Overview of Resource Management’s SNPLMA Projects

This article was originally published in The Midden – Great Basin National Park: Vol. 15, No. 2, Winter 2015.

SNPLMA funding has allowed Resource Management to do many projects in the park, including this aspen restoration project in Can Young Canyon.

NPS Photo

By Tod Williams, Chief of Resource Management

The White Pine County Conservation, Recreation and Development Act of 2006 allowed the Resource Management (RM) Division at Great Basin National Park (GRBA) to compete for Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act (SNPLMA) funds made available from the sales of public lands located in the Las Vegas Valley.

SNPLMA has numerous funding programs; the most commonly used by the RM Division are Conservation Initiative, which provides funds for activities which promote conservation on federal lands including natural and cultural resource protection, habitat restoration, species management, environmental education, and site stewardship; and the Eastern Nevada Landscape Restoration Program (ENLRP), which provides funds for activities that promote healthy ecosystems within the Great Basin with an emphasis on treating shrub-steppe, pinyon-juniper and riparian ecosystems. The following is an overview of project successes at GRBA:

SNPLMA Round 8
Conservation Initiative – Restore Natural Processes and Cave Floor in Lehman Cave. Funded for $233,850 in 2008. This project restored 4,700 square feet of cave floor in Lehman Cave to a pre-disturbance condition by removing an abandoned trail and its associated lighting system. The physical deterioration of the trail and chemical decomposition of the abandoned lighting system threatened cave resources. Project and closeout completed.

SNPLMA Round 9a & b
Conservation Initiative – Implementing the Nevada Conservation Agreement for Bonneville Cutthroat Trout (BCT). Funded for $977,738 in 2009. The project fully implemented the goals, objectives and strategies of the Conservation Agreement to manage for 14 conservation populations and eliminate threats to BCT that may warrant future listing under the Endangered Species Act. Project and closeout completed.

ENLRP – Landscape Level Vegetation Planning. Funded for $486,348 in 2009. The project completed six tasks necessary to develop a landscape level vegetation management plan: fire regime condition map; current and potential natural vegetation map; wildlife inventory for species of management concern; desired future conditions for vegetative resources; interactive management models; and aspen stand condition assessments. Project and closeout completed.

ENLRP – Snake Valley Invasive Weeds: Inventory, Treatment & Restoration. Funded for $665,041 in 2010. Project strengthens cooperative weed management actions in Snake Valley across all land ownerships to include inventory, treatment, and education. This was a multiagency proposal with GRBA as lead agency. Project and closeout completed.

SNPLMA Round 11
ENLRP – Sagebrush Steppe and Aspen Restoration in the South Snake Range. Funded for $542,230 in 2011. The project restored 500 acres of sagebrush habitat, riparian aspen, and upland aspen. These restoration actions benefited shrub dependent wildlife species of management concern with the goal of restoring connectivity between habitat patches and allowing populations to expand into suitable but vacant habitat. Project and closeout completed.

SNPLMA Round 13
Conservation Initiative – Johnson Lake Mine Historic District Stabilization. Funded for $511,991 in 2013. The project is conducting archeological research, stabilizing historic structures, and improving safety near open audits. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Historic Landscape. Project is ongoing and has partnered with the Vanishing Treasures program. ENLRP – Soap Creek Sagebrush Steppe and Aspen Restoration. Funded for $231,500 in 2013. This project is implementing vegetation treatments on up to 226 acres in the Soap Creek watershed to restore montane sagebrush habitat, improve riparian and aspen areas, reduce fuel loading, and increase the quality and quantity of wildlife habitat for shrub dependent wildlife species of management concern. Project is ongoing.

SNPLMA Round 14
Conservation Initiative – Recovery and Restoration of BCT in the Snake Creek Watershed. Funded for $403,436 in 2014. Snake Creek is one of twelve streams called out in the BCT Conservation Agreement to be maintained as a BCT stream. The current BCT population was compromised by the introduction of brook trout. The project will construct a fish barrier, conduct a treatment to remove all non-native fish from the watershed above the barrier, and reintroduce BCT to historic habitat. Project is ongoing.

ENLRP – Strawberry Creek Fuels Reduction & Sagebrush Steppe/ Aspen Restoration. Funded for $241,650in 2014. This project will implement vegetation treatments on 206 acres to restore sagebrush steppe, upland aspen, and riparian ecosystems. It will also increase the quality and quantity of habitat for several NPS wildlife species of management concern. Project is ongoing.

SNPLMA Round 15
Conservation Initiative - Restoration of Wetland Habitat to Support Sensitive Wildlife Species. Project requested $389,550.00 to restore 8 acres of wetland habitat and 0.5 miles of riparian stream habitat. Proposed actions will remove roads, culverts, and ditches adversely impacting wetland communities and restore natural stream flow patterns and vegetation. Project is located in the Lehman Creek drainage. Project has been approved and is awaiting funds release.

ENLRP - Improving Restoration and Fuels Reduction through Adaptive Management. Project requested $299,215.00 in funding to manage fuels and change vegetation structure on 258 acres of sagebrush, aspen, and riparian ecosystems. Action will also reduce fire probability, spread, and intensity. Restoration sites are located in a strategically placed fuel break to serve as an anchor point for suppression in the Lehman creek watershed. Project has been approved and is awaiting funds release.