Basin Forestry Strategic Funding Pool map
  • County or Counties: Iron and Washington Counties
  • Year active: FY 2022
  • Duration: 5 years

Partners

Utah Department of Natural Resources – Division of Forestry Fire and State Lands, U.S. Forest Service, Utah Department of Agriculture and Food,

Conservation practices involved

  • Herbaceous Weed Treatment (315)
  • Fence (382)
  • Woody Residue Treatment (384)
  • Firebreak (394)
  • Obstruction Removal (500)
  • Livestock Pipeline (516)
  • Prescribed Grazing (528)
  • Pumping Plant (533)
  • Range Planting (550)
  • Spring Development (574)
  • Channel Bed Stabilization (584)
  • Watering Facility (614)
  • Restoration of Rare or Declining Natural Communities (643)
  • Upland Wildlife Habitat Management (645)
  • Structures for Wildlife (649)
  • Forest Stand Improvement (666)
  • TA Planning (910)
  • TA Design (911)
  • TA Application (912)
  • TA Check-Out (913)

When to Apply

Program applications are accepted on a continual basis. However, NRCS establishes application ranking dates for evaluation, ranking and approval of eligible applications. Applications received after the ranking date will be automatically deferred to the next funding period. 


Local Working Group Meetings

Every year, NRCS hosts Local Working Group meetings where farmers, landowners, conservation partners and other members of the community discuss the natural resource needs for the county. Based on feedback from those meetings, NRCS updates the county's Local Resources Assessment Priorities (LRAP) and develops new Conservation Implementation Strategies to address those resource concerns. You may contact us anytime to express concerns or comments about conservation needs in the county, and we encourage you to attend the next Local Working Group meeting in your county. For more information about Local Working Group meetings, contact your local NRCS office, or visit our Utah State Technical Committee page. 

 

Locally Led Conservation

At the Natural Resources Conservation Service of Utah, we understand effectively partnering with our local, county and state agencies and organizations is paramount to our mission of conserving our natural resources and helping people help the land. Utah’s diverse landscape and resource needs require strategic funding and focused efforts to support locally led conservation on the ground.

Learn more about Utah's Focused Opportunities and how NRCS is utilizing SFPs to target locally identified high priority natural resource concerns and work toward a desired outcome.