The Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests’ (GMUG) Gunnison Ranger District is proposing to continue to authorize grazing on six allotments in the Crested Butte, CO and Almont, CO areas. The forthcoming analysis will be referred to as the North Valley Cattle and Horse Allotments project. The six allotments proposed for grazing are Butte North, Meridian, Spring Creek, Silver Springs, Lost Canyon, and Snodgrass. All allotments, except Snodgrass, have existing grazing permits and are actively grazed.
The purpose of this proposal is to comply with the Rescission Act of 1995, which directed the U.S. Forest Service to conduct an environmental analysis for each grazing allotment for which a grazing permit was issued and to ensure consistency with current the GMUG National Forests Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan). Five of these six allotments have not undergone environmental analysis with respect to livestock grazing, with grazing currently authorized under Section 402 of the Federal Land Management and Policy Act. Lost Canyon was assessed for livestock grazing in an environmental assessment with a 1996 decision notice. Updates are necessary to reflect current management needs and conditions; therefore, there is an overall need to analyze these possible effects to continue or modify the grazing authorizations and allotment management plans (AMPs).
This analysis is needed to determine whether livestock grazing should continue to be authorized within all, part of, or none of the allotments, and what management actions would be applied to livestock grazing in a manner that maintains or improves project area resource conditions, including Gunnison Sage Grouse (GuSG) habitat, and achieves the objectives and desired conditions described in the forest plan.
Should the decision be to continue to authorize grazing on any of the allotments, an Allotment Management Plan (AMP) will be drafted in accordance with the environmental analysis that would set the direction for livestock management on the allotment. AMPs include the objectives for livestock, vegetation and watershed management, management actions, such as livestock numbers, class of livestock, season of use, grazing strategies, forage utilization guidelines, range improvement program and monitoring schedule. Annual Operating Instructions (AOIs) are yearly livestock management instructions issued to permittees to implement AMPs.
