The Jacob City Fire was a human-caused blaze that started in July of 2022 on trust lands just east of the town of Stockton, Utah. The fire burned over 4,500 acres of trust, private, and BLM lands, with 1,321 acres of trust lands being damaged in the process. Unfortunately, the fire heavily impacted the watershed that supplies the town of Stockton, with their spring and water treatment facility being impacted as well. This area was known for flooding before the fire and was affected by summer monsoon rains flooding the area as recently as 2021. The floods were bad enough that they flooded houses, Highway 36, and also shut down the railroad for multiple days. So, Trust Lands staff—in collaboration with its partners and the WRI program—created a fire rehabilitation plan after the Jacob City Fire, strategically picking the acres with the highest burn severity most at risk for erosion and flooding. These areas would also have the highest likelihood of allowing our seed mix to establish. Due to topography, aerial seeding was one of our only options, and thus 655 acres of trust lands were treated in the fall of 2022. Erosion control structures were also built on trust lands around the spring, well, and water treatment facility to protect them from debris flows post-fire.
Penstemon Conservation Agreement
A multi-agency Utah conservation team is working to protect two species of penstemon found in the Uinta Basin, Graham’s and White River beardtongue. The team includes representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Utah Public Lands Policy Coordination Office, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, School and Institutional Trust Lands