NEPA--Environmental Assessment

graze U.S. Basin. Since the current boundary was created in 1994, one band of 1,000 head of sheep
has been permitted to graze the Red Mountain S&G allotment from July 1 st to September 15 th . The
permitted sheep access the Red Mountain allotment by being trucked to the Ophir Pass road and
from corrals near the top of Red Mountain Pass.
West Lime Allotment
This allotment is located west of Silverton, Colorado. Elevations vary from 8,275 to 13,400 feet.
This allotment contains about 20,000 acres of national forest and 800 acres of private land. The
terrain consists from rolling hills to high ridges and steep slopes with canyons throughout rugged
mountains. The cover type on the allotment consists of mixed timber containing Engelmann spruce,
subalpine fir, and aspen, mountain meadows, and alpine meadows dominated by numerous grasses
and forbs.
There is considerable recreational usage of the allotment due to the Rico/Silverton-Colorado Trail
and the Ice Lake Trail that is within the allotment. The South Mineral campground is also a popular
recreation site. The 800 acres of private land consists mostly of mining claims.
The current West Lime Allotment includes the historic allotments of Ice Lake, Bandora, and West
Lime. From 1953 to 1960, both Ice Lake and Bandora stocked 700 head of sheep. The two
allotments were combined in 1961, and 800 sheep grazed the allotment. In 1960, the number
increased to 860 head. In 1954, the West Lime allotment stocked 800 head of sheep. This number
increased to 860 in 1963. The three allotments were grazed by 2 bands of 860 sheep in a restrotation
grazing system, this first year, West Lime was rested. This rotation system lasted only a
couple years, in 1971, the numbers increased to 1000 head (860 sheep were permitted to graze West
Lime and 140 sheep were permitted to graze Bandora-Ice Lake.) In 1976, another rest-rotation
grazing system was implemented, this time including the Whitehead Unit of Deer Park allotment and
Cunningham Gulch allotment. For the first year of this rotation, West Lime was rested and 3 bands
of 860 sheep grazed the three other allotments. This rotation system continued with the same
stocking rate until 1983. In 1984, both West Lime and Bandora-Ice Lake ran 860 sheep. In 1987,
the number increased to 1000 and the same band also grazed Bandora-Ice Lake. In 1989, 2 bands of
860 sheep grazed West Lime and Bandora-Ice Lake. 1994 was the last year Bandora-Ice Lake was
stocked. In 1991, 960 sheep grazed West Lime until 1999, when it was last stocked. The records
are unclear as to when the two allotments were combined. The permitted sheep accessed the West
Lime allotment through the South Mineral drainage or from the corrals at Big Molas Lake or Lime
Creek.
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