Aerial reseeding of crucial watershed hopes to improve habitat in Central Utah

NEPHI, Utah — A multi-phase project in Sanpete County aims to improve habitat in a watershed area while hoping for more deer and elk to frequent that area.

“It’s a very crucial watershed for the town of Mayfield and Gunnison,” said Robby Edgel, a Habitat Restoration Biologist with Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources. Edgel has been planning the project in the Twelve Mile Wildlife Management Area. “The goal is to get diversity of habitat so vegetation types, more diversity of vegetation, more diversity of animal species.”

Edgel said the project began with mulching juniper trees which had overcrowded other vegetation. Another phase involved ‘reseeding’ the area, which is roughly 700 acres.

“The seeding helps just to get those native plants grown back faster so we don’t get a bunch of weed species coming in,” said Edgel, who mentioned that sporting groups expressed interest in improving the deer population in this specific area after years of decline. “Hopefully by doing this project will make that habitat better so we don’t have these big crashes in our population.”

DWR contracted with Hammond Helicopter out of Nephi to work on the reseeding portion of the project.

“Typically, throughout the year we do about 70-120 thousand acres of seeding projects,” said Chuck Hammond of Hammond Helicopter. “One load, depending on the seed rates, usually does around, 100-120 acres.”

Hammond started his own company after noticing the need for aerial seeding in Central Utah roughly a decade ago.

“The deer and elk are going to use this project a lot thru the months of probably December to May,” said Hammond, who enjoys flying over some of his older projects to see the habitat growth. “I love to do this not only because I get to fly but also because I love spending time out in the mountains, and I like the fact that I like to help deer and elk.”

This specific project was conducted through the Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative.