After more than a decade of evaluations and reports, the U.S. Forest Service has received funding for a habitat restoration project in the Vernon area.
The Forest Service of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest announced earlier this week that a half-dozen partnered agencies have received more than $100,000 to improve habitat and mitigate wildfire threats in what is being called the Lion Hill project.
Those agencies include the Forest Service, the National Resources Conservation Service and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
The Forest Service will use the funds to down junipers on 1,600 acres just west of Vernon and to reseed the cleared areas with native plants to prevent the invasion of cheat grass, said Lanson Savast, a fuel specialist with the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest.
He said the project, which will take a few months to complete, is expected to take place sometime this summer.
The Lion Hill project will improve habitat for sage grouse and mule deer, improve grazing for local ranchers, and remove fire hazards that threaten private property in the Vernon area, Savast said.
He said large stands of junipers tend to burn especially hot during wildfires, clearing patches of ground that then allow nonnative weeds, such as cheat grass, to move into the area. That destroys the sage grouse’s natural habitat, he said, because the birds need the natural sage steppe vegetation to survive.
The sage grouse is a candidate species that is currently being considered for protection under the Endangered Species Act. A possible decision on that candidacy is expected later this year.