Last year, wildlife biologists used an old-fashioned but innovative approach to restoring habitat for mule deer and other wildlife at the Hardware Ranch Wildlife Management Area by teaming cattle with airplanes.

Two seasons of intensive grazing by cattle had removed much of the cheatgrass on the south-facing slopes of Blacksmith Fork Canyon. Conditions were ideal for reseeding the area with plants that are perfect for the wildlife.

The reseeding effort was part of a long-range Division of Wildlife Resources' plan to restore critical big game winter habitats at Hardware Ranch, which is 15 miles east of Hyrum.

Park of the plan involved airplanes dropping nearly $30,000 worth of seed on the ground.

The seed mixture the planes dropped was a special blend of forbs and shrubs. The plants are designed to give wildlife the nutrition and energy they need to survive harsh winters. These plants are also designed to help wildlife transition from their winter diet to spring and summer diets.

Because of the terrain, using heavy equipment to resort hillsides was impossible.

Instead, livestock were put into the area to graze. This was followed up by reseeding the mountainside by airplane.

"One of the first things we wanted to accomplish with this project was to minimize the fire danger to the existing winter habitat," said Ron Greer, regional habitat biologist for the DWR.

"Removing the cheatgrass, which is the main fuel (for fires), will protect the sagebrush, bitterbrush and other species we'll be planting here."

The DWR contracted with Diamond J Resources of Rich County to carry out the work. Personnel with Diamond J Ranches have a solid background in range science and in conditioning cattle to graze steep slopes.

In addition to removing the threat of fire, the cattle grazing in the area during this third year of the program has created ideal safe spots for seed to germinate and take root.

"These safe spots have soil temperatures that give the seed better chances of growing," Greer said.

"Ultimately, we want to be able to winter thousands of mule deer, like we used to on this slope."