The Uncompahgre Partnership Healthy Lands for Healthy Communities

What is the Uncompahgre Partnership? A western slope collaborative of federal and state agencies, utility companies and public lands community groups committed to the shared goal of improving ecosystem health on the Colorado Plateau

Collaboration across boundaries It was organized in 2002 because of concerns about the declining mule deer population on the Uncompahgre Plateau and the understanding that the repair of habitat damage needed to cross all manmade boundaries.

Western Colorado Landscape Collaborative won the 2013 Colorado Collaboration Award, which recognizes excellence and innovation in nonprofit partnerships

“This collaboration is an outstanding example of how diverse groups with different interests can join together and work toward their common goals” - Renny Fagan, President & CEO of the Colorado Nonprofit Association.

The UP has received financial support from the following entities… Bureau of Land Management US Forest Service Colorado Division of Wildlife Public Lands Partnership Western Area Power Administration Tri-State Generation National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Western Sustainable Agriculture and Education Norcross Wildlife Foundation Western Colorado Community Foundation Colorado Historical Society National Resources Conservation Service National Forest Foundation Center for Invasive Plant Management Colorado Habitat Partnership Program Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Colorado Mule Deer Association Colorado Wildlife Federation The Nature Conservancy EnCana Cornerstone BASF Chemical Company Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) – NRCS National Assoc. of Counties – Five-Star Program

Donations of time, resources, or equipment/facilities Bureau of Land Management US Forest Service Colorado Division of Wildlife Public Lands Partnership Western Area Power Administration Tri-State Generation Snow College, Ephraim, UT Brigham Young University, Provo, UT Delta, Ouray, and Montrose counties City of Delta Colorado State University Colorado State Forest Service Utah State University Utah Division of Wildlife University of Wyoming USDA, Forest Service Shrub Science Laboratory, Provo, Utah USDA, Rocky Mountain Range and Experimental Station, Ft Collins Upper Colorado Environmental Plant Center BLM National Native Plant Development Program, Washington, DC U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Natural Resources Conservation Service Colorado Natural Heritage Program Western Slope Environmental Resource Council National Forest Foundation Ridgway/Ouray Community Council Western Colorado Congress Sierra Club Intermountain Resources M3Research Black Canyon Regional Land Trust The Nature Conservancy Southwest Seed Company Black Canyon Audubon Society Bio-Logic Environmental Alpine Archaeological Consultants Inc. Citizen volunteers Colorado Governor’s Energy Office

UP on-going collaborations Writing grants to help fund habitat improvement Implementing Weed Management Plans with different agencies and private landowners Developing native plant materials for the Colorado Plateau

CPW Seed Warehouse In Delta available for seed storage for any agency or organization

Forest Service CFLR projects Developed a mostly local source seed mix and applied it to Turkey Track and Dominguez Canyon area treatments

Seed Sharing Collected sagebrush seed this fall on a planting at CPW’s Billy Creek Wildlife area cleaned by Southwest Seed given to NRCS for a sagegrouse project this winter

This Summer Work with the FS to do out-year planning of seed mixes to be used in upcoming projects Vital step toward quantifying species and volumes of future seed needs

Native Plant Program “The goal of the Native Plant Program is to develop an genetically appropriate native plant materials for the Colorado Plateau, for use in rehabilitation activities on public and private land.”

By 2007, there were 15 species available for growers a buy-back program in place to encourage growers to work with these species. in the 2012 summary report, there were 17 UP-developed sp. in production End of 2013, only 8 UP-developed sp. were in production and few new sp. had been made available.

What isn’t working anymore???

Collaboration and communication! All parts of the native seed effort need to be communicating with each other.

Questions that need answers... ?? Who is growing what? How much is available? Growers need to share their inventories, so people who write the contracts know what is available. Bids need to include specific details to get locally sourced seed.

?? What local source seed is being used and how is it working? Does it go through drills? Does it germinate? Does the species persist? End users should be monitoring over time and sharing the results.

?? What projects are coming up and what seed and amts will be needed? End Users need to plan for the future and to share the info with the growers. Growers need time to plant and harvest and need to have a market for their seed.

?? What prevents the use of local source forbs in mixes? price – of course education about application rates? understanding of landscape diversity issues?

??How can we generate demand for these harder-to-grow species?

?? With all the knowledge available in this region, how can we do a better job of collaborating to get locally sourced seed onto the ground??