Onaqui Sites

Location: Tooele County, UT, ~25 miles from Tooele, UT
Land Management Agency: Bureau of Land Management Salt Lake Field Office
Treatment Schedule: Treatments were implemented in fall 2006. For more information about treatment implementation, click here.

Sagebrush/Juniper Site
SageSTEP Site Manager: April Hulet
Plots: Four 50-acre core plots (Control, Burn, Mechanical, and Bull Hog) and two 1000-acre extensive plots (Control and Burn)
Elevation: 5500-6200 ft.
Topography: 2-30% slope, E aspect
Common Vegetation: Utah Juniper, Wyoming big sagebrush, black sagebrush, bluebunch wheatgrass, Sandberg bluegrass, Indian ricegrass, cheatgrass, and various native wildflowers.
Soils: Gravelly loam and sandy loam
Fire Regime: Historically ranging from 20 to >100 years. Woodland invasion suggests that the majority of these communities have not burned since the late 1800s. As woodlands gain dominance, the fire regime shifts to infrequent, high-intensity fires.
Representative Land Base: Several million acres in western Utah, northeastern Nevada, and southern Idaho.
Grazing: Plots are located on an active grazing allotment, and have been fenced for the duration of the study to exclude livestock.

Sagebrush/Cheatgrass Site
SageSTEP Site Manager: Jeff Burnham
Plots: Four 75-acre plots (Control, Burn, Mechanical, and Herbicide)
Elevation: 5400-5500 ft.
Topography: 3-4% slope, E aspect
Common Vegetation: Wyoming big sagebrush, shadscale, viscid rabbitbrush, Sandberg bluegrass, squirreltail, Indian ricegrass, bluebunch wheatgrass, basin wildrye, and cheatgrass.
Soils: Fine-loamy
Fire Regime: Historically, several decades. Many of these communities experienced an increased fire return interval with settlement and overgrazing. Cheatgrass invasion can cause larger fires and reduce this interval to 10 years or less.
Representative Land Base: Several million acres in western and central Utah, southern Idaho, northern Nevada, and eastern Oregon.
Grazing: Plots are located on an active grazing allotment, and have been fenced for the duration of the study to exclude livestock.

Click here to download the Onaqui Sites Fact Sheet (PDF, 987KB).