The Uncompahgre PartnershipHealthy 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 ManagementUS Forest ServiceColorado Division of WildlifePublic Lands PartnershipWestern Area Power AdministrationTri-State GenerationSnow College, Ephraim, UTBrigham Young University, Provo, UTDelta, Ouray, and Montrose countiesCity of DeltaColorado State UniversityColorado State Forest ServiceUtah State UniversityUtah Division of Wildlife

University of WyomingUSDA, Forest Service Shrub Science Laboratory, Provo, UtahUSDA, Rocky Mountain Range and Experimental Station, Ft CollinsUpper Colorado Environmental Plant Center BLM National Native Plant Development Program, Washington, DCU.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceNatural Resources Conservation ServiceColorado Natural Heritage ProgramWestern Slope Environmental Resource CouncilNational Forest Foundation

Ridgway/Ouray Community CouncilWestern Colorado CongressSierra ClubIntermountain ResourcesM3ResearchBlack Canyon Regional Land TrustThe Nature ConservancySouthwest Seed CompanyBlack Canyon Audubon SocietyBio-Logic EnvironmentalAlpine Archaeological Consultants Inc.Citizen volunteersColorado 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 SummerWork 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??