On the Ground in Southern Utah’s Three National Forests (Back to Forests Program Index)

2006 Sage Grouse Assessment

	Grassland on Wildcat Knolls, Manti-La Sal NF Click on image to see larger photo.

For some time scientists have theorized that greater sage grouse habitat conditions in southern Utah’s three national forests have been deteriorating. Sage grouse need insects, and tall grass and forbs (non-woody, broad-leaved plants) near sagebrush for cover during spring nesting; forbs and access to water near sagebrush during late summer; and snow-free sagebrush during winter.

With advice from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and independent wildlife biologists, those areas sage grouse currently use during one or more seasons were located in order to attempt to determine whether habitat conditions were indeed deteriorating. Using a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Trust hired an expert Utah botanist to help us assess three-season conditions for greater sage grouse in six regions in or near the Dixie, Fishlake, and Manti-La Sal National Forests

The data analysis and report are not yet complete. However, preliminary indications are that lack of grass and forb understory in sagebrush areas, and access to water near sagebrush, may be what most limits sage grouse population growth in these areas. Livestock in most of these areas heavily graze the sagebrush understory, often leaving nothing but bare ground under and between the sagebrush.

In the end, we hope the report will encourage the Forest Service to pay as much attention to the native vegetation beneath and between sagebrush as they currently pay to the density of sagebrush itself.

“Speaking for the Forests” Story Project

Horseshoe Lake © Ray Wheeler 2006 Click image to see larger photo

Speaking for the Forests is a project to gather and publish graphics-rich stories about the native wildlife, plants, ecosystems, and natural processes of Utah’s three southern national forests.

Many people – including artists, scientists, citizen-scientists, photographers, long-time local residents, and other frequent visitors -- are familiar with, love, and can tell fascinating stories about particular natural aspects of the Dixie, Fishlake, and Manti-La Sal national forests.

These first-hand, on-the-ground stories will:

• Help us all appreciate the natural treasures of these three forests
• Provide a personalized context for advocating for the protection and restoration of the forests’ native health
• Engage the skills and values of writers, artists, scientists, and other story-tellers in support of the three forests
• Provide ecological information about the forests in an accessible, appealing manner
• Encourage Forest Service management that emphasizes conservation and restoration of the three forests for current and future generations.

Our first Forest Story, about the Aquarius Plateau in the Dixie National Forest, was written by Ray Wheeler, and published in the Colorado Plateau Advocate. Other stories will be published on the Three Forests Coalition website, in the Colorado Plateau Advocate, and otherwise distributed to encourage conservation-based management of the three forests.

If you know and love some special place, animal, or plant in one of southern Utah’s three national forests, please consider writing a Forest Story. You’ll help encourage others to protect these diverse and spectacular lands.

For writing guidelines please see – Forest Stories (40KB Word Doc)
For more information, contact Mary O’Brien Email

“SWAT” Teams (Strategic Watching and Tallying)

	Divide Lake from Trail Point © Ray Wheeler 2006 Click on image to see larger photo.

Perhaps the single, most powerful action a person can take to protect southern Utah’s three national forests is to visit them and bear witness to the good, the bad, and the ugly. This Administration and Congress are woefully under-funding the Forest Service and too few agency staff are able to get out on the ground and record the problems that will prompt reform.

What is a SWAT Team? It’s usually a team of 2-5 people who gather on one strategically chosen weekend to photograph, measure, report on, or investigate something on one of the Three Forests. Poor conditions on a particular grazing allotment, illegal tree-cutting, or off-road-vehicle incursions into roadless areas are the types of things that SWAT Teams will look into. Your team’s observations are then turned into positive proposals for taking better care of the forest

Each Team is organized by a Three Forests Coalition leader who provides maps, arranges for carpools and necessary data collection equipment (e.g., GPS units), provides all training needed for the weekend's work, makes sure all the data are properly collected and prepared for strategic use, sends you a thank-you, and lets you know how the information gets used for Forest protection.

To be a SWAT Team member you need to be available two weekends a year. You’ll be contacted about possible trips and which trips you choose to join are up to you and your schedule. The first SWAT Team trip involved visiting Scad Valley, high on the Wasatch Plateau of Manti-La Sal NF. Here, the headwaters of a stream are in an allotment being grazed on an “experimental basis” by both cattle and sheep. Further down, the stream flows through the protected Mont Lewis Botanical Special Area.  We measured and compared features of both sections of the stream using a rapid assessment tool. The photos and information are being delivered to the Forest Service as part of our proposal asking the agency to not approve cattle grazing on that allotment permanently.

Why join a SWAT Team?

• To provide needed documentation of conditions on the Forest for specific Forest decisions
• To learn about a current, positive proposal to which your SWAT Team is contributing
• To learn about new places and conditions on one or more of the three Forests
• To meet others who are working to protect your Utah Forests.
• To get into great outdoors!

To become a SWAT Team member please Signup Here