7-Reference A Bountiful Trails NEPA Botanical Survey CCF 2025.pdf
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- 2026 Storm Drain Projects State and local contract opportunity
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- Utah
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This is a NEPA botanical survey and invasive species assessment prepared by the Cottonwood Canyons Foundation for the Bountiful Trails project in Utah, conducted at the Holbrook and Mueller Park sites. The survey documents existing vegetation communities, trail corridors, and invasive plant populations that require management before and after trail construction. The Holbrook area is characterized by foothills plant communities dominated by scrub oak, big tooth maple, and grasses, with notable populations of native Penstemon platyphyllus and antelope horn milkweed. Mueller Park contains more diverse ecosystem types with a sensitive wetland habitat and phragmites populations requiring careful management. Both sites are infested with multiple invasive species including houndstongue, Dalmatian toadflax, whitetop, garlic mustard, dyer's woad, burdock, myrtle spurge, and common reed. The survey identifies specific treatment recommendations for each invasive species and emphasizes that pre- and post-trail construction mitigation is essential.
The treatment plan recommends an integrated pest management approach combining mechanical removal, chemical control, volunteer efforts, and biocontrol solutions. The survey notes that the extent of invasive species populations exceeds what can be feasibly managed through manual control or volunteer efforts alone. Specific chemical treatments and application methodologies are prescribed for each invasive species, with recommendations to employ multiple applications of low-dose herbicides for certain species such as whitetop. The document emphasizes that invasive plant management is a multi-year process, as many species can persist in seed banks for over ten years. The survey provides a reference guide from the Cottonwood Canyons Foundation stewardship program for additional weed mitigation protocols and highlights the critical timing for intervention with garlic mustard, noting that immediate action is necessary before this highly invasive species becomes established.
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Bountiful Trails NEPA Surveys Cottonwood Canyons Foundation Holbrook and Mueller Park
Overview:
The landscape of Holbrook and Mueller are characterized by foothills plant communities, dominated by scrub oak, big tooth maple, and grasses. There are already existing trails in both areas that see traƯic from hikers, bikers, and dogs. The new trails cut through areas with well established invasive plant populations that almost certainly have well established seed banks. The trail building disturbance will create an ideal opportunity for these species to take over, if not addressed. Pre and post trail building mitigation is strongly encouraged.
Herbicide will be necessary to control many of the species present, due to the size of the populations.
Holbrook:
Holbrook has a very large and healthy population of Penstemon platyphyllus, marked on the map below by pink stars. There are also many patches of antelope horn milkweed, an important pollinator species. Unfortunately, there are also pervasive populations of the following invasive plants:
Houndstongue- Cynoglossum oƯicianale Dalmatian toadflax- Linaria dalmatica Whitetop- Cardaria draba Garlic mustard- Allaria petiolata Dyer’s woad- Isatis tinctoria Burdock- Arctium minus
Mueller:
The new trails at Mueller Park cross through more diverse ecosystem types. The understory area in the first segment of the trail closest to the trailhead is infested with houndstounge, whitetop, burdock, and Canada thistle with scattered populations of myrtle spurge and dalmation toadflax. The yellow polygon in the map below marks a sensitive wetland habitat that should be avoided as much as possible during trail building. The section of trail above the wetland passes through a population of phragmites that should be carefully managed to avoid spread. The upper section that crosses the rock outcropping had a population of Penstemon platyphyllus (a Forest Service Sensitive species)
Houndstongue- Cynoglossum oƯicianale Myrtle spurge- Euphorbia myrsinites Dalmatian toadflax- Linaria dalmatica Whitetop- Cardaria draba Garlic mustard- Allaria petiolata Dyer’s woad- Isatis tinctoria Burdock- Arctium minus
Common reed- Phragmites australis
Treatment plan:
CCF recommends doing a combination of mechanical and chemical management for the best control. Feel free to use this resource as a guide:
https://cottonwoodcanyons.org/stewardship/public-weed-mitigation-guide/#toggle-id-15-closed
If manual control and volunteer events are used for treatment, try to catch plants before they have released their seeds. Invasive plant management is a multi-year process as many species can survive in the seed bank for over 10 years.
Houndstongue- Cynoglossum oƯicianale o A good candidate for manual control with volunteers, as the root comes out easily with a small hand tool. Chemical control is recommended in early spring when plants are growing rapidly. 2,4-D and glyphosate have both been eƯective.
Myrtle spurge- Euphorbia myrsinites o Small populations can be controlled mechanically. Volunteer weed pulls have been eƯective. Make sure volunteers wear PPE. In terms of chemical treatment, Glyphosate and LI700 has been shown to be very eƯective in the foothills of the Central Wasatch.
Dalmatian toadflax- Linaria dalmatica o Consider biocontrol solutions. There is a stem-boring weevil that is highly selective for this plant.
Whitetop- Cardaria draba o Only chemical control is eƯective. Use multiple applications of low dose of 2,4-D
Garlic mustard- Allaria petiolate o The population of garlic mustard we found is small enough that NOW is the time to manage this species. This plant is HIGHLY invasive and extremely diƯicult to remove once established. Use a combination of hand pulling and chemical treatment with 2,4-D or glyphosate.
Dyer’s woad- Isatis tinctoria o CCF has primarily hand-pulled this species in the past but chemical control using 2,4-D is also eƯective.
Burdock- Arctium minus o Mechanical control using a shovel to dig out the root is recommended Common reed- Phragmites australis o Use a combination of weed whacking and chemical treatment. Use glyphosate. 2,4-D will not work as it is intended for broadleaf plants.
Conclusions:
The areas of Holbrook and Mueller Park have significant invasive species problems that need to be addressed before and after new trails are built. The extent of these populations is beyond what can be feasibly managed by manual control or volunteer eƯorts. A combination of chemical treatments, manual control, volunteer events, and biocontrol will provide the best integrated pest management strategy.
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