NEPA--Environmental Assessment

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There is considerable recreational usage of the allotment due to the Colorado Trail and the Crater Lake Trail bisecting the allotment. the Durango-Silverton narrow gauge train tracks run along the Animas River on the eastern boundary of the allotment. The Molas Lake Allotment stocked 1000 head of sheep from 1949 to 1972. In 1973, the records indicated that the area around Big Molas Lake was administered by the BLM. At this point, 200 head grazed the Big Molas Allotment and 800 head grazed the Little Molas Allotment. In 1987, the two allotments were combined and one band of 1000 sheep was permitted to graze the allotment. One band of 900 sheep grazed the West Needles from 1954 until 1992. In 1993, Little Molas and West Needles were grazed by one band of 1000 head of sheep. Then in 1994, an <strong>Environmental</strong> <strong>Assessment</strong> combined the Little Molas and West Needles Allotments. This better facilitated sheep management and utilization of the available resources. The last record of grazing was in 1999. During the Missionary Ridge Fire of 2002, a band permitted on a Missionary Ridge allotment grazed this area. The permitted sheep access the Little Molas/West Needles allotment by being trucked to and from corrals near Big Molas Lake. Maggie Gulch Allotment This allotment is administered by the Bureau of Land Management. It is located 6 miles northeast of Silverton, Colorado. Elevations on the allotment vary from 9,720 feet to just over 13,200 feet. This allotment contains approximately 6,600 acres, 3,350 acres of those are private consisting of mining claims. The terrain consists of high ridges and steep slopes with canyons throughout rugged mountains. The cover type on the allotment consists of subalpine vegetation with Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir plant communities, mountain meadows, and alpine meadows dominated by numerous grasses and forbs. In the past, a lot of mining activity occurred on the private land within the allotment. Approximately 27% of the suitable consists of mining claims. The mining claims are not fenced and have been grazed in the past. There have been no conflicts with mining and grazing. Maggie Gulch is also a popular area for summer recreation and winter sports. The records available do not provide historical use of this allotment. The earliest records available of grazing date back to 1953. The Forest service permitted 670 of the 1,000 sheep to graze the allotment until 1976 (the other 330 sheep were permitted by the BLM). The grazing season was from July 11 th to September 15 th . A Multiple Use Survey Report of 1970 described five pasture grazing rotation system. Currently this allotment is permitted in conjunction with the West Pole allotment administered by the Rio Grande National Forest, for 1000 ewes. The permitted sheep access the Maggie allotment by being trucked to and from the Eureka corrals. Minnie Gulch Allotment This allotment is located 8 miles northeast of Silverton, Colorado. Minnie Gulch Allotment is administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Elevations on the allotment vary from 9,600 feet to just over 13,000 feet. This allotment contains about 3,000 acres, including 400 acres of private land consisting mainly of mining claims. The terrain consists of high ridges and steep slopes with canyons throughout rugged mountains. The cover type on the allotment consists of subalpine vegetation with Engelmann Spruce and subalpine fir plant communities, mountain meadows, and alpine meadows dominated by numerous grasses and forbs. In the past a lot of mining activity occurred on the private land within the allotment. Minnie Gulch is also a popular area for summer recreation and winter sports. The records available do not provide historical use of this allotment. The earliest records available of grazing date back to 1953. From July 1 st to September 15 th , 800 head of sheep grazed Minnie 9
Gulch. In 1956, the numbers decreased to 600 head that grazed July 10 th thru September 5 th . In 1971, a band of 700 sheep grazed until the last record of grazing in 1983 from July 20 th through early September. Permitted sheep could access the Minnie allotment by being trucked to and from the Eureka corrals or trailed using the Ridge Stock Driveway on the Gunnison, Grand Mesa and Uncompahgre National Forest and Gunnison Field Office. Needles Mountains Allotment This allotment is located about 25 miles northeast of Durango, Colorado, on Forest Service lands. Elevations on the allotment range from about 7,500 feet to over 14,000 feet. The allotment contains approximately 46,000 acres. An extremely limited amount of the allotment is considered suitable for grazing due to rugged topography. The allotment is completely within the Weminuche Wilderness, with the exception of the Animas River corridor, along which the Durango-Silverton narrow gauge train tracks run. There is a tremendous amount of recreational use within this part of the wilderness. There are no known records of any permitted livestock grazing ever occurring on the Needles Mountain Allotment. Picayne/Mineral Point Allotment This allotment is located on the northern most portion of the analysis area about 9 miles northeast of Silverton, Colorado. Picayne/Mineral Point Allotment is administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Elevations on the allotment vary from 10,200 feet to just over 13,000 feet. This allotment contains about 5,500 acres; 2,100 of those are private consisting mainly of mining claims. The terrain consists of high ridges and steep slopes with canyons throughout high mountains. The cover type on the allotment consists mostly of alpine meadows. The current Picayne/Mineral Pt. Allotment was originally separated into two allotments, Picayne S&G and Mineral Pt. In 1990, the current Picayne/Mineral Point allotment boundary was created. The BLM records do not provide historical use of this allotment. The earliest recorded grazing dates back to 1967. The only available records are Actual Use Forms. Seven hundred to 1,027 sheep have grazed the Picayne Gulch area until the current allotment boundary was created. Since 1990, one band of 1031 sheep has grazed the allotment from July 7 th to September 19 th , splitting the period of use between the Mineral Point (north) and Picayne (south) units of the allotment. The permitted sheep access the Picayne/Mineral Point allotment by using the Ridge Stock Driveway on the Gunnison, Grand Mesa and Uncompahgre National Forest and Gunnison Field Office. Red Mountain Allotment This allotment is located directly