Namely, deer, grouse and sparrows.

Those and other species will welcome the 17,490 new plants sprouting on Forest Service land at the old Murray Farm, west of northern Utah's Wellsville.

"This will improve habitat for big game, primarily for mule deer, as well as for the sharp-tailed grouse, the Brewer's sparrow, the Vesper sparrow" and other shrub land creatures, said Stephen Blatt, wildlife biologist for the Wasatch-Cache National Forest.

With one sagebrush or bitterbrush sown every 10 feet on a 103-acre span of the old Murray Farm, the formerly barren fields on the mountainside have been transformed into valuable summer and winter wildlife habitat, Blatt said this week.

Traditional rangelands and native wildlife, including the Cache deer herd, will enjoy greater protection from encroachment by nearby urban development and the watershed also will be improved through decreased erosion, according to Forest Service spokesman Lorraine Januzelli.

The Forest Service acquired the Murray Farm in 2005 with help from the Utah Trust for Public Lands and federal sources.

The Forest Service, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and the Mule Deer Foundation are partners in the latest restoration project, which aims to increase the herd's 13,500 population to 25,000.

Paul Chase, a Forest Service fisheries biologist, waded out of the field this week and into the planting seat behind a tractor. He didn't complain about the repetitive, back-breaking work, though.

"I'm just here to help," he said.

"Without these partnerships," Blatt added, "we wouldn't get a whole lot done anymore. Partnerships make the difference."

abrunson@sltrib.com