Sublette County Conservation District (SCCD) is reducing wildfire risk, restoring forest species, improving wildlife habitat in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, and protecting drinking water through funding from the Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Partnership (LRP).

The LRP funding is one of several grants the district is chasing to implement on-the-ground projects. The Sublette County Forest Collaborative: Working Together for Forest Health (Bridger-Teton National Forest) includes a Skyline wildland urban interface (WUI) project and the Monument Ridge project, targeted this first year by the Forest Service. According to Michael Henn, district manager for Sublette County Conservation District, the Upper Hoback migration corridor is highlighted for the NRCS.

“The Joint Chiefs’ Partnership is just a small piece of the pie to get projects on the ground,” Henn said.

The Skyline WUI project was ongoing prior to the Joint Chiefs’ funding, and includes reducing wildfire around Fremont Lake, from which the town of Pinedale draws all its drinking water. The Skyline WUI Project objective is to increase firefighter and public safety in the event of a wildfire by-way-of reducing hazardous fuel loadings before the fire occurs. One of the benefits of the objective is reducing sediment and maintaining or improving the water quality within the municipal watershed if a wildfire were to occur.

“The Forest Service is utilizing several methods within this project area to accomplish these objectives with the additional benefits which increase the protection of Pinedale’s water supply and several homes, trailheads, and a ski area in the event of a wildfire” Henn said.

The Forest Service is conducting prescribed burns to bring the hazardous fuels to a manageable level, which in turn reduces the conifer encroachment and creates a disturbance (prescribed fire) which aspen need to continue to proliferate creating a more fire resistant and healthy stand, according to Paul Swenson of the Forest Service, which has contributed funding that the local districts help implement.

“There’s no way the Forest Service has the funding or the manpower to treat every piece of ground in need of treatment,” Swenson said. “But with the Joint Chiefs’ project, we can pinpoint where there are the highest priorities, so we can treat that area before a wildfire occurs to mitigate the detrimental effects the wildfire can have by reducing the hazardous fuels.”

Skyline WUI is also utilizing logging sales along with prescribed fire to assist with the hazardous fuels reduction objectives.

“There are multiple benefits that come from this,” Swenson said. “One of the biggest is wildlife habitat restoration. We’re also providing wood products to the community. Local saw mills are purchasing the timber sales, which in turn assists with jobs for local businesses and we do a lot of contracting with crews which come in for a month or two at a time which contributes to the local economy as well.”

The Monument Bridge project is a 20,000-acre project area. The project aims to reduce hazardous fuels as well as improve mule deer habitat as part of the red desert to Hoback deer migration route. “It’s a high-priority area for game and fish and the county’s number one priority for WUI fuels reduction,” Swenson said.

Other LRP partners include Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Wyoming State Forestry Division, as well as Sublette County Unified Fire, Sublette County Weed and Pest, The Nature Conservancy and Sublette County Commissioners.

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