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Federal Register: May 5, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 86)NoticesPage 24132-24134From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
DOCID:fr05my99-32
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Southwestern Region; Authorization of Livestock Grazing Activities on the Sacramento Grazing Allotment, Sacramento Ranger District, Lincoln National Forest, Otero County, NM
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact statement on a proposal to authorize livestock grazing activities on the Sacramento Grazing Allotment. The project area encompasses over 111,000 acres of National Forest lands on the Sacramento Ranger District of the Lincoln National Forest. The Sacramento Grazing Allotment comprises approximately 25% of the range district. The project has generated controversy on three main points; effects to threatened and endangered animal and plant species, concern for degraded riparian areas, and forage competition between wildlife and livestock.
DATES: The agency invites written comments and suggestions on the scope of the analysis. In addition, the agency will give notice for the full environmental analysis once it nears completion so that interested and affected people may participate and contribute to a final decision.
Comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be received in writing by June 15, 1999.
A Draft Enviromental Impact Statement should be available for public comment in July, 1999. After considering the comments received on the proposed action, the analysis document will be modified to include any changes that result. Once updated, the Final Environmental Impact Statement should be available to the public in September 1999.
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ADDRESSES: Comments concerning the proposal and scope of the analysis should be received in writing by June 15, 1999. Send written comments and suggestions concerning the management of this area to Rick Newmon or Mark Cadwallader, Sacramento Ranger District, P.O. Box 288, Cloudcroft, New Mexico, 88317.
Responsible Offical
The District Ranger will decide whether or not to authorize domestic livestock grazing on the Sacramento Allotment which will include adding appropriate forest plan standards and guidelines to Part 3 of the Term Grazing Permit. If grazing is authorized, the District Ranger will decide on the permitted number of animals and season of use, range facilities to be constructed, allowable utilization standards, required monitoring and mitigation measures (best management practices, BMPs). In addition, the District Ranger will establish a forage allocation for livestock and wildlife for the Sacramento Allotment. This allocation will prescribe a percentage of the total available forage that wil be reserved for wildlife species. for additional information contact: Questions about the proposed project and scope of analysis should be directed to Rick Newmon or Mark Cadwallader at (505-682-2551).
supplementary information: The Forest Service is planning to authorize livestock grazing activities on the Sacramento Grazing Allotment.
Background
The current Sacramento Allotment is the result of the combination of 10 historical allotments. In the late 1970's, the High Nogal Ranch Inc. acquired the grazing permits on the allotments mentioned above. The control of livestock management on these small allotments by one business interest offered an opportunity to combine them into one large allotment. Combining the allotments provided an opportunity to improve resource management as well as administrative and economic efficiency. The allotments were combined and the current Sacramento Grazing Allotment was formed. And environmental analysis and an allotment management plan (AMP) were approved in 1979 for the newly consolidated allotment. The AMP prescribed an intensive rotation grazing system be implemented along with a very extensive range improvement development program. Full livestock numbers were run on the allotment, under direction of the new AMP, for about two years. In 1983, the permittee filedfor bankruptcy. The bankruptcy left the implementation of the AMP only partially completed. Between 1983 and 1989, the allotment saw periods of very light use to total non-use by livestock.
In 1989, the current permittees acquired the grazing permit for the Sacramento Allotment. The new permittees acquired only the grazing permit and did not acquire the private lands which were an integral part of the livestock operation when the original combination took place. In addition, the long period of non-use on the allotment resulted in deterioration of many of the existing range improvements. With many of the range improvements no longer functional and changes in private land base available to the current permittees, the existing AMP had become essentially unmanageable.
After acquisition of the grazing permit, the current permittees gradually began to stock the allotment to full permitted numbers. When full numbers were run on the permit in 1991, forage utilization began to exceed acceptable levels. Excessive forage utilization has been a concern since 1991.
Existing Condition
The Sacramento Allotment contains over 36 miles of perennial streams. Riparian inventory data indicates that less than 10% of the riparian zones associated with these perennial waters are in satisfactory condition, based on the Region 3 standards and guidelines for riparian areas. The Sacramento Allotment contains about half of all the riparian resources on the Sacramento Ranger District. The livestock management decisions made on this allotment will be an important factor in determining the potential for riparian improvement on the entire district.