northwest of Silverton, Colorado. Elevations vary from 9,400 feet to just over 13,400 feet. This allotment contains about 12,600 acres; about 2,000 acres are on private land and consist mainly of mining claims. The terrain consists of high ridges and steep slopes with canyons throughout rugged mountains. The cover type on the allotment consists of subalpine vegetation with Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir plant communities, mountain meadows, and alpine meadows dominated by numerous grasses and forbs. This allotment was formally made up of the U.S. Basin and Mill Creek Allotments. In 1994, the two allotments were combined and the current Red Mountain allotment boundary was created. The earliest records available of grazing date back to 1953. From July 3 rd to September 13 th , 700 head of sheep grazed U.S. Basin, and 800 head grazed Mill Creek. From 1995 to 1961, 750 grazed Mill Creek. Until 1989, the numbers increased to 850 head and then 900 head in Mill Creek. From 1989 until 1994, 1,025 head grazed Mill Creek from August 16 th to September 6 th . In 1984, one band of 927 head grazed the U.S Basin allotment. In the early 1990’s, 850 sheep were permitted to 10
Page 1 and 2: United States Department of Agricul
Page 3 and 4: Silverton Landscape Grazing Analysi
Page 5 and 6: These issues led the agency to deve
Page 7 and 8: administered with shared facilities
Page 9 and 10: Engine Creek/Deer Creek Allotment T
Page 11: Gladstone Allotment This allotment
Page 15 and 16: Figure 1-1. Project Analysis Area 1
Page 17 and 18: Specific Management Emphasis Areas
Page 19 and 20: Livestock Grazing Permits Livestock
Page 21 and 22: Figure 1-3. Management Emphasis Are
Page 23 and 24: Desired Conditions for Bighorn: Red
Page 25 and 26: Figure 1-4. 2008 Data Collection Po
Page 27 and 28: Figure 1-6. Wilderness Overlap 24
Page 29 and 30: Issues ____________________________
Page 31 and 32: CHAPTER 2 - ALTERNATIVES This chapt
Page 33 and 34: Alternative Livestock Bedding 2 3 S
Page 35 and 36: Alternative Noxious Plants/Invasive
Page 37 and 38: Table 2-2. Project Design Criteria
Page 39 and 40: Alternative Minimization of Threat
Page 41 and 42: Alternative 2 - Current Management_
Page 43 and 44: Elk Creek Allot • Do not use the
Page 45 and 46: Figure 2-1. Proposed Action - Avoid
Page 47 and 48: Monitoring for Alternative 3 Monito
Page 49 and 50: • Photographs and Photo-points: P
Page 51 and 52: years in an emergency situation, su
Page 53 and 54: Comparison of Alternatives ________
Page 55 and 56: Water Quality _____________________
Page 57 and 58: ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES Alternat
Page 59 and 60: from water or bedgrounds (Arnold an
Page 61 and 62: 2008). It differs from the wetland
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Red Mountain Allotment Yellow toadf
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unlikely that any of these species
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Recreation Special Use Permits for
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livestock management would not chan
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Concurrent to this grazing analysis
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Alternative 2 Habitat conditions fo
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intensity on alpine plants appeared
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the other two species due to the co
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lack bighorn sheep escape cover. Th
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trailing route, and lack of bighorn
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Similar to Alternative 2, selecting
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ptarmigan is expected under Alterna
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CUMULATIVE IMPACTS Global warming i
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Wildlife - Management Indicator Spe
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and it will not be discussed in det
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Selecting Alternative 2 would have
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for MIS in the landscape. Wildlife
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The alpine tundra group would benef
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species of conservation concern as
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management options, while others ma
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prior to evaluating them for the NR
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present state. In general, where un
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CHAPTER 4 - CONSULTATION AND COORDI
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APPENDIX B - CITATIONS AND REFERENC
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Martin, K.D., T.J. Schommer, and V.
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Regional Office, Durango, CO. Weste
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Species Habitat Present In the Spec
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Species Mammals (13) Allen’s big-
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MIS Species Preferred Habitat Broug
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Likelihood of Species Status* Prefe
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APPENDIX D - BIGHORN RISK ASSESSMEN
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Silverton Grazing Risk Assessment T
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Silverton Grazing Risk Assessment a
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Silverton Grazing Risk Assessment b
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Silverton Grazing Risk Assessment N
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Silverton Grazing Risk Assessment i
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Silverton Grazing Risk Assessment M
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Silverton Grazing Risk Assessment A
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Silverton Grazing Risk Assessment R
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Silverton Grazing Risk Assessment m
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Silverton Grazing Risk Assessment H
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Silverton Grazing Risk Assessment F
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Silverton Grazing Risk Assessment F
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NEPA--Environmental Assessment

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