NEPA--Environmental Assessment
NEPA--Environmental Assessment
NEPA--Environmental Assessment
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Silverton Grazing Risk <strong>Assessment</strong><br />
Under Alternative 3, the preferred alternative, the amount of overlap between active and<br />
vacant domestic sheep allotments and mapped bighorn sheep summer range in the<br />
Silverton Landscape would be reduced by 83%, primarily by closing allotments that have<br />
remained vacant for the past decade or more.<br />
Of the 7,105 acres of overlap under Alternative 3, about 6,452 acres would be in active<br />
allotments and 653 acres would be in a forage reserve allotment. Alternative 3 would<br />
therefore result in an increase of 813 acres over Alternative 2 of overlap between domestic<br />
sheep grazing in active allotments and mapped bighorn summer range, all in the Engine<br />
Creek/Deer Creek Allotment. For the reasons stated above, we believe this increase in<br />
overlap acres under Alternative 3 ultimately benefits bighorn sheep. This is because the<br />
813 additional acres of overlap in this active allotment would be in an area judged to be<br />
“Moderate Risk” for contact. Including these 813 additional acres in a “Moderate Risk”<br />
area would allow the closing of about 19,891 acres in areas rated as “High Risk” under<br />
Alternative 2.<br />
To summarize the results in a different way, under Alternative 2 about 40,458 acres of<br />
overlap would be in areas rated as “High Risk” for contact, there would be 0 acres in<br />
areas rated as “Moderate Risk”, and 973 acres would be in areas rated as “Low Risk”.<br />
Under Alternative 3, there would be 0 acres of overlap in areas rated as “High Risk” for<br />
contact, there would be 6,132 acres in areas rated as “Moderate Risk”, and 35,298 acres<br />
would be in areas rated as “Low Risk”.<br />
The domestic livestock permittees and agency livestock permit administrator meet each<br />
winter to discuss annual operating instructions for the upcoming grazing season. In<br />
conjunction with this meeting, the agency wildlife biologist and CDOW staff will meet with<br />
the permittee to review the effectiveness of project Design Criteria implementation and<br />
any new bighorn sheep information obtained over the previous year. At this time, the risk<br />
assessment rating for each allotment will be reviewed as necessary, and updated with<br />
new information as appropriate. Discussion with permittees about management actions,<br />
observations, and opinions are a critical component for finding consensus based solution<br />
opportunities to new issues as they arise. These meetings will include staff from adjacent<br />
land management administrative units, as necessary, to facilitate discussions of<br />
opportunities for utilizing grazing options on adjacent units. The objective of these<br />
discussions would be to explore mutually acceptable ways to reduce the risk of contact<br />
between bighorn sheep and domestic sheep using a flexible adaptive approach to problem<br />
solving, and to be more responsive to the management needs of livestock permittees and<br />
the dynamic nature of a highly mobile wildlife species.<br />
Annual reviews of risk assessment ratings and the potential for contact between domestic<br />
and bighorn sheep may be necessary because the S33 Pole Mountain/Upper Lake Fork<br />
bighorn sheep herd appears to be increasing in numbers and possibly expanding in<br />
range. For this reason, the extent of occupied summer range may vary from one season to<br />
the next, necessitating an adaptive approach to where and how domestic sheep are<br />
managed on the landscape.<br />
Wildlife staff of the FS/BLM will work with the local staff of the Colorado Division of<br />
Wildlife to develop and implement a coordinated annual monitoring plan for bighorn<br />
sheep in the upper Animas River basin. Given the designation by CDOW of the S33<br />
bighorn herd as a primary (“Tier 1”) population ranked as a high priority for conservation<br />
at a statewide level, it is logical for CDOW and BLM to place a greater emphasis on<br />
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