The Sacramento Allotment is home to several threatened and endangered plant and animal species. They include the Sacramento Mountain thistle, Sacramento prickly poppy, Mexican spotted owl, peregrine falcon, and the bald eagle. The current forage utilization levels are not conducive to moving range condition rating towards good to excellent range condition as specified in various specie recovery plans.
Forgage competition between elk and livestock has developed into a resource concern. The excessive forage use currently occurring on the allotment is the combined result of forage use by the current elk population and currently permitted livestock numbers.
Objectives
Implement a maximum forage use level or minimum stubble height requirement that will lead to long-term improvement in rangeland ecosystems and riparian habitats.
Bring permitted livestock numbers in line with estimated carrying capacity.
Develop a grazing management strategy which identifies the structural and range improvements required to implement that strategy.
Establish an allocation of available forage between livestock and wildlife.
Permit livestock grazing as a tool to meet vegetative management objectives as set forth in the Lincoln National Forest's Land and Resource Management Plan (pp. 34-36 and pp. 86-101).
Continue to permit commercial livestock use on the Sacramento Allotment to a level that contributes to the local custom and culture and the local economy while sustaining healthy ecosystems.
Desired Future Condition
Forest plan standards and guidelines for riparian areas are being met.
Threatened, endangered, and sensitive species habitat is improving and recovery objectives are being met.
Areas of unsatisfactory Range condition are on an upward trend toward satisfactory or better range condition.
The allocation of forage between livestock and wildlife species has been implemented. This allocation is continually monitored and actions are taken to maintain a viable elk population that is in balance maintain with the available forage produced on the allotment.
Recreational uses and esthetic values have been enhanced through the improved management of rangeland ecosystems.
Authorization is needed on this allotment because:
--Where consistent with other multiple use goals and objectives there is Congressional intent to allow grazing on suitable lands. (Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act of 1960, Wilderness Act of 1964, Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, National Forest Management Act of 1976).
--The Sacramento Allotment contain lands identified as suitable for domestic livestock grazing in the Lincoln National Forest Plan and continued domestic livestock grazing is consistent with the goals, objectives, standards, and guidelines of the forest plan.
--It is Forest Service policy to make forage available to qualified livestock operators from lands suitable for grazing
[Page 24134]consistent with land management plans (FSM 2203.1).
--It is Forest Service policy to continue contributions to the economic and social well being of people by providing opportunities for economic diversity and by promoting stability for communities that depend on range resources for their livelihood (FSM 2202.1).
--By regulation, forage producing lands will be managed for livestock grazing where consistent with land management plans (36 CFR 222.2(c)).
The comment period on the draft environmental impact statement will be 45 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes the notice of availability in the Federal Register.
The Forest Service believes, at this early stage, it is important to give reviewers notice of several court rulings related to public participation in the environmental review process. First, reviewers of draft environmental impact statements must structure their participation in the environmental review of the proposal so that it is meaningful and alerts an agency to the reviewer's position and contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. NYDC,
To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft environmental impact statement should be as specific as possible. It is also helpful if comments refer to specific pages or chapters of the draft statement. Comments may also address the adequacy of the draft environmental impact statement or the merits of the alternatives formulated and discussed in the statement. Reviewers may wish to refer to the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at 40 CFR 1503.3 in addressing these points.
Dated: April 23, 1999. Jose M. Martinez, Forest Supervisor.
FR Doc. 99-11198Filed5-4-99; 8:45 amBILLING CODE 3410-11-M
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This document cites
- Code of Federal Regulations - Title 40: Protection of Environment - 40 CFR 1503.3 - Specificity of comments.
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Cir. - City of Angoon, the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, Et Al., Plaintiffs- Appellees, v. Donald Hodel, Secretary of the Interior, Et Al., Shee Atika, Inc. and Sealaska Corp., Defendants-Appellants. City of Angoon, the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, Et Al., Plaintiffs- Appellants, v. Donald Hodel, Secretary of the Interior, Et Al., Defendants, and Shee Atika, Inc., Defendant-Appellee., 803 F.2d 1016 (9th Cir. 1986) the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, Et Al., Plaintiffs- Appellees, v. Donald Hodel, Secretary of the Interior, Et Al., Shee Atika, Inc. and Sealaska Corp., Defendants-Appellants. City of Angoon, the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, Et Al., Plaintiffs- Appellants, v. Donald Hodel, Secretary of the Interior, Et Al., Defendants, and Shee Atika, Inc., Defendant-Appellee.
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