Comprehensive Evaluation Report

Introduction
This “Comprehensive Evaluation Report for the Kiowa, Rita Blanca, Black Kettle and McClellan Creek
National Grasslands” (CER) presents a summarized discussion of the need for changes in the current Plan
direction regarding the Grasslands 1 . The Report is divided into three revision topics: Ecosystem
Diversity, Managed Recreation and Human Influences on the Grasslands. For each of these topics, there
will be a description of current conditions and trends, information about how those trends have changed
or are expected to change over time, areas of management concern and what needs to change in the
existing plan to meet the future needs of Grassland management.
The Kiowa, Rita Blanca, Black Kettle, and McClellan Creek National Grasslands (Grasslands) comprise
approximately 262,000 acres of public land and are among the twenty National Grasslands managed by
the Forest Service. They are administered as part of the Cibola National Forest, headquartered in
Albuquerque, NM, with district offices in Clayton, NM and Cheyenne, OK.
Although the Grasslands are subject to numerous federal laws, regulations and policies, the Bankhead-
Jones Farm Tenant Act (7 USC §1010) and associated Forest Service regulations (36 CFR 213) provide
the specific framework for managing Grasslands. The Act and regulations require:
[A] program of land conservation and utilization to correct maladjustments in land use and thus
assist in controlling soil erosion, reforestation, preserving natural resources, protecting fish and
wildlife, developing and protecting recreational facilities, mitigating floods, preventing
impairment of dams and reservoirs, developing energy resources, conserving surface and
subsurface moisture, protecting the watersheds of navigable streams, and protecting the public
lands, health, safety, and welfare, but not to build industrial parks or establish private industrial or
commercial enterprises.
[To] promote development of grassland agriculture and sustained-yield management of the
forage, fish and wildlife, timber, water, and recreation resources; and to demonstrate sound and
practical principles of land conservation and use.
The Land and Resource Management Plan (Plan) for the Cibola National Forest and Grasslands is
scheduled to be revised in accordance with the National Forest Management Act of 1976 and associated
Forest Service Planning regulations. Revising the Plan will include dividing it into one Plan for the
Grasslands and a separate Plan for the Forest. The goal of Plan revision is to provide management
direction that balances the social, economic, and ecological demands on the grassland resources so that
the resources can be sustained in perpetuity. The social, economic, and ecological systems are interrelated
and need to be considered together.
Area of Analysis
This report analyzes current conditions and trends for the two districts that administer the Grasslands: the
Kiowa-Rita Blanca District (which includes the Kiowa and Rita Blanca National Grasslands) and the
Black Kettle District (which includes the Black Kettle and McClellan Creek National Grasslands). The
four Grasslands are spread out across portions of New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma, as displayed on the
Vicinity Map (Figure 1).
Within each of the four designated Grasslands are small, scattered parcels of Forest Service-managed land
called “Grassland units” that are surrounded by mostly private farm and ranch lands. The Forest Service
land ownership is less than 24% of the land within the Grasslands administrative boundaries. Seventy-
1
The current Cibola National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan is available at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/cibola/planrevision/national_grasslands/index.shtml
2