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NEPA--Environmental Assessment

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River very difficult without passing through mapped bighorn sheep summer range. In addition,<br />

the Rincon La Osa portion of the Pine River Allotment is within 1 to 2 air miles of mapped<br />

summer range of the S28 Vallecito Creek bighorn sheep herd.<br />

Historic livestock ingress/egress to the Pine River Allotment was from the south along the Pine-<br />

Piedra Stock Driveway, or along the Pine River Trail from Vallecito Reservoir. Both of these<br />

routes pass through the heart of the S28 Vallecito Creek bighorn sheep herd’s summer range and<br />

summer concentration area. The Pine River Trail is an extremely popular summer recreation trail<br />

and is the main access route for hikers and horseback riders into the central Weminuche<br />

Wilderness and the Pine River basin. Re-opening the Pine-Piedra Stock Driveway for use by<br />

sheep would require a significant amount of mechanical work, including moving large amounts<br />

of downed logs that were placed across the trail as fireline mitigation after the 2002 Missionary<br />

Ridge wildfire.<br />

To prevent having to trail domestic sheep up the Pine River trail and through the heart of the S28<br />

Vallecito Creek bighorn sheep herd’s summer range and summer concentration area, or up the<br />

lengthy Pine Piedra Stock Driveway, it was proposed to access the Pine River Allotment from<br />

the north via Rio Grande Reservoir. The proposal was to truck domestic sheep to Rio Grande<br />

Reservoir, then trail sheep up the Weminuche Trail, south over Weminuche Pass, and into<br />

Rincon La Vaca and Rincon La Osa. Sheep would then be trailed back out via the Pine River<br />

Trail, over Weminuche Pass and back down to Rio Grande Reservoir. We were unable to obtain<br />

permission from the Rio Grande National Forest to use this access route. This route would take<br />

sheep through and very close to mapped summer range for the S16 Cimmarona/Hossick herd.<br />

If the Pine River Allotment were to be restocked with domestic sheep, potential for contact with<br />

bighorn sheep from the S16 Cimmarona/Hossick herd and the S28 Vallecito Creek herd appears<br />

to be high. Moving domestic sheep from a “High Risk” allotment in the Silverton Landscape to<br />

the upper Pine River Allotment would be moving sheep to an area of equal or greater risk for<br />

contact with bighorn sheep, thereby maintaining the same problem, just moving it to a different<br />

location. We recommend not stocking any portion of the Pine River Allotment due to its lengthy<br />

wilderness access route, lack of permission for access from Rio Grande Reservoir, substantial<br />

overlap with mapped summer range for the S16 Cimmarona/Hossick bighorn sheep herd, and<br />

need to trail through mapped summer range of the S28 Vallecito Creek bighorn sheep herd.<br />

• Fall Creek, Johnson Creek, Leviathan, Rock Creek, Cave Basin, and Flint Creek (FS, vacant<br />

allotments): These six allotments are all outside the Silverton Landscape. They have all been<br />

vacant for many years. They were vacated largely due to their location in remote areas of the<br />

Weminuche Wilderness with difficult access, and their relatively small size for a sustainable<br />

season of grazing. All of these allotments would have a high potential for contact with bighorn<br />

sheep, either by overlap with or close proximity to mapped bighorn summer range of the S28<br />

Vallecito Creek bighorn sheep herd, or by overlap or close proximity with their associated stock<br />

driveways necessary for ingress/egress of domestic sheep bands. There have been few requests<br />

from the domestic sheep industry to use these remote areas. There is a slight possibility that if<br />

several of these allotments were combined, a logical grazing unit could be developed and<br />

managed effectively. However, the high potential for contact with the S28 bighorn herd would<br />

likely remain and would be difficult to mitigate. Moving domestic sheep from the Silverton<br />

Landscape to any one or combination of these six allotments would be moving sheep to an area<br />

of equal or greater risk for contact with bighorn sheep. For these reasons we recommend these<br />

six allotments not be considered for restocking with domestic sheep from active allotments in the<br />

Silverton Landscape.<br />

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