Environmental Assessment

AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT & ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES CHAPTER 3
Range
Existing Condition: The LRMP permits livestock grazing in the planning area including in the MA-7
deer habitat allocation, stating “Livestock grazing, both sheep and cattle would be permitted with
associated range improvements such as fences and water developments (page 4-113).” Levels of use
are tiered to the need to provide for winter habitat for mule deer including available browse. Standard
and guideline M7-8 states “Forage utilization by livestock would be maintained at a level so that
sufficient forage is available to support the desired number of deer. Grazing systems … would be
designed to be compatible with or complementary to the habitat management objective (LRMP page
4-114).” Grazing systems are designed to be compatible with and operate within these guidelines.
All or portions of three allotments are contained within the Opine planning boundary: Cinder Cone,
Pine Mountain, and Sand Springs. All three are currently active. All three are cattle allotments. The
Cinder Cone and Sand Springs Allotments are designed to operate at the upper limit of 600 cow/calf
pairs and the Pine Mountain Allotment at the upper limit of 500 cow/calf pairs. More complete
discussions of the specific allotments are found in the Range report (pages 18-23).
An environmental assessment was completed for the Cinder Cone and Pine Mountain Allotments in
2005. Current allotment management plans (AMPs) were approved in 2006 for these allotments. An
Environmental Assessment was completed for the Sand Springs Allotment in 2006. The Sand Springs
allotment management plan dates from 1984; it is likely to be updated later in 2007.
Cattle are primarily grazers as opposed to browsers, favoring grass species whenever available, but
will utilize bitterbrush when grasses are limited or unavailable. Use of bitterbrush by cattle is
minimized by grazing after grasses and forbs green up in the spring (generally May 1 to May 15) and
before they go completely dormant in the fall (generally September 15 to October 1).
Both AMPs and the Condition and Trend Analysis Plots (CT Plots) indicate that the forage condition
is generally good, and the vegetative trend stable. Additional information regarding these plots, the
methods of data collection and analysis, trends, and a complete discussion of monitoring results can be
found in Appendix 2 of the Range Report (pages 69-127). Forest-wide Standard and Guideline (S&G)
RG-13(D) suggests a maximum utilization of 50 percent of annual shrub production by livestock and
big game within primary range areas (LRMP, page 4-50). In the MA-7 land allocation, S&G M7-8
requires forage utilization by livestock to be maintained at a level so that sufficient forage is available
to support the desired number of deer (LRMP, page 4-114).
Monitoring has shown that areas where resource impacts appear to have been caused by livestock are
water set locations, water haul roads, and resting or bedding areas. These areas contain compacted
soils and less diverse plant communities (occasionally, dominated by cheatgrass). Impacted areas are
estimated to be less than 0.07 percent of the total planning area (Range Report page 2).
Tables 2A-2C in the Range Report (pages 3-15) display the type, location, and number or quantity of
range improvements located within the planning area.
Environmental Effects: Alternative 1
Under Alternative 1, existing vegetation would continue to move toward a landscape dominated by
mature shrubs and forest stands. Disturbance that would disrupt this pattern would be limited to large
scale, high intensity stand replacement fires and insect attack. Over the long-term, multiple decades,
this would result in the decline in the quantity, quality, and distribution of forage and browse species
desired by both domestic livestock and wildlife. In forested areas, this would result in declines in Idaho
fescue, important for livestock forage, and in bitterbrush, important winter browse for mule deer.
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