By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Rehabilitation of the mountains southeast of Levan is going forward in an attempt to prevent the mudslides and flooding going on in the valley below the recent wildfire there.
"DWR (Utah Division of Wildlife Resources) has built 20 to 24 silt basins along the drainage in the burn scar area and in the bottoms of canyons there," said Byron Woodland, Juab County Commissioner.
The fire, started on July 24, near the Bateman Dairy on SR-28, burned approximately 4,343 acres before it was contained.
The fire spread quickly up a mountainside to the east, spurred on by high winds out of the west.
While the fire was still burning, a thunderstorm moved in and a 12-mile stretch of highway saw flooding. Homeowners in the area saw damaging floods continue during subsequent rainstorms.
Three days of rainfall led to flooding problems that damaged the property belonging to Bateman's Dairy, Kenison Farms, Dave Shepherd and others.
"The Forest Service has applied for $1.3 million to fund seeding and mulching," said Woodland.
The Forest Service will also clean up after firefighting efforts in Chicken Creek, he said.
Seeding, especially with native seed mixes, is increasingly being used to recover post wildfire plant species, manage invasive non-native plant populations and establish valued vegetation compositions.
The Department of Agriculture has been contacted for assistance.
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), part of the United States Department of Agriculture, has been asked to assist with the rehabilitation effort, said Woodland.
"The county has agreed to be a sponsor of the rehabilitation in order to obtain the funding," said Woodland. "The county will need to put up a 25 percent match."
That match can come in the form of equipment and man hours, among other items.
"The county has done some work on Powell Lane," said Woodland. "We have already put a culvert in to carry stormwater to an old stream bed so the water will not wash across Powell Lane."
He said the Kenison Farms family made the proposal that the old stream bed be used.
Powell Lane is on the west side of the fire and has been hard hit by flooding.
The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) and the county have been working to divert water before it washes across SR-28. UDOT needs engineering done in order to do the work and that can take some time.
That work would be on the east side of the highway.
Some of the land destroyed in the wildfire and resultant flooding is private land, said Woodland.
The Farm Service Agency, also a part of the USDA, offers some disaster assistance to ranchers and farmers because of wildfire losses.
BAER (Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation) after the fire becomes an important part of recovery from a wildfire.
The first rehabilitation effort is directly related to the effects of fire suppression activities. This includes rehabilitating fire lines, roads, trails, base camps, fixing fences, or any other physical feature that was damaged by efforts to put the fire out.
The second rehabilitation task is on a much larger scale than fire suppression rehabilitation. This effort examines the entire wildfire and the effects of the burn on soil, watershed and other resources as it relates to threats to life and property.
The BAER effort uses a variety of resource experts to make an initial assessment of the effects of the fire on soils, watershed, wildlife, fish, and vegetation in the fire area.
The prescriptions can include such activities as seeding, hay mulch, and vegetation planting that are designed specifically to meet resource objectives, such as minimizing erosion and flooding.
"I will know about the funding we can receive by our next commission meeting," said Woodland. "We want to get all of the work done that we can by winter."
Woodland said he had been in contact with Alison Whittaker.
She is project leader at the DWR's Great Basin Research Center and seed warehouse in Ephraim, and she has been working on the reseeding project.
Planning and base funding for wildfire reseeding projects in Utah come from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources' Watershed Restoration Initiative. Other state and federal agencies are partners in the restoration efforts.
Planes designed to disperse 1,200 to 1,400 pounds of seeds per trip have been dropping seed on the Levan burn scar.
The seed batch consists of 17 species and 27 varieties and is specifically mixed by state wildlife biologists to provide wildlife habitat through restoration in the burned areas, but also to provide erosion control and possibly prevent future wildfires.
The seeding needs to take place soon after a fire in order to keep down Cheatgrass, a nasty non-native plant that overtakes native species and encourages wildfire.
Sagebrush is part of the seeding and is critical for mule deer habitat to get it re-established.
Once the planes have dropped the seed, bulldozers will drag huge chains across the area to help bury seed by breaking up the ash crust on the soil surface to make a fertile bed for sagebrush seeds.
"We want to thank Commissioner Woodland for all the work he has done to get the various agencies working to mitigate the wildland fire and flood damage in the Levan area," said Chad Winn, commission chairman.
"The seeding and mulching project will help provide more winter range for wildlife," said Winn.
